CIO

SAP and Apple team up to integrate machine learning with native apps for enterprise

CEOs Bill McDermott and Tim Cook announce new partnership, discuss digital privacy imperative at annual SAP user conference in Orlando

Apple is on the rise in the enterprise

Bill McDermott, SAP

SAP and Apple have announced that CORE M, Apple’s on-device machine learning technology, will be available for the first time as part of the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS. 

The next version of the SAP Cloud Platform SDK, available later this month, enables businesses to create custom, intelligent iOS apps powered by SAP Leonardo. 

Machine learning models will automatically download to iPhone and iPad so apps can run offline, and then dynamically update while connected to SAP Cloud Platform. 

Through the partnership with Apple, SAP has rebuilt its most popular mobile apps for SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur solutions, along with SAP Asset Manager, to run natively on iOS. 

These apps are fully integrated with the iPhone and iPad, to maximise security, performance and the latest platform innovations from Apple. SAP today announced it will expand its native iOS experience across its broader applications portfolio, starting with SAP Ariba solutions. 

Building on the success of its iOS efforts, SAP also announced it will expand its app offerings to the Mac, with new apps that match the power and ease of use of SAP iOS apps. The new native Mac apps will bring the richness of the SAP iOS experience to the desktop world. 

“Apple is on the rise in the enterprise,” says Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, who announced the new partnership with Apple CEO Tim Cook at SAP’s annual user conference in Florida. 

“Our customers love the unmatched security and ease of use iOS is known for, and that it gives them a superior platform to build game-changing business apps. 

“We have a strong partnership, and today’s announcements show SAP’s commitment to continue our innovation with Apple.” 

“Enterprise customers are seeing real business benefits when they use iOS,” notes Cook. 

“We are excited for SAP to extend these experiences further on iPhone and iPad, as well as bringing them to the Mac for the first time. 

“This is an important milestone for our partnership, and we are thrilled to be working together with SAP to empower our customers with the world’s most-trusted business process data on iPhone, iPad and Mac — the best devices for business.”

Cook says SAP was among the early adopters of the iPad for enterprise use, and notes how McDermott predicted that the device will be “the wave of the future”.

Tim Cook: Privacy a priority

At the Orlando conference, the Apple CEO also reiterated his company’s firm stance to protect privacy.

We believe privacy and data security are among the top issues of the century, says Cook.

He has most recently stressed that digital privacy has become ‘a crisis’ in an interview with ABC News.

The phone you are carrying has more data on you than what is in your house, says Cook.

Cook notes that if somebody will break into your house this evening and take everything in there, the intruder will know only a fraction about you compared to what they would know on your phone.

“Whether you like it or not, the devices your employees carry have so much information about your business,” he states. “These are the jewels that must be protected.”

He says by integrating hardware and software, Apple is able to do this in a way that no one else can.

“We deeply believe in privacy,” he says.

He says this is why the company has been standing up for privacy even when it has been “uncomfortable”.

“We are all in on this because we can’t imagine running our business without it.”

Cook’s message comes amidst increasing concern about how other technology companies are handling consumer data.

Divina Paredes attended the 2019 Sapphire Now conference as a guest of SAP