THE SITUATION
The Internet, new information technologies and market globalization have changed the economy at the beginning of the 21st century. This change has been accompanied by intensified international competition, as powerful players including states such as Brazil, Russia, India and China are penetrating the global market, and are set to be followed by further emerging nations. At the same time, conditions are changing a lot faster than only a few years ago, with the corporate landscape being shaped by alliances, mergers and increasing numbers of acquisitions. The job market is characterized by increasing production in low-wage countries and a lack of skilled workers. The Basel II equity guidelines combined with ever-tougher environmental regulations are increasing business risks. However, these negative factors are offset by new opportunities that are arising through technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification) and nanotechnology. At the same time, consumers have become more demanding and are scrutinizing new developments such as gene technology extremely critically. And, last but not least, new concepts such as Web 2.0 – technologies that encourage interactive, group-specific Internet use and speed up communication around the globe – are establishing themselves in the business world.
New ways of gaining a competitive edge are offered by the transformation of existing business relationships. Companies are making use of their partner networks to strengthen their ties with customers and suppliers alike – and the larger the number of companies networked in a close partnership, the faster those taking part can respond to changed conditions. These trends are also being driven by the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.
Success despite tough competition
When it comes to making a company adaptable, information technology is the key factor that decides between success and failure, as it enables companies to collaborate quickly in a virtual world spanning numerous locations. IT has thus long since been transformed from the driving force behind cost efficiency into a strategic competitive tool, and is considered to be the engine that drives change in companies.
In order to assert themselves in an international environment and set themselves apart from the competition, organizations must be able to adapt their own services quickly and flexibly to current customer requirements – individually and at competitive prices. This strategy presents a challenge to all areas of a company, from administration through to development and production, right through to marketing and sales. Only those who base their corporate culture on flexibility, openness, collaboration and speed will be successful on the market in the long term.
Key success factors for constant growth and increased competitiveness include intelligent, clearly defined processes and fast decision-making. In this way, recent challenges such as ever-shorter product cycles and increasingly tough quality guidelines can be mastered. When it comes to IT implementation, it is advisable to follow two strategies, which go hand in hand. The first strategy involves making the IT infrastructure flexible so that companies can quickly combine existing technical processes to form customer-friendly services, and the second is active process management to enable internal processes to be adapted to market requirements and statutory regulations without having to overcome technical hurdles.
SOA – the ideal basis for IT environments
The IT landscape in many companies has progressively expanded over time. Practically everything – from terminal-based mainframe computer applications and standard software such as SAP through to portable Java applications – can be found in computer centers. Step by step, large enterprises, medium-sized companies and public authorities have added additional software applications to their IT infrastructure. However, isolated proprietary solutions can slow down working processes as, in the worst case scenario, the software doesn’t even allow people to work without media discontinuity. At the same time, this type of bloated and rigid IT system means an extremely high development and maintenance outlay for IT departments.
Often, the only way to cope with this complexity is to implement a new approach, namely to modernize the application environment based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA). This new system architecture marks the end of rigid, data-centered models and is considered by experts to be a significant milestone in the history of IT. Service-oriented architectures are bringing new IT environment qualities into the spotlight. With their help, companies can merge all existing and new software applications to form a single, harmonized system and constantly enhance this system. In the future, it will no longer be the application that dictates the limits of business processes. On the contrary, applications will support companies in adapting their processes to current business circumstances in the best possible way.
Put in simpler terms, a service-oriented architecture constitutes a broad framework in which independent, loosely connected software services can be created, managed and combined. Each of these services is available on its own, can be used again, and can be accessed via a standardized interface. IT developers can combine individual services by mouse-click as they choose, and make these services available to users in the various departments of a company in line with requirements. This gives companies the opportunity to smoothly link their existing applications to new applications. The resulting software environments are completely flexible, and can be adapted to suit any possible change in no time at all.
Increased flexibility with SAP NetWeaver
SAP AG has developed its own solution for a flexible application architecture. This software module, Enterprise SOA (ESOA), paves the way for SAP users to set up a service-oriented IT environment. ESOA adds business elements to supplement the model of independent Web services. This has the advantage that companies can control the entire innovation and standardization cycle for business applications within a homogenous environment.
The core product in the ESOA strategy is the SAP NetWeaver integration platform. This platform lays the technological foundations, for instance, for opening up existing application systems and making individual program functions available as reusable services. On top of this, the platform connects processes and IT systems across company boundaries, thus making it possible for organizations to combine existing program functions to accommodate new technical processes. As a result, companies are in a position to respond flexibly to new market requirements.
Enterprise SOA and the extensive possibilities offered by SAP NetWeaver are leading to a fundamental change in the development of business processes. In the future, organizations will be able to model business processes and combine them in practically any way they choose, meaning that new processes can be set up quickly and easily. This will lead to decisive advantages in particular for companies with international operations, as processes can be used in all organizations and countries via the Internet.
THE PORTFOLIO
At REALTECH, the focus is on the goals and interests of customers. Since being founded in 1994, the company has in this way succeeded on the highly competitive IT consulting market in establishing itself as a competent partner for the optimization of business processes – for international companies of all sizes and in all industries. SAP AG, the largest manufacturer of enterprise software worldwide, has been an important cooperation partner for REALTECH for many years. This close collaboration with SAP and the geographical proximity of the two Walldorf-based companies give REALTECH a valuable competitive edge in numerous IT projects in terms of expertise.
REALTECH offers an end-to-end range of services in the area of SAP, and builds a bridge between technology and business processes. With this combination of specialist SAP technology knowledge and expertise in the process consulting business, REALTECH sets itself apart from the competition. The company’s aim is to offer consulting services, strategies, solutions and products that provide customers with the best possible support in mapping their business processes with IT. This is made possible by the particular expertise of the company’s employees.
Around the globe, more than 2,000 businesses and organizations have already put their trust in REALTECH’s expertise and solutions. The range of services offered also covers areas above and beyond SAP applications that are set to shape the information technology market in years to come. This is particularly true of the high-margin segment of strategic business process consulting, an area in which REALTECH has over the past few years increasingly invested in developing.
Solutions for business processes
Strategic IT consulting provides customers with an end-to-end approach that lays all the necessary foundations for operating an SAP NetWeaver or Enterprise SOA infrastructure. REALTECH has taken up this issue at an early stage, aiming to ensure long-term success both for itself and for its customers. When implementing SAP projects, companies will in the future place an emphasis on a holistic view of business processes and the technologies used. REALTECH consultants analyze business processes, paying attention to the entire IT environment, and pinpoint ways in which companies can optimize these processes. This results in clear statements regarding the productivity, return on investment and total costs of an IT project within a defined period of time.
Preparation for SAP NetWeaver
Ever since SAP AG presented its new SAP NetWeaver integration platform, REALTECH has been paying great attention to this technology. The company is able to support customers with a wide range of consulting services relating to all aspects of SAP NetWeaver, ranging from strategic planning and benefit-oriented implementation through to reliable operation. Efficient integration of users and systems into processes puts customers in a position to tap the entire potential offered by SAP NetWeaver technology. Thanks to the close collaboration between the two Walldorf-based companies, REALTECH is able to gather practical experience of implementing new SAP NetWeaver components at a very early stage. For customers, this means that REALTECH processes new projects quickly, efficiently and reliably.
SAP strategy consulting
In the area of SAP technology and strategy consulting, REALTECH is a reliable partner for its customers in IT optimization, consolidation and operation. Well-trained specialists support customers in rationalizing their IT processes and structures in order to achieve tangible, permanent savings in computer center operation. In terms of consolidation consulting, REALTECH ensures reliable and cost-effective operation of both new and existing IT infrastructure, and thus helps companies to set up simple, homogeneous system environments with consistent business processes.
Powerful software solutions
Alongside the consulting segment, REALTECH also has a second core area: developing software. The Walldorf-based company has made the most of the customer proximity of its consulting specialists to continually expand this business field. The consultants are familiar with the market, technology, infrastructure and typical customer problems, thanks to their day-to-day work. This experience is then input into software development, with the result that the products are closely aligned with the challenges customers face.
REALTECH’s theGuard! software family enables organizations to automate their IT services. These products control the pulse of the entire IT environment – from the network through to databases, right through to applications. The various theGuard! products monitor IT systems largely automatically, identify possible sources of error early on, and provide IT managers with suggestions as to how weak spots can be remedied quickly and efficiently. As a result, organizations can benefit from reliable IT systems with minimum downtime. Customers consider the theGuard! product range to be one of the most powerful system management solutions worldwide, as has been confirmed by IT analysts such as the Giga Information Group.
A further focus of REALTECH’s product range entails software tools developed especially for SAP systems. To name a few examples, these applications create powerful automated interfaces to other systems while also increasing efficiency, quality and security for program and data modifications in SAP systems. This is also confirmed by SAP, which has for instance awarded REALTECH’s TransportManager solution the title “Certified for SAP NetWeaver”.
Sturdy foundation for business success
REALTECH AG has long since transformed itself from a specialist for SAP technologies into a strategic consulting partner for business-critical IT projects. The company’s range of services is closely aligned with the requirements of customers. Its two business fields, IT consulting and software solutions, ideally complement one another and provide a sturdy foundation for continuing to successfully implement the company’s business strategy, namely to assist organizations around the globe in optimizing their business processes along the entire value chain.
All this goes to show that REALTECH is in an excellent position to provide customers with highly competent support along the road to the new era in information technology, and to further expand its own strong position on the IT consulting market – to the benefit of the company, employees, customers and shareholders.
Source: Annual Report 2007, pages 45pp.