Clean Core and governed AI enable SAP success

Having the right systems in place is a major factor in business success. And those systems need to be optimised at deployment, well maintained and able to adapt to new challenges. Achieving those three goals depends on collaborating with the right partners to deploy a robust platform that is reliable and adaptable.

Rod Gallagher, CEO of Discovery Consulting, has been working with Australian companies on significant business transformations for over three decades. He says successful SAP deployments depend on collaboration between the client, the implementation partner, SAP and specialist partners. The partnership approach allows the implementation partner to "fill in the gaps" and keep the project on track.

"Our CTO is an SAP mentor and a confidant. He works globally with SAP engineers and development teams on the solutions that are coming out in the future to ensure we've got the right understanding. That's how we work collaboratively in the SAP ecosystem to deliver an outcome for a client. Our whole focus is ensuring we get a successful delivery for the client, both in what we're implementing today, but also every six months as the solution is enriched."

The shift by SAP to Clean Core has given businesses a platform that can deliver improved functionality without the pain that was once felt whenever ERP solutions were updated. By maintaining a software code based on established industry best practice that is updated at regular intervals, every six months, businesses can be assured that they are getting the best possible solution without complex and costly upgrades.

In the past, on-prem ERP software was modified to add functionality that was deemed important. But that software code had to be tested, updated and maintained. Clean Core enables organisations to adopt standard functionality and use controlled extensions.

"The quantum shift to moving to cloud-based solutions that are updated and upgraded every six months means any customisation or development work may not deliver payback. By building software leading practice or best practices in, SAP is enabling organisations to adopt new capability without complex updates or customisation," Gallagher said.

We are in the midst of a software revolution as AI has moved from computer science labs into the mainstream faster than any other technological change. The close cousin of shadow IT, shadow AI, is becoming a major issue that organisations need to combat. It will require establishing appropriate governance and technical guardrails and data models that are validated and can access trusted data.

"The old maxim, garbage in, garbage out, has never been more relevant than it is today in the age of AI."

Gallagher said that generic AI engines that are trying to go across very sophisticated systems and provide insights on that data must have data that is authored, maintained and with a trusted lineage.

"We've always had the ability to take data, put it into a large repository and report on it. The issue we've got today is you're trying to bring internal data together with external data sources to predict, forecast and provide insights. Context is the key. With SAP, context is built in as one of three layers, alongside governance and a rapid build layer. SAP also has certification around the governance of its AI engines. It means it's had the right level of testing and authentication that the model does exactly what is expected."

As well as using trusted models, AI needs access to data. The days of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) to centralise data into a data lake or data warehouse, or a data swamp as Galagher put it, are behind us. That approach may have made data more accessible but it came with processing and storage overheads, new security risks and a loss of context around the data.

Data is the key

Data virtualisation enables data to be used without many of those challenges as it's kept in its native system. Working alongside SAP HANA's in‑memory engine enables real‑time reporting without the need for separate data warehouses. Virtualisation means data from multiple sources can be integrated without complex data while retaining security and audit trails.

"SAP's business data cloud works with partners including Snowflake, Microsoft and Databricks. There's an ecosystem of solutions that SAP is relying on to help with that orchestration of data to help provide that single view for the organisation," Gallagher explained.

Excel remains one of the key data management and analysis tools used across business. Gallagher said that by integrating AI by using trusted models and using data virtualisation, businesses can ensure there's a single source of truth so they don't waste time and resources reconciling the differences across spreadsheets created by different people.

Australian organisations can turn the complex realities of digital transformation into a clear path to sustainable success. But it takes the right partners, the right platform and disciplined governance. SAP's Clean Core approach, certified AI models that honour data lineage and data virtualisation can enable businesses to achieve real‑time, secure insight without the legacy pains of ETL and data lakes.