With the Software as a Service (SaaS) market growing exponentially, there’s no shortage of pre-built applications to meet your business needs. But, even with thousands of applications available to choose from, businesses often find themselves needing to develop a custom application. Custom application development can be confusing and costly, even if you have a strong internal IT team, but it doesn’t need to be. This is where SAP Build Apps comes in.
What is SAP Build Apps?
SAP Build Apps is a professional application development solution designed for anyone to quickly create apps without code regardless of role or skill level, using a simple, visual interface.
You may have heard of this solution but under a different name, AppGyver. SAP acquired AppGyver back in 2021, and has since incorporated it into the SAP Business Technology Platform, as well as added additional capabilities that address authentication, data integration and lifecycle management needs.
Want to learn more about SAP BTP? Click here to read our blog.
What does SAP Build Apps do?
SAP Build Apps is the go-to tool if you want to build custom applications for your business. You can use it for both internal applications (for example an HR portal) or external applications (for example a customer self-service app). These apps can be web-based, and/or available on iOS and Android.
SAP Build Apps enables you to drag and drop different pre-defined components and build cloud applications without any coding. You can then connect these apps to SAP and non-SAP solutions securely with pre-built components, connectors, and integrations.
SAP Build Apps can help you:
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Build intricate user interfaces:
Build web and mobile applications in a drag-and-drop fashion using a large library of customizable user interface components, the logic flows, and formulas for data transformation. Co-create with your team members and preview the changes in real-time.
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Persist data and run application logic:
Create no-code application backends using the built-in cloud functions capabilities. Craft solutions to be used standalone or together with your existing SAP data models.
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Integrate to SAP and other systems:
Connect your app to your no-code backend with one click. Integrate modern APIs in minutes or consume data from any cloud or on-premise SAP system using SAP BTP Authentication and Destinations.
How easy is SAP Build Apps?
When we first got our hands on SAP Build Apps, our Customer Experience (CX) team decided to build a customer self-service portal integrated into SAP Service Cloud using the new platform.
The idea was to create a web-based customer self-service portal that integrates with a Customer Service CRM for customers to log in and create tickets and view the updates and status of their existing tickets. We started off by creating a new project:
And proceeded to build the different pages and components of the application:
Before we knew it we had a great application built where users are able to log in:
Create new Tickets:
And view the status and updates of their existing tickets:
So how easy was it?
“Easy” is a relative term, so how easily you find SAP Build Apps will of course depend on your level of technical know-how 😊. When it came to the UI and design of the app, we did find it very easy. The drag-and-drop functionality made it a breeze to add images, forms, buttons, icons and fields, as well as to control the general layout and navigation of the app.
The integration to SAP Service Cloud also went very smoothly. BTP Destinations enable you to use SAP Systems as a data resource in SAP Build Apps, so we were able to leverage and connect to the standard ODATA available in SAP Service Cloud. Let’s face it, integration is never “easy”, but the tools provided by SAP Build Apps make it as painless as possible.
SAP also provides some great resources to help you get started with Build Apps:
- SAP Build Apps Help: You can view the general documentation and guides here.
- SAP Build Apps YouTube Channel: You can have a look at some great videos that guide you through the app development process.
- SAP Build Apps Discovery Center: View tutorials and guides on specific use cases.
What are the benefits of SAP Build Apps?
SAP Build Apps is a great tool if you want to develop custom applications faster and more efficiently. It can help your business:
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Improve Productivity:
By simplifying the whole development process, Build Apps makes developers more productive.
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Cut Development Costs:
Whether you are using the tool internally or engaging an external provider (like our team at Axxis Consulting), Build Apps will help you get your custom applications up and running at a lower cost.
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Speed-up Time-to-Value:
The faster your custom application is up and running, the faster your business can benefit from it.
Try it out!
SAP provides a free tier model available for SAP Build Apps on the SAP Business Technology Platform to test and evaluate if the no-code app builder is the right choice for you or your company.
The free tier option includes the front-end capabilities to build beautiful UIs in a drag-and-drop fashion using a large library of customizable components, logic flows, and formulas for data transformation.
Click here for the steps required to try it out.