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Since launching more than a year and a half ago, Â鶹ԭ´´ has helped customers manage the implementation of Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud.

Now, Â鶹ԭ´´ is introducing improved capabilities to simplify the implementation experience, add operations capabilities to manage cloud solutions, and support additional offerings like Â鶹ԭ´´ SuccessFactors and Â鶹ԭ´´ Customer Experience solutions, among others.

Tim Steuer, vice president of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) at Â鶹ԭ´´, reveals how he and his team have been helping improve the solution since launch.

Q: What are some of the updates you and your team have been working on since the launch of Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM?

A: When we first launched, the initial scope was focused and strategic, simplifying the implementation experience for customers on their way to Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud. With 50 customers within our implementation portal at the time, we received great feedback from customers that did not use ALM tools from Â鶹ԭ´´ in the past. This included a 12-week Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud project at a small company with only five employees in IT.

We’re now adding operations, expanding the full capabilities of Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM to support other cloud products, including Â鶹ԭ´´ SuccessFactors solutions, and integrating parts of Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM to solutions including Â鶹ԭ´´ Customer Experience, Â鶹ԭ´´ Ariba, and Â鶹ԭ´´ Concur solutions, among others. It’s exciting to get this opportunity to support so many more customers with their transformation projects and help them grow as organizations.

Additionally, we’ve added several capabilities to Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM to enhance the initial implementation phase and assist with streamlining operations for customers looking to deploy and operate cloud solutions from Â鶹ԭ´´, including:

• Process management
• Task management
• Test management
• Release timelines
• Integration monitoring
• Exception monitoring
• Business process monitoring
• Event and alert management

How are these updates impactful for customers?

Customers t are going through cloud implementations are experiencing something totally different than an on-premise scenario. Instead of long cycles – let’s say with updates every four years – there are constant updates with the cloud. Customers need a tool to absorb and integrate the continuous innovation by cloud providers into existing business processes. Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM is designed to do just that.

In a recent conversation, for example, Leonardo De Araujo, a partner from Beyond Technologies, told us that Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM is a game-changer for them and the company recommends using the solution for implementing Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA Cloud. The road map Â鶹ԭ´´ provided convinced them, and they plan to adopt new features in the future.

Additionally, with Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM, Â鶹ԭ´´ helps ensure cloud operations, which enables customers to shift focus away from technical administration and monitoring and allows them to focus on more strategic things, like how cloud solutions work together or how to manage a seamless flow of data.

Our ambition is that ultimately customers won’t need a dedicated administrator for Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM. That means all they’d need to do is onboard team members to collaborate on the platform and select the cloud solutions that are managed by Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM – without technical knowledge.

What is the significance of these new capabilities? 

By greatly expanding on the number of products that support Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM, we’re broadening our customer base and helping more of our customers adopt to the changes that come with transitioning from on premise to the cloud. This is also a shift for us because we’re able to not only guide our customers with the adoption, but also move into the operations space and help ensure smooth day-to-day operations after implementation is complete. This means counseling our customers in a totally different way, like solving problems of integration between various cloud solutions, as well as finding out why certain business processes aren’t working.

Can you share any plans for Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM and tell us how customers can learn more?

Expanding Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM doesn’t stop this year. In fact, we’re hoping to add Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM to all components of the Intelligent Enterprise, including Â鶹ԭ´´ S/4HANA, by 2021. We plan to increase capabilities and expand the footprint to cover hybrid solutions.

All Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud customers will be able to leverage Â鶹ԭ´´ Cloud ALM at no additional cost through the Â鶹ԭ´´ ONE Support Launchpad. We’re thrilled about the opportunity to empower our cloud customers on their journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise.

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