SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) has become SAP’s next biggest bet after it’s core ERP S/4HANA. As the technical foundation of the entire SAP ecosystem, it plays a pivotal role for thousands of organizations worldwide. This blog aims to answer the most common questions about SAP BTP, providing clarity for both newcomers and experienced professionals alike.
What is SAP BTP?
SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is a comprehensive platform-as-a-service developed by SAP that serves as the technical foundation of the entire SAP ecosystem. Introduced in January 2021 when SAP rebranded the former “SAP Cloud Platform,” BTP brings together multiple services and products under one unified platform. It contains a robust suite of solutions, tools, and products designed to help businesses turn data into actionable business plans. The platform offers services including database and data management, AI, analytics, application development, automation, and integration—all running on one unified foundation.
SAP BTP is not a single product but rather a portfolio of SAP solutions and services brought together under one umbrella. Think of it as a bundle of numerous different services: some for innovation and application development, others for monitoring, some offering databases as a service, some for integrations, and others providing runtimes as a service. This comprehensive approach allows businesses to focus on their core operations while SAP handles the technical infrastructure.
What is SAP BTP Used For?
SAP BTP for two key purposes: building new cloud solutions and extending and integrating existing SAP systems. The platform enables businesses to develop these solutions with minimal effort, lower costs, and faster time-to-market—critical advantages in today’s competitive business landscape.
SAP BTP is structured around four integrated technology pillars that serve different business needs:
- Database and Data Management: This pillar includes everything needed to store, access, process, integrate, and interpret data across your landscape. Products like SAP HANA Cloud provide powerful in-memory database capabilities.
- Analytics: Using products under this pillar, businesses can plan, forecast, make rapid decisions, and become truly insight-driven. SAP Analytics Cloud, for example, allows to quickly bring together data from various sources and use machine learning to identify anomalies and key performance drivers.
- Application Development and Integration: This pillar focuses on building and connecting applications. It includes tools for developing applications in various programming languages and environments like Cloud Foundry, ABAP, and Kyma.
- Innovations: Encompasses AI, machine learning, and other advanced technologies that enable innovation in SAP ecosystem both for SAP customers and partners.
Additionally, SAP BTP can be used to deploy applications in hyperscalers like Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Azure while still leveraging SAP BTP services.
What is the SAP BTP cockpit?
The SAP BTP Cockpit serves as the central interface for managing your SAP BTP account and resources. When you log into SAP BTP, you’ll see the welcome screen of the Cockpit, which provides access to various management functions. Through this interface, users can create subaccounts, manage entitlements, subscribe to services, and perform other administrative tasks. It’s essentially the control center for your SAP BTP environment, allowing both technical administrators and business users to manage their respective areas of responsibility. It allows essential functions such as managing accounts and subaccounts, provisioning services, allocating quotas and entitlements, deploying applications, managing permissions, etc.
How to create an SAP BTP trial account?
Getting started with SAP BTP is straightforward through the trial account option. Here’s a simplified process:
First, visit sap.com and click the Log On icon in the upper-right corner. If you don’t already have an SAP account, you’ll need to register. After registration, you’ll receive an activation link via email to activate your account. Once activated, go to the SAP BTP Trial page and log on. You’ll need to accept the terms and conditions, after which you may be required to verify your phone number. Once verification is complete, you can log on to your verified account and access the welcome screen of the SAP BTP Cockpit.
This trial account allows you to explore SAP BTP’s capabilities without committing to a full subscription, making it an excellent option for learning and proof-of-concept development.
How to learn SAP BTP?
For those looking to learn SAP BTP, several resources are available. SAP provides tutorials specifically designed for beginners, including “Start Developing in SAP BTP” which serves as an ideal starting point for newcomers. This mission helps you learn platform fundamentals, register for a trial account, understand the environment, and even deploy your first application.
For more formal recognition of skills, certification options exist. ABAP developers looking to work with SAP BTP might consider the “SAP BTP Certification for SAP Extension Suite”. SAP also offers community resources, blogs, and documentation to support learning efforts.
How does SAP BTP work?
SAP BTP operates through different environments that serve as platform-as-a-service offerings, enabling users to develop, run, and manage applications and services. These environments can be thought of as different “playgrounds,” each designed for specific types of tasks and technologies.
The main environments include:
- Cloud Foundry environment: A widely used open-source PaaS that supports multiple programming languages and frameworks.
- ABAP environment: Tailored for ABAP development, allowing developers to use familiar ABAP programming models.
- Kyma environment: Provides a Kubernetes-based environment for extending applications with serverless functions and microservices.
Each environment comes equipped with specific tools, technologies, and runtimes needed to build applications. Environments are anchored in SAP BTP at the subaccount level, allowing for organized management of resources.
When a customer signs a contract with SAP, one user is created at the global account level where entitlements are defined. Administrators can then create directories and subaccounts, manage user access, and configure services as needed.
Why is SAP BTP required?
SAP BTP addresses several critical business needs that make it essential for modern enterprises. First, it enables organizations to build solutions with minimal effort, lower costs, and faster time-to-market. By providing a ready-made platform with numerous services, SAP BTP eliminates the need for businesses to build and maintain complex technical infrastructure.
The platform is designed for business transformation rather than just technology optimization. Its features focus on improving business outcomes by offering process- and data-specific tooling that helps organizations rapidly build and extend SAP applications.
Additionally, SAP BTP offers flexibility in deployment and operation. Being an open platform, it allows organizations to choose how to build and extend—whether on hyperscaler cloud infrastructure, in SAP data centers, or on their own premises.
Finally, SAP BTP serves as an enabler for incorporating advanced technologies like generative AI into business processes, improving developer experience, simplifying integrations, enhancing analytics, and streamlining administrative tasks.
Who can learn SAP BTP?
SAP BTP is accessible to a diverse range of professionals with varying technical backgrounds. It’s relevant for:
- Developers: Particularly those with ABAP backgrounds looking to extend their skills to cloud development.
- Administrators: Those who manage SAP systems and want to understand cloud platform administration. Formerly Basis roles.
- Business users: Through low-code/no-code tools like SAP Build Apps and process automation features, business-focused users can create solutions without deep technical knowledge.
- IT professionals: Those responsible for integration, security, and system architecture within organizations.
The platform’s various components cater to different skill levels, making it approachable for those new to cloud platforms while still offering depth for experienced developers.
Who uses SAP BTP?
SAP BTP serves a wide range of users within organizations. Platform users include developers, administrators, and operators who deploy, administer, and troubleshoot applications and services on SAP BTP. These technical users manage the platform infrastructure and develop solutions.
Business users, on the other hand, utilize the applications deployed to SAP BTP. These end users interact with SaaS apps or services like SAP Workflow (now BPA) service or SAP Cloud Integration, as well as custom applications built on the platform.
SAP states that SAP BTP is used by more than 29,000 customers and more than 3,100 partners worldwide. This extensive adoption demonstrates its value across industries and organization sizes. (as of Feb 13, 2025)
Where to learn SAP BTP
Multiple resources are available for learning SAP BTP. SAP Tutorials provide structured learning paths, including the “Start Developing in SAP BTP” mission. The SAP Community also offers blogs, forums, and resources created by experts and practitioners.
For those seeking formal credentials, SAP offers certifications like the “SAP BTP Certification for SAP Extension Suite“. Additionally, partners and training providers offer specialized courses focused on various aspects of SAP BTP.
SAP Discovery Center is another valuable resource, providing information about available services and potential use cases. It serves as a comprehensive catalog where users can explore SAP BTP’s capabilities.
Where is SAP BTP hosted?
SAP BTP offers flexible deployment options across multiple hosting environments. Applications can be deployed in different regions, each representing a geographical location where applications, data, or services are hosted.
These regions are provided either by SAP through its own data centers or by Infrastructure-as-a-Service partners including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP). While these third-party providers operate the infrastructure layer, SAP manages the platform layer and Cloud Foundry environment.
SAP cloud services are strategically offered in key regions worldwide, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, ensuring low latency and high availability. This global network of data centers delivers reliable cloud services and supports various compliance and data regulations, allowing businesses to meet local regulatory requirements for data residency.
When was SAP BTP released?
SAP BTP has evolved through several iterations over time. Its lineage can be traced back to 2012, when it was initially unveiled as “SAP NetWeaver Cloud” as part of the SAP HANA Cloud portfolio. The platform was then reintroduced with the new name “SAP HANA Cloud Platform” in 2013.
In 2017 it was renamed “SAP Cloud Platform”. Finally, in 2021, the name “SAP Cloud Platform” was retired, and the platform was rebranded as “SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP)”. This evolution reflects SAP’s strategy to unify its portfolio and cloud offerings under a single platform that serves as the central hub for cloud, data, analytics, integration, and AI technologies.
When to use SAP BTP?
Organizations should consider using SAP BTP in several scenarios:
- When building new cloud solutions and wanting to minimize infrastructure setup and maintenance efforts.
- When extending existing SAP systems like S/4HANA or SuccessFactors with custom functionality.
- When seeking seamless integration between systems and applications.
- When needing independence in managing downtime, scalability, and lifecycle management.
- When incorporating new-age technologies like AI, IoT, predictive analytics, or machine learning into business processes
- When deploying applications on hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, GCP but still wanting to leverage SAP services.
- When looking to innovate with minimal initial investment through SAP’s Pay-As-You-Go model.
In essence, SAP BTP is ideal when organizations want to focus on their core business logic and innovation rather than the underlying technical infrastructure.
Final Thoughts
SAP Business Technology Platform represents a significant evolution in SAP’s cloud strategy, bringing together a comprehensive suite of services that enable businesses to innovate, extend, and transform their operations. Whether you’re a developer looking to build new applications, an administrator managing SAP systems, or a business professional seeking to leverage advanced technologies, SAP BTP offers the tools and capabilities to support your goals.
As digital transformation continues to reshape industries, platforms like SAP BTP will play an increasingly important role in helping organizations remain competitive and agile. By understanding what SAP BTP is, how it works, and when to use it, SAP customers can make informed decisions about their technology investments and position themselves for future success.