SAP has been working on topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) for some time now. "What began as a stand-alone service that could be booked as the basis for IoT applications and then converted into a functioning solution within the company are now services that can be integrated into existing company processes with just a few clicks. Standard processes of the individual industries are taken into account, but they can be adapted to individual processes without much effort," explains Carsten Manske from Abat.

This enables an IoT service to collect and manage data that is generated in the individual processes. It can be easily connected to a solution such as SAP Intelligent Asset Management. "It doesn't matter which IoT service is available in the company. SAP allows very flexible adaptations to be made to the existing system landscape and uses its own interfaces to connect a wide range of data suppliers. In addition, plants can also be connected directly to the solution and use SAP's integrated IoT service," says Manske. The use cases in this area are very diverse. For the IoT service, it is irrelevant whether a single tool, a temperature sensor or a complex CNC milling machine is to supply data.

Predictive maintenance

This data can be used across all processes, so that sensors can measure the_{CO2 levels} in an office, for example, and windows can be opened automatically if the concentration is too high. This information can be used for future office space planning. With IoT solutions from SAP, decisions can be made in real time in the future based on precise information. SAP Intelligent Asset Management supports users with predictive maintenance functions by using sensor data to detect failures at an early stage based on vibration patterns and other parameters and reporting them to the system.

It is not necessary to analyze and process terabytes of data in order to use such functions: There are usable and intelligent algorithms for this that have already been trained in advance and can be used via drag & drop. Predictive maintenance can therefore be used immediately in processes with SAP. This saves time and is easy on the budget. In addition, the data can be further processed so that it can also be used in reporting with the SAP Analytics Cloud.

In this way, the data from the production facilities can be used holistically within the company by bundling and evaluating data from all areas of the organization on dashboards. Such a dashboard can provide support with important company issues or decisions can be made based on current real-time data. The opportunities that arise from the combination of IoT and other technologies are very diverse and offer a real competitive advantage. And developments in recent years have also shown that IoT is an important building block for everyone on the way to becoming an intelligent company.