We are happy to share some insights about SAP drawn from our latest market research, Ventana Research Buyers Guide: Analytics and Data, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
We recently published five Ventana Research 2023 Analytics and Data Buyers Guides, an assessment of technology vendors and products that provide individual and combined 
analytics and data, augmented analytics, collaborative analytics, embedded analytics and mobile analytics and platform support.
At Ventana Research, we continue to believe that, for most use-cases, there is a clear choice for analytics and data platforms for any use in your organization. We developed five technology assessments and buyers guides to focus on overall analytics and data requirements as well as specific augmented analytics, collaborative analytics, mobile analytics and embedded analytics use-cases.
In all of our Buyers Guides, we utilize a structured research methodology called the Value Index that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal (RFP) and vendor selection process for analytics and data. We evaluated SAP and 21 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product (adaptability, capability, manageability, reliability and usability) and two related to the vendor (TCO/ROI and vendor validation). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our experience and on data derived from our benchmark research on analytics and data.
In the overall Analytics and Data Buyers Guide, our analysis classified SAP as Exemplary, ranking first in the overall research at 75.2%. SAP achieved the same rank in Product Experience and Customer Experience, 
ranking second in each. Its best performances came in Usability and Capability, ranking first, and was ranked second in both Validation and TCO/ROI. SAP was designated an Overall Leader and a Leader in Product Experience, Customer Experience, Usability, TCO/ROI, Manageability, Capability and Validation. SAP fully participated in the RFI process.
SAP’s Product Experience was nominally impacted by its 73.3% performance in Reliability, where it could provide more visibility into its cloud operations and investments. Customer Experience was nominally impacted by its 80.5%% performance in Validation, where it could provide better case study material.
SAP performed best in Product Experience, notably in Capability, where its 72.3% performance was due in part to its planning and collaborative capabilities. In addition, SAP’s ability to support a variety of personas and its support for data entry led to its 83.0% performance in Usability. In TCO/ROI, it provides good support to help customers calculate costs, benefits and TCO to build a business case.
In the Augmented Analytics Buyers Guide, our analysis classified SAP as Exemplary, ranking second in the overall research at 73.3%. SAP achieved the same second-place rank in Product Experience and Customer Experience.
Its best performance came in Usability, ranking first, and was ranked second in Capability, Validation and TCO/ROI. SAP was designated an Overall Leader and a Leader in Product Experience, Customer Experience, Usability, TCO/ROI, Manageability, Capability and Validation. SAP fully participated in the RFI process.
SAP’s Product Experience was nominally impacted by its 73.3% performance in Reliability, where it could provide more visibility into its cloud operations and investments. Customer Experience was nominally impacted by its 80.5% performance in Validation, where it could provide better case study material.
SAP performed best in Product Experience, notably in Usability, where its 83.0% performance was due in part to its support for a variety of personas and its support for data entry. In Capability, SAP provides natural language functionality with multilingual support. In TCO/ROI, it provides good tools to help customers calculate costs, benefits and TCO to build a business case.
In the Embedded Analytics Buyers Guide, our analysis classified SAP as Exemplary, ranking second in the overall research at 76.6%. SAP achieved the same rank in Product Experience and Customer Experience, ranking second in 
each. Its best performances came in Usability and Capability, ranking first and second respectively, and was ranked second in both Validation and TCO/ROI. SAP was designated an Overall Leader and a Leader in Usability, TCO/ROI, Manageability, Capability and Validation. SAP fully participated in the RFI process.
SAP’s Product Experience was nominally impacted by its 73.3% performance in Reliability, where it could provide more visibility into its cloud operations and investments. Customer Experience was nominally impacted by its 80.5%% performance in Validation, where it could provide better case study material. SAP performed best in Product Experience, notably in Usability, where its 83.0% performance was due in part to its support for a variety of personas and data entry. In Capability, SAP is one of the only vendors to provide embedded planning capabilities. In TCO/ROI, it provides good support to help customers calculate costs, benefits and TCO to build a business case.
In the Collaborative Analytics Buyers Guide, our analysis classified SAP as Exemplary, ranking first in the overall research at 76.3%. SAP ranked first in Product Experience and second in Customer Experience. Its best 
performances came in Usability and Capability, ranking first in both. It ranked second in both TCO/ROI and Validation. SAP was designated an Overall Leader and a Leader in Product Experience, Customer Experience, Usability, TCO/ROI, Manageability, Capability and Validation. SAP fully participated in the RFI process.
SAP’s Product Experience was nominally impacted by its 73.3% performance in Reliability, where it could provide more visibility into its cloud operations and investments. Customer Experience was nominally impacted by its 80.5% performance in Validation, where it could provide better case study material.
SAP performed best in Product Experience, notably in Usability, where its 83.0% performance was due in part to its support for a variety of personas and data entry. In Capability, SAP ranked first for its ability to enable comments, annotations, discussion groups, wall posting, messaging individuals and sharing analyses. In TCO/ROI, it provides good support to help customers calculate costs, benefits and TCO to build a business case.
In the Mobile Analytics Buyers Guide, our analysis classified SAP as Exemplary, ranking second in the overall research at 73.3%. SAP achieved the same second-place rank in Product Experience and Customer Experience. 
Its best performances came in Usability, ranking first, and was second in both Validation and TCO/ROI. SAP was designated an Overall Leader and a Leader in Product Experience, Customer Experience, Usability, TCO/ROI, Manageability and Validation. SAP fully participated in the RFI process.
SAP’s Product Experience was nominally impacted by its 73.3% performance in Reliability, where it could provide more visibility into its cloud operations and investments. Customer Experience was nominally impacted by its 80.5%% performance in Validation, where it could provide better case study material.
SAP performed best in Product Experience, notably in Usability, where its 83.0% performance and first-place ranking was due in part to its ability to support a variety of personas. In Capability, it provides good interactivity and visualization along with annotations and some offline analytics. Additionally, SAP brings its collaborative and augmented analytics to mobile devices. In TCO/ROI, it provides good support to help customers calculate costs, benefits and TCO to build a business case.
This assessment was based on SAP Analytics Cloud, Version 2023.16, and was available in August of 2023.
This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of analytics and data software in the industry. Technology buyers can learn more about how to use our Buyers Guide by clicking here and included vendors that wish to learn more can click here. Click below to read the individual reports:
Analytics and Data Buyers Guide
Augmented Analytics Buyers Guide
Collaborative Analytics Buyers Guide
ISG Software Research
ISG Software Research, part of Information Services Group, provides authoritative market research and coverage on the business and IT aspects of the software industry. We distribute research and insights daily through the ISG Software Research community, and provide a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Sign up for free community membership to receive email notifications on research and insights.
