On October 13, 2015, SAP announced SAP Cloud for Analytics, which offers users a centralized resource of capabilities, ranging from data preparation to analytics tools. Nucleus Research found that the offering provides users with a faster time to analysis by supporting a single repository of analytics tools. In addition, SAP Cloud for Analytics customers will have a higher propensity to upgrade, allowing them to have access to SAP’s ongoing investments.

1. Nucleus Research Inc. 100 State Street Boston, MA 02109 NucleusResearch.com Phone: +1 617.720.2000 1
ONGOING BENEFITS OF SAP
CLOUD FOR ANALYTICS
A N A L Y S T S
Anne Moxie
T H E B O T T O M L I N E
On October 13, SAP announced SAP Cloud for Analytics, which
offers users a centralized resource of capabilities that range
from data preparation to analytics tools. Nucleus found that the
offering provides users with a faster time to analysis by supporting a single
repository of analytics tools. In addition, SAP Cloud for Analytics customers
will have a higher propensity to upgrade, allowing them to have access to
SAP’s ongoing investments.

T H E A N N O U N C E M E N T
On October 13, SAP announced SAP Cloud for Analytics, an offering that aims to
provide users with a full set of tools for data preparation and manipulation. Some of
its features include:
 Planning, budgeting, business intelligence (BI), and predictive functionality.
Users have access to a centralized cloud application that has functionality
spanning CPM, BI, and advanced analytics capabilities.
 Actionable workflows. SAP offers new functionality that allows users to interact
with workflows and directly click from the workflow to relevant actions or
insights.
 Data accessibility. The product aims to help users sample, wrangle, combine,
and blend data together from on-premise and cloud data sources.
 Improved user interface (UI). The solution provides a cleaner UI, consistent with
its move towards the cloud.
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 Line of business (LOB) and finance collaboration. With functionality that
extends across departments, SAP incorporates tools for improved
communication between LOB users and finance analysts.
 Social media analysis. Users can leverage social media data analysis to identify
trends in the market, aimed particularly at predicting and meeting customer
demand.
The solution is built on the in-memory SAP/HANA, a columnar-store database that
provides users with in-memory computation and real-time analysis. SAP is
collaborating with Google in or to embed SAP Cloud for Analytics in Google Docs
and Google Sheets, which is a continuation of the partnership with Google that SAP
announced in May 2015.
W H Y I T M A T T E R S
Nucleus found that SAP Cloud for Analytics offers users more scalable data analysis
because it leverages a central repository of tools to be accessed by a wide range of
users. In addition, Nucleus has found that cloud analytics solutions offer 2.3 times
more ROI than on-premise analytics tools (Nucleus Research, p125 – Cloud analytics
deliver 2.3 times more ROI, September 2015). This is largely driven by the ongoing
benefits that cloud solutions provide via a faster release cadence, which is critical to
success in the analytics space.
FASTER TIME TO ANALYSIS
Nucleus found that 83 percent of analytics customers are dissatisfied with their
current data preparation tools. This dissatisfaction is largely due to the siloes of data
that are spread across cloud and on-premise sources and as a result data analysts
and scientists are often spending more time preparing data than analyzing it
(Nucleus Research, p171 – Buying intentions survey – Analytics, October 2015).
SAP recognizes this and aims to alleviate some of the challenges that are inherent to
traditional data integration and preparation. SAP Cloud for Analytics provides users
with a single repository of data and a number of analytics tools in one location,
which will help to scale out its capabilities to wider range of users.
BUNDLING
SAP Cloud for Analytics currently includes the SAP Cloud for Planning and moving
forward will also incorporate more business intelligence (BI), and predictive
functionality. Having a number of solutions in one product will offer greater visibility
across departments and will decrease information siloes, which will lead to fewer

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bottlenecks. While this offers considerable benefits to management, Nucleus has
found that offering too much functionality can lead to productivity challenges for
end-users because they can become overwhelmed by too many options.
Although the SAP Cloud for Analytics may seem like a lot of functionality to
incorporate in one place, SAP is leveraging an updated UI to simplify the product for
users so that they are not overwhelmed with CPM, BI, and advanced analytics
capabilities all at once. Instead, the clean UI helps users navigate the solution so
that, while there is a significant increase in available functionality, users will not be
bogged down by a confusing application.
A HIGHER PROPENSITY TO UPGRADE
Nucleus has found that cloud solutions are able to adopt a faster release cadence,
helping customers to benefit from software improvements on an ongoing basis.
Historically, users have had to invest significant time and energy into on-premise
upgrades. With cloud solutions, customers delegate platform management to the
vendors, removing them from upgrade preparation. With minimal disruption time,
cloud customers have a higher propensity to upgrade and are able to benefit from
ongoing technology advancements.
THE APPLICATION VALUE CURVE
The analytics space is a particularly noisy market, and for SAP Cloud for Analytics
customers, this new announcement means that they will be able to more easily stay
on the most recent advancements. By including a number of applications in SAP
Cloud for Analytics, SAP is decreasing the number of integration points that would
have to be tested and debugged for traditional upgrades. This further reduces any

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headache associated with new upgrades and will encourage users to take advantage
of SAP’s ongoing improvements. As the innovation in analytics space continues, it is
essential for customers to have access to the most recent technology in order to
have an edge over their competitors.