What is SAP HANA? SAP HANA (High-performance ANalytic Appliance) is a multi-model database that stores data in its memory instead of keeping it on a disk. This approach results in data processing that is magnitudes faster compared to disk-based data systems, allowing for advanced, real-time analytics . Serving as a platform for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and other business applications, SAP HANA can be placed on-premises, in the cloud, or both, in a hybrid cloud system. SAP HANA integrates data from multiple areas within an organization, for example: Traditional business documents–including contracts and spreadsheets UX/UI (User Experience/User Interface)–including website forms, emails and other customer interactions Mobile–information from the mobile devices of customers and your workforce IoT (Internet of Things)–data from the many sensors that run in every aspect of a business, from warehouses and trucks to stores and offices The SAP HANA system integrates all this data and applies machine learning and AI to analyze it instantly and deeply. This helps to accelerate real-time decision-making by providing key insights into a company’s operations. The latest AI News + Insights Discover expertly curated insights and news on AI, cloud and more in the weekly Think Newsletter. Why is SAP HANA important? Many organizations have vast amounts of data that essentially sits in a data warehouse and provides no value. This data often amounts to terabytes of untapped potential that can be used to accelerate business impact and provide greater customer value. With its lightning-fast, in-memory processing and real-time data analytics powered by machine learning, SAP HANA harnesses a company’s data and puts it to work for them, streamlining processes, eliminating errors and providing benefits to clients, customers and employees. Enhance customer satisfaction with up-to-the-minute product availability that can be accessed on any smartphone. Keep employees happy with simplified accounting processes, instant updates on benefits or vacation time, and enhanced collaboration platforms. And help managers and executives plan for the future with predictive analytics that can forecast supply chain issues, manage cash flow and integrate team workflows for heightened efficiency. Your weekly news podcast for AI enthusiasts Hear from industry experts on the latest in AI news, listen to the Mixture of Experts podcast. New episodes on Fridays at 6 AM EST. SAP (historically an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) is a German software company that develops enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and other business suites to help manage operations and customer interactions. SAP moved into cloud-based products in 2012, when it first developed the SAP HANA appliance. SAP launched SAP S/4HANA, a next-generation business suite designed only to run on the HANA server, in 2015. SAP HANA features SAP HANA’s in-memory, multi-model data management engine takes full advantage of the capabilities of its hardware to minimize data movements, thus increasing application speed and agility as it analyzes real-time data. Depending on the needs of an enterprise, you can deploy SAP HANA on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid system. This approach blends the privacy and control of an on-premises system with the lower cost, greater memory and increased access of the cloud. Its ability to efficiently process enormous amounts of data makes it easily scalable to suit a growing business without sacrificing security or stability. On the SAP HANA platform, developers can build their own tools and applications that integrate business logic, control logic and the database layer with unprecedented performance.

Most database systems are organized around a single data model that limits how that data can be organized, stored and manipulated. SAP HANA’s multi-model database supports multiple data models against a single integrated backend, making it easy to establish the relationships among data points. SAP HANA’s in-memory technology has put an end to cumbersome batch processing. This technology helps to keep data highly available with no latency–all processes take place in real-time. Enterprises can dramatically simplify their management systems and change them as needed to improve efficiencies. Real-time analytics makes it possible to tap into massive amounts of data, such as that coming from IoT sensors and mobile. SAP HANA’s machine learning engine extracts data from and writes to the server in real-time. It instantly identifies problems and creates engineering solutions in every aspect of an enterprise, from payroll to human resources to customer care to supplier management and more. Running on top of the SAP HANA database is a software stack system that acts as a tech-agnostic server for any web-based applications–SAP or non-SAP–that a developer chooses to create. Since the server can interact with all file types and exchange data with any software, businesses can rapidly develop and deploy customized queries and processes that are uniquely helpful to them. SAP HANA’s advanced analytical processing allows developers to build simple tools that business teams can easily use to produce custom reports–without help from IT or external consultants. SAP HANA case studies As global strategic partners, SAP and IBM have been collaborating and co-innovating for more than 25 years. Since the arrival of SAP HANA in 2012, IBM has developed a variety of software and hardware solutions. These solutions help businesses maximize the potential of SAP’s flexible business suites on SAP HANA. Case studies show that companies that have migrated their ERP environments to SAP HANA supported by IBM Power® have enjoyed improved application performance, advanced digital self-service for customers, agile mobile capabilities and more. Hear customers talk about their successes with the security, reliability and performance of SAP HANA supported by IBM Power. Learn why the path to AI-ready data often starts with effective access to both structured and unstructured data and the challenges that can impede data leaders. Your data is your competitive edge. Learn how to unlock it securely and drive measurable ROI from AI in this short webinar. Join our webinar to see how IBM is extending data integration to unstructured data with automated ingestion, transformation and vectorization for AI. Simplify data access and automate data governance. Discover the power of integrating a data lakehouse strategy into your data architecture, including cost-optimizing your workloads and scaling AI and analytics, with all your data, anywhere. Explore our Data Matters hub to learn how you can tackle data and AI challenges like integration. Explore insights from 1,700 CDOs in this cross-industry report for data leaders. Understand why organizations need to adopt a unified approach that lets them manage the full spectrum of integration capabilities from a single pane of glass, eliminating the need to rely on numerous tools. Learn why the path to AI-ready data often starts with effective access to both structured and unstructured data and the challenges that can impede data leaders. Understand how focusing on well-governed, secure and collaborative access to data at scale empowers enterprises to maximize their AI investments. Use IBM database solutions to meet various workload needs across the hybrid cloud. Explore IBM Db2, a relational database that provides high performance, scalability and reliability for storing and managing structured data. It is available as SaaS on IBM Cloud or for self-hosting. Unlock the value of enterprise data with IBM Consulting, building an insight-driven organization that delivers business advantage. Structure your data to power faster low-latency transactions, continuous availability and hardened security. IBM® Db2® is an AI-powered database that accelerates decision making, reins in costs by using a single engine and promotes security for your business data. Discover IBM Db2 Explore database solutions