Unlocking the Power of SAP BTP Mobile Services: Overview
SAP Mobile Service is one of the oldest services in SAP BTP(Business Technology Platform). It was earlier called HCP Mobile Services. It is a platform that provides everything you need to build mobile apps for your enterprise. It has advanced features like the ability to work without internet(offline feature), usage analytics, and seamless integration with SAP systems.
It is used mainly for B2B scenarios. And depending on the complexity of the requirement it provides different ways to build the app.
The options provided by the platform to build the app are:
- SAP Mobile Cards
- Mobile Development Kit(MDK)
- SDK for Android
- SDK for iOS
Each option is different in the way you are building the app and the skills you need to build it. For example, native apps for Android and iOS are build using SDK for Android and iOS. And you need skills in Java and SWIFT to build Android and iOS apps respectively. At the same time Mobile Cards and MDK don’t require good programming skills.
Choosing the right option to build app is a critical decision. It purely depends on the complexity of the app you’re trying to build. Make sure you’re not making a mistake here!
Mobile Cards and MDK don’t require high programming skills. If your apps are not complex and don’t require the highest performance or best user experience you can choose these. For mobile apps with many screens and complexity go for the Native approach that needs high programming skills – but worth it!
Many SAP customers are using Mobile Services to build their enterprise apps. Because of its easy integration with SAP systems and post go-live customers can talk to a single vendor(SAP) for support. If a different platform is used(ex. Azure) to build the mobile app that talks to SAP systems, supporting those apps will be challenging because the customer has to talk to two different vendors when an issue occurs.
The solution and the features are mature considering the number of years the service has been available for and the large number of customers using the service. Compared to other platforms (Azure, Google) that provide similar services to build mobile apps it’s worth choosing SAP’s own platform for building mobile apps if your requirement is B2B and it integrates with SAP Systems.
