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SAP manager at Pakistan Telecommunication Limited
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Along with an easy setup phase, users can opt for the multiple deployment models it offers
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's initial setup phase was really easy."
  • "The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

SAP S/4HANA recently established communication with SAP HANA database. No other database can be used with SAP S/4HANA application.

SAP HANA can be used for real-time analysis and resolving queries. It has an in-memory database that uses RAM instead of hard drive disks, making it a very fast tool compared with any other relational database.

What needs improvement?

Actually, SAP HANA has a different application for each purpose. If you want a better UI experience, SAP has its own application. If a user wants to manage an application, SAP has another application. If a user wants to use the baseline command, SAP has its own tool for it where one can manage it. There is always room for improvement in every field, but right now, I can't think of any area.

The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience with SAP HANA.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten.

I have barely faced any issues with the product in the last two or three years.

Buyer's Guide
SAP HANA
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP HANA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product offers scalability options. The tool offers two to three scalability options. If you are stuck on the upgrade part and you want to expand the disk space at RAM or storage levels, you can easily upgrade your hardware or networks.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was really easy. A user just has to choose the pre-configuration options, and the tool will prompt with every option to help what one should choose, after which the product can be installed within ten to twenty minutes.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and in the on-premises model. Depending on what a user wants, it offers an on-premises data center deployment option. People can also choose between the SAP Cloud and the public cloud options. In SAP Cloud, there are other products offered, and the cloud also helps manage the DBMS application.

What was our ROI?

Speaking about the value and benefits a company can experience from the use of the solution, I would say that if an organization plans to implement an ERP solution in their company, then it should be SAP S/4HANA as it will be very beneficial. SAP HANA provides a free database to users, but it has very limited functionality. If a company wants to get full advantage from SAP application, then they must go with SAP HANA.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool is expensive compared to other products, like Oracle R or Microsoft, but it offers a range of all the company's functions.

What other advice do I have?

SAP HANA is a new innovation from SAP compared to the old databases, like RDBMS. SAP HANA serves as an in-memory database that works fast and solves queries in real-time.

In terms of the most valuable functionality in speeding up data processing tasks, the main features of SAP HANA revolve around the fact that it is really easy to manage since there is no need to work on the command line, as the solution has its own application that is used for it. Our company's work and manageability parts are very easy with SAP HANA. SAP has many applications that can help my company manage SAP HANA, which is a very easy process. With the product, it is easy to manage backup and restore.

In every project, my company uses SAP HANA for data management because we have to load all the data in the DB. At that time, I never faced any error while doing any configurations since there would never be any issues with the DB part. A specific person is needed to manage the DB part. Even in a small company, there will be one person to manage the DB since it is very easy to manage by SAP HANA.

When speaking about the tool's in-memory computing can impact data analysis capabilities, if one considers the old database or RDBMS, then I would say that they have capabilities related to rows. When we execute a query or when we analyze data, the query only works with the rows as it reads every line. SAP S/4HANA allows for the aggregation of columns, making the retrieval of data very specific. I think a range of 1-1000 can be considered for the analysis of data.

SAP HANA is specifically made for SAP applications and is called S/4HANA. SAP launched HANA database with applications for SAP-related operations. SAP has certain tunings to ensure that SAP applications work better. I just use the tool with SAP applications, and I will never use it with any other applications. From SAP's end, SAP HANA is a very good database.

From the admin side, I never got involved with any integrations related to the product, but I would recommend it.

If a company wants to manage its resources, like for different functions, if an organization wants an application that can be used for enterprise resource planning, SAP is the best solution in the world.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Commercial Manager at Natco Information technology
Real User
Excellent compatibility between modules and the control
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is marvelous because it controls everything including workflow and that makes our company more productive."
  • "The surface side or Attack dashboard needs improvement because there are some gaps after sales services."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses the solution for our accounting system and our services department. 

We have 60 companies so we take each project step by step. Most of our companies have been using the solution for one or two years so they have already converted to implementation or training phases. 

We have 18,000 users across all of our companies. 

How has it helped my organization?

The solution saves us in operational costs. The controls are very professional for managing orders with suppliers and partners. 

What is most valuable?

The solution is marvelous because it controls everything including workflow, and that makes our company more productive. 

The compatibility between modules and the control are excellent.

The documentation and archiving systems are good. 

What needs improvement?

The Attack dashboard needs improvement because there are some gaps after sales services. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable so I rate stability a ten out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable so I rate scalability a ten out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good so I rate support a ten out of ten. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup is easy so I rate it an eight out of ten. 

What about the implementation team?

A third party handles implementations with assistance from our team of 40 IT managers. Our team works on the old core system but we are encouraging them to do that only for maintenance. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution's license is very expensive so I rate pricing a one out of ten. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use the solution, SAP Business ByDesign, or Oracle depending on the project.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution and rate it a ten out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SAP HANA
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP HANA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
George Mukira - PeerSpot reviewer
ICT Consultant at Spring Training & Consulting
Real User
Beneficial interactions with suppliers, reliable, and improves organization
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of SAP HANA is the interaction it provides with external suppliers and clients."
  • "When we are using SAP HANA we have some difficulty with the customization. We would like to be able to add and make customized menus."

What is our primary use case?

We have used SAP HANA to do some tendering through the supplier management system. We have our own servers that are hosting the solution.

Primarily we use SAP HANA to manage suppliers, they can upload the tender documents. We are then able to do prequalification based on the preset requirements. We then know who is qualified and who is not. Additionally, it has helped us send notifications to the suppliers.

How has it helped my organization?

Using SAP HANA has reduced a lot of paperwork that we would typically be doing and the communication we have with our suppliers. Additionally, it has improved our organization and approval process.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of SAP HANA is the interaction it provides with external suppliers and clients.

What needs improvement?

When we are using SAP HANA we have some difficulty with the customization. We would like to be able to add and make customized menus.

In a future release, there should be a way to cancel or delete, for example, a tender document. The deleting or canceling of documents is sometimes confusing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP HANA for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SAP HANA is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of SAP HANA is good.

We have more than 500 people using the solution plus the suppliers we have. We can give suppliers accounts. 

How are customer service and support?

I have used the support from SAP HANA. We have expectations some of our problems should be fixed in 24 hours but they are not fixed for 48 hours. It's not that the support does not know how to do it, but sometimes it takes a little bit longer for them to have our solution.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used previously Oracle and Microsoft Innovation. We switched to SAP HANA because the cost was more favorable than Oracle and it was more user-friendly.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of SAP HANA was gradual, it took us approximately six months.

What about the implementation team?

We used consultants, project managers, and our team to do the implementation of SAP HANA. The solution is stable and we do not have to do a lot of maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is an annual license to use SAP HANA.

I rate the price of SAP HANA an eight out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is for them to do a lot of research and training before they decided to go live with the solution.

I rate SAP HANA an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Supply Team Engineer at Micron Technology
Real User
User-friendly interface that allows users to fetch data easily
Pros and Cons
  • "SAP HANA's interface is pretty user-friendly."
  • "SAP HANA's long run time to extract data could be improved upon."

What is our primary use case?

We use SAP HANA mostly for fetching data. There are a lot of tables for which we need to do some troubleshooting. For example, if the fill rates are low daily, we examine various factors, such as yield production versions and inventory levels, to understand why it is happening. To assist us in this process, we leverage Blue Yonder ESP, which operates on HANA View. As a supply chain consultant, we use SAP HANA to fetch data from these tables to troubleshoot the issue and find out why the fill rate is dropping. This helps us determine if it is a genuine issue related to supply or something related to the model.

How has it helped my organization?

We have been building a lot of sniffer audits for users. For instance, if a bond structure is not going a particular way, the master data team and the business users can check those audits. These audits, made to assess the data quality, will confirm if it is something we have already identified. So all the data quality audits are built on HANA View.

What is most valuable?

SAP HANA's interface is pretty user-friendly. It is not very difficult to pull out data extract, and even a beginner can fetch data easily. Additionally, data snapshots are available. Also, building upon a more advanced query is not that difficult. In terms of usability, SAP HANA is pretty good.

What needs improvement?

SAP HANA's long run time to extract data could be improved upon. Also, the analytics given in SAP HANA's interface is basic and could be improved upon.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP HANA for a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate SAP HANA an eight out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate SAP HANA a seven out of ten for scalability. SAP HANA can be used in the tactical horizon, which for us is 52 weeks. Anything beyond that needs scenario-based planning, which is not possible with SAP HANA.

Around 5,000 to 6,000 users are using SAP HANA because we are a team spread across the globe in places like Boise, the US, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and India. The first users are supply chain engineers and IT employees. Business users hardly use it because it is a little complicated for them. Since we are trying to expand our tactical horizon from 12 months to 18 months, the usage of SAP HANA will increase in the future.

How are customer service and support?

SAP HANA's technical support is pretty good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before using SAP HANA, we were entirely using SAP APO. We switched to SAP HANA because it is an optimizer and gives better results than SAP APO.

How was the initial setup?

I rate SAP HANA a seven and a half out of ten for its initial setup. The deployment of SAP HANA took around 18 months.

What about the implementation team?

The major part of the deployment was done internally. However, initially, we did use external consultants. So SAP HANA's deployment was partly internal.

The first step in the deployment process is customization, which involves obtaining the solution according to our requirements, including the data we use and the basic tables it provides. Our bond structure was changed to enterprise bonds so SAP HANA could process it. An IT team worked entirely on the data transformation part to ensure the data from other upstream systems could be processed. After that, we went into the design part, the user acceptance testing, and finally went live.

What other advice do I have?

New users of SAP HANA need to have basic SQL coding skills and attention to detail to see data using the solution. It might be complicated for someone, not from a background where they're used to seeing a lot of data.

Overall, I rate SAP HANA an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Siddharth Matalia - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Has a primary and secondary node, is stable, but uses a lot of memory
Pros and Cons
  • "Anyone currently using SAP will be transitioning to HANA."
  • "I give the scalability of SAP HANA a six out of ten."

What is our primary use case?

We are consolidating SAP HANA into our environment as one of our primary projects. This is not a greenfield implementation, but rather a conversion from our current environment to the consolidated project, where multiple databases are combined into one. So far, this has been going well, and the major advantage of SAP HANA is that it can read both rows and columns at the same time, unlike other databases. Despite this progress, we still need to evaluate its performance as it has not been as fast as we initially anticipated.

This database for SAP is deployed on-premises, and it supports over 40 SAP applications in our environment.

How has it helped my organization?

I provide the infrastructure support for data centers and databases, and I can see that the background jobs run much faster with SAP HANA than with Oracle or DB2. Furthermore, SAP HANA has fewer licensing issues, making it cheaper than Oracle. Additionally, the support for SAP HANA is the best we have seen.

What is most valuable?

The best part of our multi-node system is its ability to help us a lot. This system consists of a primary and secondary node, which is a database, and it works effectively. 

What needs improvement?

SAP's HANA database is said to be the fastest database, with simultaneous reading and writing of rows and columns. However, we have not seen the promised improvement in speed. Additionally, shutting down a large database of 6 TB can take up to 30 minutes, whereas databases of other types are much faster to shut down. The long recycling process of HANA can be quite frustrating and has room for improvement.

When there is blocking occurring on the database level, the process responsible for it should be killed automatically. We have not seen any CPU or memory increases, but often the memory is almost completely utilized in Linux environments where HANA is installed. As HANA cannot be installed on any other OS, the memory usage should be checked to determine why it is almost entirely taken up.

The cost of the solution is high and has room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for almost five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I give the stability of SAP HANA an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I give the scalability of SAP HANA a six out of ten.

What was our ROI?

The return on investment is good and that is why we are moving ahead with the transition.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

SAP HANA is expensive, but unfortunately, we do not have any alternatives. Therefore, we must transition to HANA databases by 2025.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a six out of ten.

Anyone currently using SAP will be transitioning to HANA. Those who wish to implement SAP will also be using HANA, as it is the only supported platform for SAP applications, not for any other applications.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Development & ERP Technologies Department Manager at Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.
Real User
Good solution for SAP-oriented users
Pros and Cons
  • "We are using the solution for the DW system. The primary function of the solution is for the database in memory."
  • "I would like to see improvements in the connectivity of the solution with other BI software. Not every software can connect to it natively."

What is our primary use case?

We are using the solution for the DW system. The primary function of the solution is for the database in memory.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in the connectivity of the solution with other BI software. Not every software can connect to it natively.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the past five to six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of the solution an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is quite scalable. You can increase the usage if you have enough hardware. There are about 5000 users in our organization.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we used Oracle Database, but we have changed to HANA database now.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not easy since it took a couple of days to install the tool. We had to download it from the internet and follow some processes so that the tool could be integrated into our internal network.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment of the solution was done in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would rate the pricing of the solution a ten out of ten. The pricing for on-prem SAP HANA is on a yearly basis and expensive. I am not aware of the actual pricing but it is based on 64 Gigabytes. For instance, if you consider $10,000 for 64 Gigabytes, then you can calculate the cost for Terabytes in case you have one. You will have to buy expensive hardware as well which is quite a lot.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. There are three SAP-based individuals involved in the maintenance of the solution. This solution is recommended for SAP-oriented users only since it is very expensive as a database.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Umair Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Administrator at Systems Limited
Real User
Top 20
Useful user administration and server management, but lacking user-friendliness
Pros and Cons
  • "As I only worked part-time on SAP HANA, I did not have the opportunity to explore the advanced features of the solution. However, I did work with basic features, such as user administration and access controls for the accounting department. The feature that stood out to me the most was the Single Sign-On and user administration, backup, and server management. My experience with SAP HANA was mainly focused on basic server improvements."
  • "In my limited experience using SAP, the process of granting access to different modules is difficult. Specifically, the requirement to assign roles and key codes to users rather than being able to assign them individually made the process more complex. It would be beneficial if there was a way to assign key codes separately, rather than having to create multiple roles. This would make managing access easier."

What is our primary use case?

In our company, we utilized SAP HANA to manage various types of information, for example, inventory, employee information, and accounting-related tasks, such as billing and employee surveys. The majority of our employee information was stored in SAP HAHA.

What is most valuable?

As I only worked part-time on SAP HANA, I did not have the opportunity to explore the advanced features of the solution. However, I did work with basic features, such as user administration and access controls for the accounting department. The feature that stood out to me the most was the Single Sign-On and user administration, backup, and server management. My experience with SAP HANA was mainly focused on basic server improvements.

What needs improvement?

In my limited experience using SAP, the process of granting access to different modules is difficult. Specifically, the requirement to assign roles and key codes to users rather than being able to assign them individually made the process more complex. It would be beneficial if there was a way to assign key codes separately, rather than having to create multiple roles. This would make managing access easier.

The grid could be made more user-friendly. While it is functional, it is not as user-friendly as other databases or accounts. In particular, I find that SAP HANA is a bit more complex for users to navigate. This could be improved to better serve the user.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP HANA for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SAP HANA is a stable tool. On and off, there were some issues, but overall the experience was good and we didn't have any sort of trouble using the setup or any other users complaining about anything.

I rate the scalability of SAP HANA a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 70 users using SAP HANA in my company. We had some shared applications which were another approximately 30 users using the solution.

The solution is scalable.

I rate the scalability of SAP HANA a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

We provided support to our clients and we did not resolve ourselves we did not go to the vendor for an answer we looked online at the community support for our needs.

I rate the support of SAP HANA a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

When comparing SAP HANA to other solutions in the same category, such as MySQL and Denodo, there are several differences. MySQL is more user-friendly than SAP HANA. Additionally, MySQL does not require a license to use, whereas SAP HANA does. However, SAP HANA does have its own advantages, such as being faster than MySQL and it is better suited for applications that require higher processing power. Ultimately, it depends on the specific needs of one's business and what they are trying to accomplish with their database which is the better solution. I find MySQL to be easier to work with than SAP HANA.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is an annual payment needed to use the solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAP HANA a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Vinay Lohakare - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Technical Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Fast, easy to set up, and simple to expand
Pros and Cons
  • "The speed at which it gets the data is great."
  • "More standards would help in the future."

What is our primary use case?

We use HANA mostly for any live reporting directly from the ECC box or S/4HANA box. We also do some of the operational reports, where it is difficult to do or apply the logic directly in the ECC box. It's better to bring the data, do your logic in SAP HANA and do your reporting out of it. Or you can also push your data to BW as well, by doing all your logic, and you can also expose your HANA calculation directly to SAP Analytics Cloud as well as Power BI.

How has it helped my organization?

The maintenance is quick. It's analytics directly out of the box. You do not need storage. You bring the data, do your calculation, and do your reporting. That said, if you want to store it, there's a cost involved. However, if you just want to report out of it, you don't have to move your data to any other place. I won't call it a data warehouse; it's more about quick analytic reporting out of SAP.

What is most valuable?

The speed at which it gets the data is great. There's a quick response time and quick reporting.

Most of what we need is already there. 

The initial setup isn't too difficult. 

It's a scalable product. 

What needs improvement?

It's still improving there, still improving a lot. Most of the extractors that are now. Most of the standard things don't satisfy the requirements in order to go for the custom build. More standards would help in the future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are always stability issues. However, that is why we have SAP. I'd rate the stability eight out of ten. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale. I'd rate it nine out of ten in terms of the ability to expand. Of course, it comes down to cot. While it can scale, it will cost to do so. We have six users dealing with the product right now. Everyone in the organization is on HANA, whether it S4 or BW.

How are customer service and support?

While I haven't dealt with support in the past year, they are usually pretty good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

You do need resources specifically dedicated to the solution. However, it's not that complex. I'd rate the ease of setup around six to seven out of ten.

It is pretty quick to deploy. Deployments happen weekly or biweekly. 

One resource is enough to handle deployment, and three for maintenance.

What was our ROI?

We have witnessed a very good ROI since you don't have to install a separate box. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The main concern of every customer is the cost of the product. However, the pro is maintenance. You do not have to do a lot of maintenance on it. The number of results that you need after go-live would be less compared to any other data warehousing tool. You don't need a bunch of data engineers or data scientists, you just need a couple of business resources and a couple of analysts. In that sense, it costs less.

What other advice do I have?

We're working with the latest version of the solution. 

I really like SAP. It's the best ERP tool. If you want to implement analytics, go with HANA. Go with SAP Data Warehousing if you want to implement a data warehouse.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP HANA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP HANA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.