Dolphin Enterprise Solutions Corporation offers business performance improvement for companies running SAP solutions by helping manage both data and processes. To learn more, we caught up with Dolphin CEO, Dr. Werner Hopf.
insideAI News: Dolphin is playing an important role in HANA’s budding ecosystem. How did this relationship come about?
Dr. Werner Hopf
Dr. Werner Hopf: Dolphin identified data volume management as a critical component of SAP solutions almost 20 years ago. Founded in 1995, Dolphin started as a data archiving service provider for SAP systems.
Over time, Dolphin began to develop our own SAP add-on solutions, such as Archive Management Cockpit and Process Tracking System for Accounts Payable, and we expanded to provide software and services for business process optimization solutions as well as data volume management solutions. Our strategy since that time has been to help our customers manage both the data that fuels the business and the processes that run it, so they can improve the business performance of their SAP systems.
We continue to partner with SAP and with other leading software and hardware vendors to deliver flexible, yet comprehensive, business performance improvement solutions for our customers. Our SAP-centric and SAP-certified solutions help increase performance, reduce risk, and lower the total cost of ownership of SAP systems.
insideAI News: What, in a general sense, are Dolphin’s solutions/products and who are your customers?
Dr. Werner Hopf: Dolphin provides data volume management solutions and business process optimization solutions that are fully integrated with SAP applications.
Our data volume management solutions keep the cost of managing data in line with its real business value. We provide solutions for Data Archiving (ERP/BW), Data and Document Retention, Audit Security Compliance, and Legacy Decommissioning/Business Carve Out. Our solutions combine best practices for leveraging SAP built-in data volume management functionality along with industry leading add on hardware and software solutions. We work closely with our customers to provide them with a solution that is tailored to their specific data storage and access needs. Our add on data volume management software products, such as our Information Lifecycle Management Dashboard, provide our customers with advanced data volume management planning, management, and analysis tools so our customers can keep online data costs low and maximize the benefits of archiving.
Our business process optimization solutions streamline Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Order Management, and Human Resource activities in SAP applications to provide real-time, 360-degree visibility into and control over the business. Our solutions provide intelligent data and document capture and pre-built workflows to optimize processes from start to finish. Our web-based InfoCenter and Mobile Approvals App provides SAP users and non-SAP users alike with better access to information in SAP systems so approvals are faster, exceptions are handled quickly, and user productivity is improved. The real-time information available in our configurable dashboards and reports help users identify bottlenecks in processes so they can be addressed immediately and improved over time.
Our solutions are fully integrated with SAP systems which reduce system integration, compatibility, and upgrade issues. Our customers choose Dolphin solutions because it enables them to leverage their investment in SAP systems and improve business performance so they can meet strategic business goals, support new business models, and improve profitability.
One-third of all Fortune 100™ companies that run SAP® are Dolphin customers. Our global customer base includes some of the largest and most well-known brands in the world, across a vast array of industries including: Pharmaceuticals/ Biotech/Medical Device, Oil & Gas, Food & Beverage, Consumer Products, Industrial Manufacturers, Process Manufacturers, Energy, Technology, Automotive and Aerospace.
insideAI News: How does Dolphin help HANA customers?
Dr. Werner Hopf: Industry data shows that even though the cost of storage is getting less expensive, IT costs are rising. This is because Big Data, and the large volumes of data being processed, are consuming the benefits of better technology. The cost of ownership for complex enterprise systems such as SAP, therefore, remains quite high. Even with new technologies like SAP HANA, which push the boundaries of performance, many companies are concerned about how much it costs to operate.
Dolphin helps companies manage data volume and optimize processes so they can balance the performance and processing capabilities of SAP systems against the cost of running those systems. We develop a data volume management strategy so our customers can keep business critical data in SAP HANA, to get the fast efficient processing they need, and move static or business complete data on to other storage where it is still accessible. With a data volume management strategy in place, our customers are better prepared to go live on HANA and improve their return on investment.
insideAI News: Can you tell me more about your customers?
Dr. Werner Hopf: We have several customers running SAP HANA for SAP ECC and BW. One of our customers is an energy provider in California, and was one of the first HANA pilot customers for SAP. We helped them implement a near-line archiving strategy that greatly reduced the growth rate of their BW and HANA environment, and ultimately enabled the company to achieve a positive ROI for their HANA project.
insideAI News: What are the challenges in managing data and information?
Dr. Werner Hopf: As a solutions company we understand that not every company running SAP systems has the same data or business process. Unlike a software vendor with a pre-packaged solution or traditional consulting firm that provides a complete custom solution, we provide SAP-centric solutions focused on specific challenges that most businesses face in managing data volume and optimizing processes. Our data and process solutions are built to complement our customers’ existing SAP systems, providing the flexibility and transparency they need to run their business more efficiently. Our unique approach cuts down on implementation time and reduces the risk associated with optimizing SAP systems, so our customers can focus on running their business and improving their bottom line.
insideAI News: What do you see coming down the road for Dolphin? What’s in the works with SAP?
Dr. Werner Hopf: Dolphin is committed to aligning our product roadmap with SAP’s roadmap. All Dolphin solutions work inside of SAP and leverage the native SAP architecture, database, and security structures. We plan to continue to expand the scope of our data volume management and business process optimization solutions to support SAP’s focus on SAP HANA, Cloud, and Mobile. Most recently, we certified our Process Tracking Solution as powered by SAP NetWeaver and certified integration with SAP ERP powered by SAP HANA.
