SAP Fiori: Consumerization of Enterprise Software Comes to ERP
SAP is betting that “consumer-style apps” will come to define how workers interact with enterprise software in the bring your own device (BYOD) era.
The German software maker today unveiled SAP Fiori, a collection of 25 HTML5-based applications that are designed to work on tablets, smartphones and PCs. Fittingly, they sport clean, mobile-friendly interfaces that eschew the menu- and options-laden efforts that have become the embodiment of business applications of the past few decades.
And that's the point, according to SAP Executive Board member Vishal Sikka.
“We are on a mission to renew the experience across all of our applications. Users demand simplicity and ease of use, and SAP Fiori brings this experience to our customers. SAP customers can adopt SAP Fiori immediately and bring instant value to all their employees,” said Sikka in press remarks.
Fiori apps are responsive to a device's form factor, tailoring the experience to a smartphone's limited screen real estate or the relatively expansive displays on tablets and PCs. They are also meant to slot seamlessly into SAP environments, Fiori delivers puts a mobile-accessible, user-friendly face on personnel and sales-related business processes that are initiated and managed on the company's enterprise resource management (ERP) suite of software.
Customers can enjoy flexible deployment options, touts SAP. Fiori apps can be issued as a collection of apps that users can access from a launchpad, as multiple discrete apps or on a limited, roles-based basis. They can be served up from SAP or third-party portals.
SAP worked with over 250 customers to during Fiori's development to glean insights into how Fiori could boost efficiency and worker productivity. Early testres report that when it comes to getting work done, employees see little distinction between Fiori and Facebook.
“I am very excited to see such positive results from SAP's user experience strategy in such a short time frame. The apps in SAP Fiori are as easy to use as Facebook, Google or Amazon. This is exactly what end users are looking for,” said Benjamin Salter, senior manager enterprise architecture and application development, for early access customer Valero in a statement.
Grouped by role, SAP's Fiori app catalog includes:
Manager Apps
- Approve Requests
- Approve Leave Requests
- Approve Timesheets
- Approve Travel Requests
- Approve Travel Expenses
- Approve Shopping Carts
- Approve Purchase Orders
- Approve Requisitions
- Approve Purchase Contracts
- My Spend
Employee Apps
- My Leave Requests
- My Timesheet
- My Travel Requests
- My Paystubs
- My Benefits
- My Shopping Cart
- Track Shopping Carts
Sales Rep Apps
- Check Price and Availability
- Create Sales Orders
- Track Sales Orders
- Change Sales Orders
- Track Shipments
- Customer Invoices
Purchasing Agent Apps
- Track Purchase Order
- Order from Requisitions
SAP Fiori is available now and is subject to per-user pricing.
Read more about SAP ERP here.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Enterprise Apps Today and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Pedro Hernandez contributes to Enterprise Apps Today, and 11Press, the technology network. He was previously the managing editor of Internet.com, an IT-related website network. He has expertise in Smart Tech, CRM, and Mobile Tech, Helping Banks and Fintechs, Telcos and Automotive OEMs, and Healthcare and Identity Service Providers to Protect Mobile Apps.
