I am going to be writing a lot of blogs about two of my loves, SAP technology and Blockchain technology, and this is the first one, so buckle up, it's going to be an exciting ride, and there is so much to discuss it's going to be a marathon rather than a sprint.
We've got so much to talk about in this space, this blog is going to discuss the why and the how:
. Why Blockchain Databases or Distributed Ledger Technology Databases are so useful for SAP Customers
and
. UseCases, how Blockchain can solve existing challenges and enable re-imagining of business processes
and
. How Blockchain and SAP is no longer just a dream, just a hype, but how you can start doing Blockchain and SAP today solve old challenges with new(er) technology
A lot has been written about Blockchain and Blockchain Databases, in the SAP Community there is a very nice explanation which I recommend you to read.
In 2019, Gartner wrote to CIO's and said, "CIOs should begin to embrace blockchain to explore strategic business initiatives, but avoid falling...", that's 5 years ago, and the point is, back then, as I know from first hand experience, as a SAP Customer, if you wanted to "do" Blockchain, it was complicated, even just trying to play with the technology was like a University Project. And here's the thing, fast forward 5 years to 2024, and now, within the SAP Partner Edge Open EcoSystem there are enabling technology Blockchain Products designed and built by SAP Experts specifically for the needs of SAP Customers to make doing Blockchain and SAP easy, and so today, you can do SAP and Blockchain, it's no longer hype, today it's real and there's nothing stopping you.
McKinsey & Company, in their December 2023 Featured Insights Publication, gave a beautiful description of what is unique and special about Blockchain, "Blockchain is a secure database shared across a network of participants, where up-to-date information is available to all participants at the same time". If we just pause for a moment and let that sink in, and think about what that means, to Business Processes, to Collaboration, to System Resilience, we start to see what is so special about Blockchain Databases and Distributed Ledger Technology.
Let's begin with the first deliverable of the Blog, Why I love SAP and Blockchain Databases and why you should too, and:
Why Blockchain Databases or Distributed Ledger Technology Databases are so useful for SAP Customers
As a 25 year career veteran of SAP Technology, [15 years SAP Basis and 10 years SAP Tech Arch including Tech, Integration, Security, Data from 3.1H to S/4HANA PCE on RISE and the BTP and everything in between, and former SCN Moderator and Mentor alumni], some of the biggest challenges which I've spent a greater part of my career solving for SAP Customers are:
. Protecting the Integrity and Originality and Confidentiality of SAP Data - making sure that only the people and system who need to see it can see it in the Business Processes [here's a Blog I wrote in 2013]
. Protecting the Availability and Resilience of SAP Data and SAP Systems for Business Processes
. Protecting the Movement of SAP Data across Business Process which include SAP and 3rd Party Systems
. Protecting SAP Data which is Shared in collaborative Business Processes
To do all of this in the world we had prior to Blockchain Databases, required layers and layers of technologies, often from different Vendors, and combinations of automation and human centric processes.
To do all of the above items needed amongst other things:
. Multiple Installations of SAP Systems and Databases
. Clustering and Replication Software running between
. Job Scheduling Software
. Multiple layers of Security
Additional Encryption of Data when it is stored (at rest)
Additional Encryption of Data on the move (in transit)
Key Store Management and Rotation
House Keeping
. Monitoring & Logging
. Different Security and Resilience approaches and tools for the different
So we had to take the out of the box products and we had to build security and resilience on top of them with even more products and human centric processes.
And here's the thing, guess what, Blockchain Databases, Distributed Ledger Technology Databases have all of that built in ! How cool is that ?
Really... how does it work ?
Blockchain Distributed Ledger Technology has four special characteristics:
Let's think of a Blockchain Database as a Database Server Software. And let's think of the Blockchain Ledger as a Database Table.
If you install two or more Instances of the Blockchain Database Software and connect those two Instances together, you have a Blockchain Database Network, or a Distributed Ledger Network. In Blockchain Architecture this is considered as Layer 0, the Blockchain Network.
The Four Layers of Blockchain Architecture:
Let's go through the characteristics of the Blockchain and why they are so special.
The Blockchain Hash Mechanism
Every row [Block-Data] in the ledger contains a unique Hash identity [This-Block-Hash]
Every row in the ledger contains the Hash of the previous row [Previous-Block-Hash]
The Hashes tie the Blocks together in a Chain and this is what makes the Chain of Blocks [Blockchain]
This weaves the rows of data together into an impenetrable sequence [as shown below]
The Blocks tied together as Chain make it very hard for hackers to insert new data into the Blockchain
The Blockchain Is Decentralised / Distributed
Blockchain Software must be installed on more than one Server (Node) in more than one place
This is what makes the Blockchain Decentralised and Distributed
Consequently the Blockchain has built in resilience and high availability and disaster recovery
To hack and attack the Blockchain you would have to destroy every Server where it is running
The Blockchain Is Immutable
Data in the Blockchain cannot be modified or deleted because it is immutable by design
This makes it difficult for malicious actors to modify or delete the data
A malicious actor would have to hack the Blockchain on every Server to modify the data
The Blockchain Concensus Mechanism
To add a new row of data to the Blockchain, a majority of the Blockchain Servers in the Blockchain have to agree (concede) that the data can be added to the chain β this is known as the Concensus Mechanism
Getting concensus among Blockchain Servers makes it extremely difficult for Hackers to maliciously attack the Blockchain because to attack the Blockchain the Hacker will need to be trusted by a majority of the Blockchain Servers in the Blockchain
And this is why, and this is the key here, the key difference between Blockchain Databases and the previous generation of Databases, Blockchain Databases, natively, out of the box, have a level of security and availability resilience built in which is not there in the previous generation of databases.
With the Blockchain Database you have the High Availability and Disaster Recovery built in, you have your Business Continuity Plan built in, and not only because of the availability resilience but also because of the immutability of the data.
This is why Blockchain Database Technology is so exciting for SAP Customers, we can get rid of layers of security hardening and have all of these layers taken care of natively out of the box in one product.
And we can do it today, it is no longer just hype, there are products in the SAP Partner Edge Open EcoSystem which can enable SAP Customers to do Blockchain and leveraging their existing investments in the SAP BTP, and running Blockchain in the SAP BTP on the SAP BTP Kyma Runtime.
Let's pause and take a breath, have a cup of tea or a cup of coffee, and then let's move to next objective of this blog...
UseCases, how Blockchain can solve existing challenges and enable re-imagining of business processes
There are loads and loads of use cases for Blockchain, and people have been writing for years about the Enterprise Blockchain use cases and benefits. a quick search on google will lead you to years of articles about the benefits of Blockchain and the use cases.
What I am going to do here is list a few of them as headlines across the dimensions of Securing the Integrity and Originality of Data, enabling Data Sharing and Orchestration and Multi-Party Collaboration, and Resilience and Business Continuity, and in the subsequent Blogs I will deep dive into the use cases and Technologies both from SAP and from SAP Partner Edge OpenEcoSystem partners which you can already leverage today to implement these solutions and do these use cases in your Enterprises.
Enterprise Blockchain Use Cases for Protecting/Security the Integrity and Originality and Confidentiality of Data:
. Track and Trace across all Industries and Business Processes, Single Party & Multi Party
. Finance & Insurance Business Processes, Single Party & Multi Party
. ESG - proving that what happened did happen and the evidence cannot be manipulated
Enterprise Blockchain Use Cases for Data Sharing and Orchestration and Multi-Party Collaboration:
This is a really interesting one for the Blockchain, this is where McKinsey & Company, in their December 2023 Featured Insights Publication, really nailed it with, "Blockchain is a secure database shared across a network of participants, where up-to-date information is available to all participants at the same time".
Just think about that. Think about how Blockchain could be used as an irrefutable common store of data, across your Enterprise, or across Enterprises.
Imagine running Blockchain on SAP Edge Lifecycle Management, or between the SAP Integration Cell and instances SAP BTP CI.
We all know, as the number of parties involved in a transaction goes up, so the trust in the transaction goes down.
Just think about how in Business Process and Business Scenarios where the same data is shared between multiple Teams in your Enterprise, or multi Enterprises in a Business Transaction or Process, just think about how the Blockchain and its special native out of the box characteristics will enable everybody to trust the information they are sharing and working with.
And then think about how Blockchain could be used to orchestrate data, to communicate data, to share data.
Imagine you have to give an instruction to a third party and you want to be the most certain that you can be that nobody with bad intentions can manipulate the instruction... you set up a Blockchain between you and your Partner and you write the data to the Blockchain and let the Partner read the data from the Blockchain.
Enterprise Blockchain Use Cases for Resilience and Business Continuity:
This one is a really interesting Blockchain Use Case. All of the SAP Technical Architects out there take note, Blockchain can today, using Blockchain products within the SAP Partner Edge Open EcoSystem solve your BCP challenges.
In all of our Enterprises we have the Business Continuity Plan.
The Business Continuity Plan leverages technologies to ensure that in the event of a BCP situation the Business can continue to operate to some extent.
To be able to operate most Businesses to some extent, there needs to be Data, certain core Master and Transactional Data to enable the Business to keep running.
As SAP Technical Architects our job is to design Technical Solutions which will enable the BCP scenario.
The basis requirements for the BCP scenario are:
. Store the core Data somewhere where it will be available for a BCP scenario
. Make sure that the core Data cannot be modified, make sure we can trust the core Data
And this again is where the Blockchain shows its beauty. Thanks to the dimensions and characteristics of the Blockchain which were described above, it's Immutable, tick that box for BCP, it's Distributed and Decentralised, tick that box for BCP, all we have to do as SAP Technical Architects is set up a Blockchain and write the most important BCP data to the Blockchain. We could set up a Blockchain Server on the SAP BTP Kyma RunTime Service in three continents in three SAP BTP Regions, connect that Blockchain to our S/4HANA, write the data to the Blockchain, and voila, we have our BCP.
If you've got this far, good job, now we are on to the last section which will be a shorter one π
How Blockchain and SAP is no longer just a dream, just a hype, but how you can start doing Blockchain and SAP today solve old challenges with new(er) technology
I've been interested in Blockchain for the Enterprise since about 2018. As a career SAP Basis and SAP Technical Architect, when I started looking at Blockchain, I wanted to play with it, and I wanted to set one up, connect it to our R/3's and the, back then, new S/4HANA, and see what we could do with it. My expectation was that it would be like, download the software, self extract it, run it, do a few configurations and then integrate it and bring data in to it. All of the Blockchains for Enterprise which I looked at back then were extremely complicated, it was like a University Project to try to figure out all of the pieces of the puzzle that were needed to get it running.
6 years later, times have changed, the Blockchain technology is on its journey and maturing, and now, there are Blockchain products which SAP Customers can implement today, and which are coming from the SAP Partner Edge Open EcoSystem partners and are designed for the needs of SAP Customers and to leverage existing SAP investments and run on SAP BTP Kyma Runtime and consequently natively integrate with SAP data sources, S/4HANA and the SAP Cloud Products and integrating through the common SAP integration channels, SAP CI, SAP APIM, SAP AEM etc.
So what are we all waiting for ?
Ok, that's the end of this blog. This blog is the first of many, you will be seeing a lot more SAP and Blockchain blogs coming from me, explaining how implement the Blockchain software within your SAP investment and talking about all of the SAP Enterprise Blockchain use cases and business cases.
What do you think, are the words Blockchain, Web3, Distributed Ledger Technology, starting to appear in your Company's visions and technology visions ? What use cases are you looking at ? Let's chat about it in the comments.
For today, over and out. π
Andy Silvey.
Independent SAP Technical Architect and CEO of atkrypto.io
Author Bio:
Andy Silvey is a 25 years SAP Technology veteran [15 years SAP Basis and 10 years SAP Tech Arch including Tech, Integration, Security, Data from 3.1H to S/4HANA PCE on RISE and the BTP and everything in between, and former SCN Moderator and Mentor alumni].
Andy is also co-Founder of atkrypto inc, an startup whose ambition is to make Blockchain easy for Enterprise.
atkrypto.io's flagship product is the atkrypto Enterprise Blockchain Platform for SAP, and atkrypto.io is a SAP Partner Edge Open EcoSystem Partner.
The atkrypto Enterprise Blockchain Platform for SAP has been designed by SAP Independent Experts for the needs of SAP Customers and to be deployed on the SAP BTP Kyma Runtime Service and leverage native integration to SAP Products.
atkrypto Enterprise Blockchain Platform for SAP has a number of unique qualities, including being the only Blockchain software in the world which has a DataCenter version and a light mobile version which can run on Edge/IoT/Mobile devices and enables data to be written to the Blockchain at the Edge where that same Blockchain is running on a Server in the DataCenter, protecting the integrity and originality of data from the Edge to Insights. Taking Blockchain to the Data at the Edge instead of taking the Data to the Blockchain.
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