Introduction
In this article, we discuss the future of Business Intelligence (BI) in the context of your company moving from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. Now is the ideal moment to reassess your Business Intelligence strategy and shape a BI roadmap that aligns with the SAP ERP technology direction. With the rapid evolution of SAP Business Intelligence, making informed platform and architecture decisions is becoming more important than ever.
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence can be defined as a collective of BI platforms, visualisation tools, and data warehouse frameworks that allow business teams to access real-time operational analytics and support transactional decisions.
There has been a surge of new BI platforms, both SAP and non-SAP. While more choice is generally positive, the challenge lies in identifying which platforms align with your longer-term SAP BI roadmap and business objectives. This is where expert business intelligence services play a vital role.
The volume and variety of data continue to grow considerably. Business users expect faster insights and the ability to carry out self-service analysis. Choosing the right SAP Business Intelligence landscape is essential for supporting these demands.
The Future of SAP Business Intelligence in the SAP ERP Technology Roadmap
As SAP shifts the industry toward SAP S/4HANA, the overall BI model is changing from traditional warehouse-dependent reporting to more embedded, real-time, and context-aware analytics.
Key trends shaping the future include:
- Greater reliance on in-memory processing for operational reporting.
- Wider adoption of SAP Core Data Services (CDS) views.
- Increased focus on SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) as a central BI layer.
- A gradual move away from older BusinessObjects-only landscapes.
- More emphasis on role-based analytics integrated directly inside S/4HANA.
These developments directly influence how organisations should revise their SAP BI roadmap for the next 3 to 5 years.
Our Business Intelligence Recommendations
A good place to begin is with your desired outcomes. What are you aiming to understand, measure, or change-and what data is required?
Once the outcomes are clear, consider how information should be represented. This includes deciding between self-service analytics and structured visualisations, and understanding how teams prefer to consume information.
With this clarity, organisations can define a suitable BI roadmap. This is where tailored business intelligence services become essential.
Birchman provides a free assessment of your current BI strategy and approach-highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and next steps. Please contact us to request an assessment.
BI is becoming a more significant strategic priority. In the context of the SAP technology roadmap, investment often moves away from retrospective “rear-mirror” reporting toward broader, higher-value analytics involving predictive scenarios, trend analysis, and deeper business insights.
At a high level, we recommend:
- Defining the outcomes you need to achieve.
- Determining a BI roadmap and assigning clear roles across the business.
- Simplifying operational reporting and focusing on key performance measures.
- Designing an embedded data warehouse framework.
- Using SAP Business Intelligence content effectively.
Key Questions to Ask
1. “We have invested heavily in BW and BusinessObjects. Why and how do we simplify operational reporting?”
One key benefit of moving to SAP S/4HANA is enhanced operational analytics. The technology supports in-memory analysis of ERP data, producing real-time insights. Embedded analytics, including predefined dashboards, can support business operations and supply chain decision-making.
Previously, operational-level reporting required heavy Business Warehouse development. Today, advancements in big data and machine learning make it possible to simplify BI landscapes and allocate more time to higher-value reporting.
BW remains vital for complex, cross-functional analysis. With proper BI architecture, BW focuses on multi-source integration, KPI modelling, and historical reporting-while embedded S/4HANA analytics supports day-to-day operational needs.
If your organisation is undergoing a brownfield conversion, adapting your existing structure may be suitable. However, if your goal is to use new S/4HANA capabilities fully, simplifying operational reporting is often the more effective approach.
We aim to help organisations shift effort away from building repetitive operational reports and towards BI activities that deliver greater business value.
Key SAP BI tools to consider:
- Embedded analytics in S/4HANA
- SAP Core Data Services (CDS)
- SAP Analytics Cloud
- Analysis for Office
2. “BW/4HANA vs. an alternative data lake?”
Points to consider:
- BW/4HANA includes Business Content with standard data models-this provides a foundation for modelling and building an enterprise data warehouse.
- While the initial cost of BW/4HANA may be higher than a data lake, long-term value often offsets this investment due to structured governance and SAP-ready models.
- A data lake is inexpensive and quick to deploy but typically incurs higher medium/long-term maintenance costs.
- Data lakes work well for raw, semi-structured data and machine learning experiments.
- For structured analytics, financial reporting, and KPI monitoring, a Business Warehouse remains essential.
The choice between BW/4HANA and a data lake depends on your organisational needs, data structure, and long-term BI strategy.
SAP Analytics in Retail ERP Environments
Retail organisations rely on fast-moving operational data. SAP S/4HANA introduces embedded analytics and prebuilt CDS views that support areas such as:
- Inventory visibility
- Store performance
- Promotions management
- Omnichannel sales analytics
- Real-time stock ageing
For retail businesses planning their SAP BI roadmap, it is important to combine operational insights from S/4HANA with long-term financial and customer analytics from BW/4HANA or SAC.
Suggested Diagram Concepts
You may include either of the following in the published blog:
Option 1: “SAP BI Stack Overview” Diagram
- S/4HANA Embedded Analytics
- CDS Views
- BW/4HANA
- SAP Analytics Cloud
- External Data Sources
- Data Lake (optional)
Option 2: “SAP BI Roadmap Timeline”
- Phase 1: Operational reporting review
- Phase 2: CDS optimisation or Embedded analytics
- Phase 3: BW/4HANA or data lake integration
- Phase 4: SAC adoption
- Phase 5: Ongoing governance & enhancements
Conclusion
As SAP shifts its technology roadmap toward S/4HANA, organisations must revisit their BI landscape to ensure it supports both current and future business needs. With multiple SAP Business Intelligence tools available, defining a clear BI roadmap is more important than ever.
Contact us to learn how we can help refine your BI strategy and guide your organisation through the next stage of SAP analytics.
FAQs
Question #1: What is Business Intelligence (BI) in the context of SAP ERP?
Ans: BI in SAP ERP refers to the tools, models, and frameworks that help organisations analyse operational and historical data. This includes embedded analytics in S/4HANA, SAP BW/4HANA, CDS views, SAC, and BusinessObjects.
Question #2: How does migrating to SAP S/4HANA impact BI?
Ans: S/4HANA introduces real-time operational analytics and reduces the reliance on BW for transactional reporting. It also encourages organisations to rethink their BI roadmap.
Question #3: What SAP BI tools or options are available today?
Ans: Current options include S/4HANA Embedded Analytics, BW/4HANA, SAP Analytics Cloud, Data Lake storage, and various BusinessObjects tools where required.
Question #4: What are the key challenges when implementing BI on SAP?
Ans: Challenges often include data model complexity, historical dependencies on legacy BW systems, lack of governance, and insufficient alignment between business and IT teams.
