[ad_1]
On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined SAP CEO Bill McDermott at SAP's annual technical conference as part of a reciprocal love affair between the two executives.
They were there to explain how they have expanded their partnership that has been going on for several years, including integrating some of SAP's business applications into Apple's iOS operating system and helping businesses create custom iOS apps. . Then, announce the leaders, SAP will also bring more applications on the Mac.
According to Cook, SAP's financial software helped Apple get out of trouble during the darkest days of the business, in the '90s. McDermott, always the charming salesman, called Cook, a friend, and has rented all Apple devices to Cook's strong positions on user privacy.
The point of the news is however: SAP and Apple will help companies create augmented reality applications for iPhone or iPad, using Apple's CoreML and ARkit tools on device, as well as SAP's Leonardo machine learning technology. With these applications, you do not need a Microsoft HoloLens, nor any other type of augmented reality glasses that project digital images into the real world; Just point the camera to the iPad, as with "Pokémon Go".
McDermott also pointed out that SAP had transferred several of its major business applications to iOS, including the HR SuccessFactors application, the Concur expense settlement tool and a system for the IT department called Asset Manager . He added that SAP is creating an iOS version of Ariba, its company supply application, and that other SAP iOS applications are coming.
This is a considerable promise. While SAP is best known for its Financial Enterprise Planning (ERP) software, as the world's largest maker of enterprise software, SAP actually has hundreds of applications, similar to those his rival Oracle and his frantic Microsoft.
The true point of the partnership
However, in most cases, SAP's partnership with Apple – which began in 2010 – was not really about integrating SAP's own software with iOS. The goal was to help 437,000 SAP customers around the world create custom iOS apps for use in their own businesses.
In fact, SAP is one of Apple's largest corporate customers and has developed many custom applications for its own employees.
"We have more than 100,000 Apple devices running around SAP and we love them," McDermott told Cook on stage.
And, in an approach similar to that of IBM, another Apple partner, SAP has focused on creating industry-specific applications for its customers, such as retail, aviation, and more. It offers companies a development kit that allows them to write their own iOS software. This kit will be upgraded to include the CoreML Machine Learning Tool and the ARkit Augmented Reality Tool.
Cook has proposed two examples of such applications.
One is a retail application for inventory management on tablets. Such "planograms" are often pieces of paper today, as Cook showed in this picture:
But once SAP has helped retailers create their new, sophisticated machine learning / AR application, the iPad will be able to identify inventory, discover missing items, or need to be replenished. those who are in the wrong place, etc.
Cook showed this picture:
He also showed photos of using the iPad with AR on the ground to replace the repair manuals.
It should be noted here that Microsoft offers similar uses for its HoloLens 2 eye protection. Therefore, Apple and SAP working on RA tools for iPad or iPhone might be trying to save some of that brilliance.
SAP arrives on the Mac
And, in another blow to Microsoft Windows PCs, SAP has announced plans to integrate more business applications with the Mac.
SAP, however, was vague about its commitment to the applications it would bring particularly to the Mac. He has promised to bring none of his main applications to the Mac. He has discussed new applications, similar to those made to iOS, although it remains to be seen what this push will entail exactly. Like all other vendors, SAP is working hard to get customers to buy cloud versions of their software. These would work on any device via a browser and would not need to be installed on every server and PC.
However, the idea here is to strengthen the Mac in the business with new applications that make it more useful for workers.
This is another sign of the number of business employees choosing Macs over Windows when they have a choice. As Cook pointed out on stage, his research revealed that when companies give their employees the option of choosing their own computers: "Three out of four will choose a Mac," said Cook, jokingly, "I do not do not know what else we do. "
Most companies still use a lot of Windows applications, and there are many more business applications for Windows than for Macs. Businesses remain a bastion of Microsoft Windows PC.
But it looks like Apple is trying to change that, and he got help from a powerful industry partner in SAP.
[ad_2]
Source link