Introducing SAP Leonardo

SAP has launched its Leonardo platform as the new digital innovation system that delivers software and microservices, helping customers leverage technologies such as the IoT (internet of things), machine learning (machine learning), blockchain, and big data. Initially launched as a platform to support just the internet of things, SAP has tried to take it a notch above by bundling the latest technologies and services into a single intelligent platform.

What is Sap Leonardo?

SAP Leonardo will help organizations to move ahead with their digital transformation projects. It encompasses the next-gen technologies like IoT, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and more, on top of its PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) offering – the SAP Cloud platform. The name SAP Leonardo was inspired by Renaissance architect and philosopher – Leonardo da Vinci who was believed to possess an imaginative power to create pioneering inventions.

Leonardo is not a single platform, tool or systems like SAP S/4 HANA or SAP Hybris, but an innovative portfolio an innovative portfolio of IoT solutions to help you extend your digital core (SAP S/4 HANA) with adaptive (machine learning) applications, big data applications, and connectivity to imagine and implement new business processes and business models. It provides a portfolio of solutions that help us imagine, design and implements a new, innovative and intelligent end-end processes across machines and humans.

SAP Leonardo makes it easier for businesses to adapt to the newer technologies and integrate them into their business and scale it seamlessly. As a digital innovation system, the Leonardo platform integrates the new technologies and also include the design thinking methodologies. This helps organizations uncover and enlist all the requirements of the digital transformation project and build applications that deliver them better insights using advanced analytics.

SAP Leonardo’s Framework

SAP HANA Cloud Platform is the strategic Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) infrastructure that provides a framework for SAP Leonardo Innovative System. Its key components include SAP Leonardo Foundation, SAP Leonardo for Edge Computing and SAP Leonardo Bridge.

SAP Leonardo Foundation – This component provides business services that help you build various applications around the new technologies, through reusable application services and predictive algorithms. The reusable microservices framework allows you to rapidly build your prototype and connect it with business contexts from the back-end systems and also by leveraging the inbuilt configuration tools.

SAP Leonardo for Edge Computing – Edge Computing basically refers to the data processing power at the edge of the network rather than the cloud or the central data warehouse. Edge devices capture streaming data that helps to prevent a part from failing. The Leonardo platform captures real-time and offline data with the help of edge filtering tools and streaming analytics.

SAP Leonardo Bridge – This basically combines the real-time data from connected devices with the different business applications and microservices to implement an intelligent end-end process. Connected Products – that provides intelligent supply networks, Connected Fleet – for intelligent logistics systems, Connected Assets – for intelligent manufacturing networks are examples of the same.

SAP Leonardo brings in all latest technologies and services in one intelligent system

• Internet Of Things (IoT) – Intelligently connect things, people and processes and take advantage of Industrial IoT and Internet of Everything (IoE)
• Machine Learning – Embed machine learning capabilities to get useful AI powered insights to make informed business decisions
• Big Data – Ability to store, manage, access and connect with a wide range of data from multiple sources in any form – structured or unstructured.
• Analytics – Extract intelligent information from a large network of anonymized data. Data analytics can be leveraged to find answers to the many business problems.
• Blockchain – Speed-up transactions over a secured platforms and increase transparency, trust, and visibility
• Design thinking – Expert help in business ideation, rapid prototyping, and business case development

SAP Leonardo is designed to support many industries to innovate and help them scale in the best possible way. It has a flexible approach that keeps in mind the specific business requirement and builds a solution around it. For a quick and rapid implementation, a set of pre-built accelerators are also available with more accelerators coming with every update.

• The accelerators are of fixed price which is flexible enough to support implementations of various sizes
• Each of the accelerators includes various software and services to resolve industry-specific business problems
• Depending upon the complexity and the time that’s taken to develop an application, SAP Leonardo provides three editions to help meet the requirements.
• The express edition is designed to define a business use case in one day, develop a prototype in 2-3 weeks and deliver the final app in six weeks
• The open innovation edition helps companies develop their industry-specific app if they are not suited for industry accelerators. It involves a long-term design thinking process.
• The enterprise edition follows the open innovation edition process and also helps companies to deliver multiple use cases instead of just one.

The possibilities are unlimited in the digital economy and SAP has definitely taken the lead with SAP Leonardo as an enterprise enabler for digital innovation. For any business, it is important to foresee a constant need for change and innovation and be a part of a transformation that helps the business grow. SAP Leonardo is one such platform and is believed to come up with more advanced services in the future.