RISE is one of the hottest topics around SAP. It's almost difficult to read or discuss SAP without the topic present. But with any topic as complex as SAP, the question of where to run SAP and ultimately RISE as an option isn't without opportunity for questions. This blog tries to clear up some of the most common questions, especially for companies considering RISE coming from an existing expertise of either operating SAP themselves or having experience with SaaS solutions and cloud services.

SAP S/4HANA is one of the most innovative ERP solutions in the software industry due to its real time insight delivery and high efficiency. As an in memory data platform, SAP S/4HANA simplifies administration and management in the IT space. It allows users to centralize the network resources and hardware to have easier accessibility. SAP S/4HANA facilitates bringing multiple systems' transactional and analytical abilities into one place, leading to better decision making, which can be cost effective in the long run. Users can also generate reports and execute decisions based on real time data.

Today, I am thrilled and privileged to announce a remarkable achievement at Avantra - a landmark feat in customer satisfaction and loyalty! For the third consecutive year, our relentless commitment to excellence has culminated in setting the industry benchmark with an exceptional Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +63 and a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score of 91%. These numbers aren't just figures; they are a testament to the trust and loyalty our customers have in us.

I can't believe it's already been a year since the release of Avantra 23 in 2022. Over the past year, we've released three minor releases, 23.1, 23.2 & 23.3 that brought meaningful quality of life improvements across the entire product. We are bringing new checks, new performance optimizations, and highly requested features from our ideas portal (login needed). Additionally, there will be two new editions (Automation & Observability) so that customers can make better use of the features we have, and we have squashed 100s of bugs in different scenarios that our customers encounter in their day to day.

RISE with SAP bundles transformation services, ERP software, partner expertise guides, and business analytics to facilitate cloud migration for ERP processes and data. It lets users follow a clean core strategy for ERP optimization and innovate their business processes on a larger scale. Businesses can also enjoy real time data viewing and AI backed user interactions. The no and low code development tools further reduce operational and maintenance costs, allowing swift business process customization.

Picture the SAP Kernel as the heartbeat of the system, vitalizing the core programs upon which the fundamental functionality of SAP applications rely on. It's the life force pulsing through the application server, executable programs, database, and operating system, rather than merely encompassing them within itself. SAP Kernel upgrades refer to updating the system's current executables with upgraded versions. These upgrades are essential to patch security vulnerabilities and fix bugs. Besides bug fixing, SAP Kernel upgrades improve hardware compatibility, boost speed, and enhance stability.

Managecore is a managed service provider (MSP) offering solutions ranging from data center transformation and public cloud services to virtualization and IT managed services. The company wanted to ensure operational transparency for its clients. In doing so, Managecore planned to improve customer service by making it easier for clients to monitor their SAP environments and get real time alerts. Avantra, an automation platform for SAP and non SAP environments, stepped in with its AIOps platform to offer a multitenancy solution to Managecore. Besides automation, Avantra provided a real time SAP monitoring solution.

E-3 Magazine, in the June 2023 issue, featured a cover story about Avantra and the collaboration with our customer Nagarro. Reason enough to let the mind wander a bit and write a little more about this exceptionally good collaboration. It all started in 2013, back when CIBER Managed Services GmbH and our solution was not yet called Avantra, but Xandria. From the initial product presentation in Freiburg im Breisgau, my hometown, it was easy to see how well the attendees understood the solution, and from the questions and answers, it became clear how well we, at Avantra, knew the problems of a fast growing managed services business.