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Celonis accuses SAP of damaging its business SAP has introduced new rules and restrictions with the goal of destroying Celonis’ business and thus harming SAP’s ERP customers, Celonis argues. Customers, Celonis contends, are more or less trapped in this system because switching ERP providers is generally associated with high effort and expense. SAP is ultimately hindering competition, Celonis says, to gain an advantage for its own process mining solution, which it acquired with the Signavio acquisition. Celonis was launched in 2011. The following year, the Munich-based company participated in SAP’s Startup Focus program — the starting point of a long-term business relationship between SAP and Celonis. The startup, which ranked 13th on the Forbes Cloud 100 list in August 2024 with a valuation of $13 billion, closely integrated its process mining software with the SAP universe. This involved considerable costs, the lawsuit states. But SAP and its customers benefited. Ultimately, with the help of Celonis tools, it was possible to monitor, analyze, and ultimately optimize processes using data from SAP systems. When SAP acquired German process mining provider Signavio in 2021, SAP said it aimed to pair Signavio’s integrated, cloud-native process suite with SAP’s Business Process Intelligence to help SAP customers adapt their business processes end-to-end. The strategy would incorporate business process analysis, design, and improvement, as well as process change management. source

Many companies today are struggling to manage their data, overwhelmed by data volumes, velocity, and variety. On top of that, they are storing data in IT environments that are increasingly complex, including in the cloud and on mainframes, sometimes simultaneously, all while needing to ensure proper security and compliance. All of this complexity creates a challenge. How do companies ensure their data landscape is ready for the future? Particularly when it comes to new and emerging opportunities with AI and analytics, an ill-equipped data environment could be leaving vast amounts of potential by the wayside. Not to mention the risk of errors or negligence that result from limited visibility which can affect compliance. The longer it takes for companies to address their data challenges, the worse these problems become, and the further behind they might fall in the push for future innovations. One of the most important pathways to better data management, and maximizing its value, lies in discoverability. Discovering data across a hybrid infrastructure Harnessing the full potential of data in a hybrid environment starts with a thorough discovery process. Teams must first identify the information that’s crucial to the business and any associated regulatory requirements. Taking inventory of the data landscape helps when planning future modernizations or technology changes. The next step is to map all dependencies between the company’s applications and data. This is especially useful for organizations that haven’t gone through an evaluation process like this in a long time. Dependency mapping can uncover where companies are generating incorrect, incomplete, or unnecessary data that only detract from sound decision-making. It can also be helpful to conduct a root cause analysis to identify why data quality may be slipping in certain areas. Once an organization has that better understanding of how data is produced and stored, implementing an impact analysis sheds light on the operational effect of actions that can be taken to address weak points in data management. Before moving forward with any data migration or modernization project, executives should know what the business stands to gain as a result. This is also a good opportunity to build a data lineage capability if it doesn’t already exist. Should the company make changes to improve data flows and infrastructure, there will be additional opportunities to optimize the data footprint. At this point, it’s easier to minimize data bloat, right-size infrastructure, and eliminate low-quality data that doesn’t add business value. This is also the right time to implement data monitoring to keep track of changes in data structure and data flows over time. Of course, getting a handle on hybrid environments that span transactional, distributed, and cloud systems is far easier said than done. The steps described here can take months or even years to execute depending on the data needs of the business in question. Invest in purpose-built data integration Putting an emphasis on solutions that ease the data integration process can help uncover critical answers to many lingering data questions an organization might have. What’s needed here is a purpose-built set of capabilities, with the backing of a trusted, knowledgeable partner. Solution sets like those provided in Rocket® DataEdge help accomplish exactly that. With solutions that provide greater visibility, an organization can quickly gain a comprehensive view of their data landscape and create a single source of truth for users that covers the company’s entire data footprint across distributed, cloud, and mainframe environments. The most sophisticated solutions enable all types of users to build compelling visualizations and reports. As a result, more people can understand and make decisions from higher-quality information. Regardless of industry, businesses are contending with exponential growth of data in their IT systems. And as technologies like AI dominate, maximizing the value of that data without compromising security or falling victim to rising operational costs has become the mandate that will define success for the future. Learn more about how Rocket Software can help you make the most of your data and fuel innovation. source

At a press conference held in Seoul on March 20, SAP CEO Christian Klein personally introduced the Korean market to SAP’s AI-specific services, describing how SAP’s AI vision can help Korean companies realize theirs. “Samsung, LG, and other top 10 conglomerates in Korea are SAP customers, and many excellent customers in Korea are using SAP to enhance their global competitiveness,” said Klein. “Korean customers are actively asking questions about how AI can support their business, grow their business, and utilize new technologies. That shows how much interest there is in AI in Korea.” The products that Klein particularly emphasized at this roundtable were SAP Business Data Cloud and Joule. Business Data Cloud, released in February, is designed to integrate and manage SAP data and external data not stored in SAP to enhance AI and advanced analytics. SAP has established a partnership with Databricks for third-party data integration. source

As Middle Eastern countries accelerate digital transformation through smart cities, AI adoption, and giga-projects, cybersecurity threats are evolving faster than defenses can keep up. In an exclusive interview with Abdul Ghaffar Setareh, Group Chief Risk Officer at Zain Group, he paints a stark picture of the region’s cyber battleground: AI-powered ransomware, 300 Gbps DDoS attacks, and hackers exploiting supply chain loopholes to target critical infrastructure. “AI is no longer just a tool for innovation, it’s a weapon,” says Setareh. “Hackers now use generative AI to craft hyper-targeted phishing campaigns, spread disinformation, and even automate attacks on telecom networks.” Recent incidents, like a 300 Gbps DDoS assault that temporarily crippled a GCC country’s connectivity services, underscore the scale of the challenge. “We once thought 20 Gbps defences were sufficient. Now, attackers deploy 15 times that volume,” he adds. The human factor remains equally critical. A widening cyber skills gap plagues the region, with ethical hackers and threat analysts in short supply. To counter this, Zain employs “ethical hackers” to scour the dark web for threats targeting the company or its customers. “Collaboration is non-negotiable,” Setareh emphasizes. “Partnerships are crucial in this ecosystem.” source

A sign of the times — or a time to consider alternatives? Evelson reported that he is “inundated” with calls from clients concerned that their contracts are up for renewal and their BI vendors are jacking up their prices (by 10X or more). While Microsoft is doing the same, Power BI remains the least expensive BI tool on the market; also, he pointed out, the Pro license has been $10 per user per month for a long time, so this price increase was coming. “I do not see this as anything significant, other than, yes, alas, buyers will have to pay up,” he said, pointing out that migrating to another BI platform is a “costly, complex endeavor.” On the other hand, some note that Microsoft’s plan to drive more Microsoft 365 E5 adoption, and the associated accelerated average revenue per unit (ARPU) that comes with it, could backfire. source

Real-world practitioners share best practices and use cases at EXL event. source

Overview In this episode, we sit down with Gaurav Manaktala, Group Head of IT at RAK Hospital, to explore how technology is transforming healthcare. From digital innovation to cybersecurity in patient care, Gaurav shares his strategic vision and the role of IT in driving operational excellence. Stay tuned for an engaging conversation on the future of healthcare technology in the Middle East! Register Now source

This means that enterprises will almost have a guarantee that their agents are appropriately vetted for security, privacy, and performance-related considerations and this confirmation will help enterprises have more confidence in adopting agentic technologies, said Arnal Dayaratna, research vice president at IDC. Another point of advantage is the no additional cost factor of the Studio. Futurum’s Hinchcliffe believes that the pricing strategy is an aggressive play against rivals who charge, such as Salesforce’s Agentforce, which sometimes charges $2 for a transaction. However, he pointed out that the actual value of the new offering will depend on how open-ended the agent orchestration is. “If Oracle’s approach remains tightly constrained to Fusion Applications, enterprises looking for broader AI autonomy and orchestration may still turn to AWS, Google, or Microsoft,” he explained. source