SAP Analytics Cloud v Roambi

[former_member242513]

Hi,

I've read all the material about SAC mobile and Roambi, have also signed up to the free trial for SAC and produced a bunch of stuff (about to do for Roambi).

I'm aware that the two products are positioned to serve different needs ("mobile access" v "mobile first") BUT I can't help feeling that if I have a bunch of data in a "model" in the SAC (we are going to use the "Acquired" method), then we could have one story consuming this data which is complex and designed for desktop use and another story with a simpler format using the inbuilt IoS formatting for mobile feature.

This could suit our needs without the need for Roambi right ?

There is one technical difference that I think may be relevant for me and that is that with our SAC (acquired), the data is stored in the cloud and may need an online connection. But I'm not certain of that as I'm sure I saw in one of the videos that if a connection goes down then you can still see the data. But perhaps that is the connection between the SAC and our BW system. If the internet connection from your phone to the SAC fails then perhaps you cannot see anything on your phone anymore. BUT with Roambi I think the data may be stored as a local copy (hence Roambi works on smaller datasets) and this local copy is refreshes when a connection is available. So you can view data offline on Roambi I think (which would be an advantage).

Opinions welcome.

Doug

[pdaniel · Accepted solution]

Doug,

As a team member for SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), I offer these thoughts about your questions. In SAC, we have 3 different layouts available to design story content; Grid, Canvas, and Responsive. Responsive layout is our mobile design layout and much of the "structure" I believe is based off Roambi technology, and is the future direction for layouts. Canvas is pixel perfect layout and Grid is, well, a grid like a spreadsheet. SAC doesn't store any data locally, and if you have acquired data, it resides in the SAC Cloud layer, versus a live connection which pulls queried data directly from a source system on demand, like S/4HANA or BW. I would expect that 99.9% of the time, any device connecting to SAC and looking at a story with a responsive layout will return the results on a mobile device without issue, but you are correct that SAC needs to be connected to provide the story data. Beyond the layouts, and depending on the licenses you purchase, the other key SAC advantages include; Digital Boardroom views (agendas), capacity to use Planning functionality (allows input via model device for planning), Predictive capabilities, which are getting more robust with R-Design/features.

Hope this helps and good luck with your review.

[JohnL · Accepted solution]

Here is another good resource on the SAC mobile app:

https://www.sapanalytics.cloud/resources-mobile-app-ios/

[former_member242513 · Accepted solution]

Thank you Petar and John. Very interesting. I imagine that since SAP has purchased Roambi, it means that SAC mobile can learn from some of the great visualisation that Roambi provides. So in time it may be that the SAC mobile offerring strengthens from that point of view. Good point about the other capabilities - predictive / planning etc. Those aren't in scope yet for us at the moment though. The offline capability of Roambi may make it more attractive to senior management here. But there could be a place for both.

[TammyPowlas]

Hi Doug - to me this is like comparing apples and oranges - it doesn't work. Please see https://blogs.sap.com/2017/09/19/sap-analytics-mobile-strategy-and-whats-new-in-roambi-asug-webcast-... -as I hope it helps you with what you are trying to achieve.

[former_member242513]

Hi Tammy,

Thanks for the link. I've already seen this one though. Its a good page which is helpful to see the general approach of each product and the future roadmap. Since posting I can confirmed my understanding of the offline advantages of Roambi (my final paragraph). We are going to trial both products so hopefully it will become apparent in the detail which approach (either or both) fits our business requirements.

Doug