SAP Hana, The Ugly Duckling

Since its enthusiastic introduction by former SAP Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vishal Sikka, it’s gotten eerily quiet around Hana. Of course, customers still talk about implementing it, since they kind of have to – it’s mandatory if you want to switch to S/4, after all – but they don’t seem too happy about it.

In the distant past (it’s been a long year, alright), when in-person events and meetings were not only permitted but also encouraged, founder and SAP supervisory board chairman Hasso Plattner tried his best to stoke customers’ enthusiasm about the database with comprehensive, in-depth presentations at Sapphire in Orlando. Despite his determination, flawless presentation and elaborate content, customers didn’t take the bait.

Database Hana and the concept of the Hana platform have become more and more unpopular accessories to S/4. Even exciting innovations like Intel Optane Persistent Memory haven’t done much to make Hana look more desirable to customers. Despite SAP’s best efforts, Hana has fallen by the wayside.

Hana, the ugly duckling?

That could become a problem for the SAP community. Ideally, Hana’s lifecycle is expected to last until at least after the release of S/9. Beginning with S/4, database platform Hana has the potential to become the go-to foundation for any future release changes, which would save SAP customers a lot of troubles and headaches.

A stable database platform following the principle of continuous improvement (no more new Hana versions, please!) would be ideal for the SAP community. If the ugly duckling Hana will turn into a beautiful swan by 2027 remains to be seen.