URL - https://rss.com/podcasts/mindfulminutes/3233436/
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Podcast - 'SAP S/4HANA Condensed: For CXOs to Consultants'
Sunday, October 4, 2026
A Unique SAP book
A unique
SAP book –
For CXOs and Business Leaders – This compact, 250-page book offers a bird’s-eye view of the SAP S/4HANA suite and its ecosystem, providing strategic perspectives and practical frameworks to evaluate SAP adoption, navigate digital transformation choices, and steer successful execution.
For SAP Consultants and Users – Drawing on the author’s 30 years of SAP experience, the book covers a broad spectrum, from S/4HANA Finance, Logistics, CX and EAM to SAC, BTP, AI/Joule, Rise/GROW with SAP, Activate, and migration methodologies and tools. It provides the much-needed cross-functional context and depth to move beyond individual modules, broaden their expertise, understand the wider ecosystem, and identify opportunities for professional growth. Practical guidance, including essential do’s and don’ts, further equips consultants to navigate real-world implementation challenges.
Please
see the first comment for URL to buy your copy of the book.
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Is SAP ABAP Still Relevant in the S/4HANA, BTP & AI Era?
Introduction
“In the era of SAP S/4HANA, BTP, Joule etc. is SAP
ABAP/4 still relevant?”..
..This question must be nagging-- or perhaps could
be unnerving-- millions of developers all over the world.
Modern Extensibility Architecture:
ABAP's relevance is no longer limited to traditional
in-core customization.
SAP's clean-core strategy provides multiple
extensibility options, including key-user extensibility, developer
extensibility using ABAP Cloud on the S/4HANA stack, and side-by-side
extensions on SAP BTP.
What began decades ago as ABAP/4 has evolved
substantially into today's cloud-ready ABAP development model.
The important point is that ABAP has evolved rather
than disappeared.
It continues to play an important role inside
S/4HANA and in cloud-based extension scenarios, although the way ABAP is
written, deployed and integrated is changing significantly.
Six major factors need to be considered.
1. The Evolution: From Classic to ‘Clean’ ABAPPerhaps the biggest shift in modern SAP development is the move away from tightly coupled, heavily customized code inside the ERP core.
SAP's Clean Core approach encourages extensions and
custom development to be designed in a way that minimizes modifications to the
SAP standard and supports lifecycle stability and easier upgrades.
ABAP Cloud represents the modern ABAP development
model for building lifecycle-stable, cloud-ready applications, services and
extensions.
It uses a cloud-optimized subset of the ABAP
language and emphasizes the consumption of publicly released APIs and objects
rather than unrestricted access to SAP's internal implementation objects.
Release contracts are an important part of this model because they provide
defined stability guarantees for released development objects.
This represents a fundamental change in the mindset
of an ABAP developer.
Earlier, knowing how to access an SAP object was
often enough. Today, knowing whether that object is officially released for
consumption—and whether it is appropriate for the particular extension
scenario—is equally important.
The modern ABAP developer therefore needs to
understand APIs, release contracts, extension points and clean-core
principles—not merely ABAP syntax.
The RESTful ABAP Programming Model (RAP) is a major
component of modern ABAP application development. RAP enables developers to
build transactional business applications and services using concepts such as
Core Data Services (CDS), behavior definitions and service bindings. It
provides a modern, service-oriented and API-driven development approach for ABAP-based
applications.
RAP is particularly important in the development of
Fiori-oriented, cloud-ready applications and extensions.
Despite the rise of Fiori, APIs, BTP and AI, ABAP
remains deeply embedded in the SAP application landscape. A significant amount
of SAP's application logic and business functionality is implemented using
ABAP. Fiori and UI technologies may provide the user experience, but ABAP
continues to play an important role in the application and business-logic
layer. Therefore, the evolution of the user interface does not automatically
imply the disappearance of ABAP.
One
might reasonably ask: if SAP BTP supports multiple programming languages and
technologies, why is ABAP still needed? One answer is SAP BTP, ABAP
environment, sometimes informally referred to as ‘ABAP Steampunk’.
It provides an ABAP-based cloud environment in which
developers can build applications and extensions using the ABAP development
model while following cloud-oriented development principles.
Modern SAP architectures provide different
extensibility choices depending on the S/4HANA edition, business requirement
and technical scenario. Extensions can be implemented on the S/4HANA stack
using ABAP Cloud, where appropriate, or developed side-by-side on SAP BTP.
The objective is broadly the same.
Extend SAP without unnecessarily modifying the SAP
core.
This separation is important because it allows
organizations to introduce business-specific innovation while reducing the risk
that custom development becomes a major obstacle to future upgrades.
For ABAP developers, this means that the skill is no
longer restricted to writing code inside an ERP system. ABAP can also
participate in modern cloud-based extension architectures.
Modern ABAP development is increasingly associated
with ABAP Development Tools (ADT) for Eclipse, rather than the traditional SAP
GUI-centric development experience.
ADT provides the development environment for many
modern ABAP capabilities, including ABAP Cloud and RAP. This is another
important indicator of how ABAP has evolved. The transition is not simply: SAP
GUI →
Eclipse.
It is more fundamentally:
Traditional procedural development → Modern,
model-driven, cloud-oriented application development.
An ABAP developer who continues to rely only on the
traditional development experience may therefore find it increasingly difficult
to keep pace with the modern SAP technology stack.
Joule and other generative-AI capabilities do not
eliminate the need for ABAP developers. Instead, they are changing the way ABAP
development is performed.
SAP's AI capabilities for ABAP development can assist
with activities such as:
·
Generating ABAP code;
·
Explaining ABAP and CDS code;
·
Providing predictive code completion;
·
Generating ABAP Unit test cases;
·
Answering development-related questions;
·
Assisting with custom-code migration and remediation.
This is particularly significant when dealing with
large volumes of existing custom ABAP. AI can help a developer understand
unfamiliar legacy code much faster. It can also assist in analysing migration
issues and proposing possible solutions.
But there is an important distinction:
AI can generate code; it does not automatically
understand the complete business context in which that code will operate. A developer still needs to understand the business process, data model,
APIs, authorizations, extensibility rules, performance implications and
architectural consequences of the generated solution. In fact, as AI becomes
better at generating code, these higher-level skills could become even more
important.
The role therefore shifts from:
“How do I write this code?”
towards:
“What should be built, how should it be architected,
and how do I validate what AI has generated?”
AI does not eliminate ABAP expertise. It changes what ABAP expertise is used for.
5. ATC (ABAP Test Cockpit) and Custom-Code Remediation
As enterprises move from ECC or traditional ABAP
environments toward S/4HANA and cloud-oriented development, analysing existing
custom code becomes a major activity.
The ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) helps identify
code-quality, compatibility and other issues, including findings relevant to
S/4HANA custom-code adaptation.
This creates another area where experienced ABAP
developers remain valuable.
A developer who understands both the legacy code
and the modern target architecture can play an important role in
determining what should be retained, redesigned, replaced or retired.
AI is beginning to add another dimension here. Joule
can help explain ATC findings and, where supported, provide code proposals for
addressing certain findings.
Thus, custom-code remediation is not simply a
migration exercise. It is increasingly becoming a transformation exercise.
6. The ‘Reality Check’
There are also some very practical reasons why ABAP
remains relevant.
·
The Installed Base
SAP customers have accumulated decades of custom ABAP
development. During an S/4HANA transformation, this code cannot simply be
ignored. Organizations need to analyse, classify and decide what to do with
their existing custom developments. That requires people who understand both
the old and the new worlds.
·
Performance and Data
Processing
ABAP works closely with SAP HANA technologies such as
CDS and database-level processing. Modern development emphasizes pushing
appropriate data-intensive operations closer to the database rather than
unnecessarily transferring large volumes of data to the application layer. Therefore,
understanding how ABAP, CDS and HANA work together remains an important skill.
·
Industry-Specific Solutions
SAP's industry solutions and customer-specific
implementations often contain deeply embedded business processes and custom
developments. Understanding these processes requires more than knowledge of a
programming language. It requires knowledge of SAP's business applications and
the underlying business domain. This combination of technical knowledge +
SAP application knowledge + business understanding is difficult to replace
with a coding tool alone.
The Road Ahead
The future of ABAP is not about preserving traditional
custom code. It is about transforming ABAP development.
The major changes ahead include:
·
Legacy Modernization
Existing custom
ABAP will increasingly require analysis, remediation, adaptation and, in some
cases, redesign as organizations move toward S/4HANA and cloud environments.
·
Clean Core
New development
will increasingly rely on released APIs, extension points and upgrade-stable
development practices rather than modifications to SAP standard objects.
·
ABAP Cloud
Cloud-ready ABAP
will increasingly become an important development model for new applications
and extensions, particularly where ABAP is the appropriate technology for the
business scenario.
·
AI-Augmented Development
Joule and other
AI capabilities will increasingly assist developers in understanding,
generating, testing, explaining and remediating code.
·
Broader Developer Skills
ABAP developers
will increasingly need knowledge of CDS, RAP, APIs, events, Fiori/UI5,
integration and cloud architecture.
·
Sustainability and
Compliance
SAP's growing
focus on sustainability, compliance and enterprise-wide reporting will create
new application and integration requirements. ABAP developers may participate
in these scenarios as part of broader SAP application architectures, although
ABAP itself is not the sustainability solution.
Skill Leverage
One significant advantage of ABAP is the enormous
installed base of developers who already understand SAP business applications.
The availability of ABAP development capabilities on
SAP BTP allows organizations to continue leveraging this expertise in
appropriate cloud-extension scenarios rather than treating their existing ABAP
talent as obsolete.
However, there is a clear caveat.
Knowing only traditional ABAP is no longer enough.
The modern ABAP developer needs to expand beyond the
language itself.
A modern, ‘New Age’ ABAP developer should consider
developing expertise in the following areas:
1.
ABAP Cloud & Clean Core
principles
2.
CDS – Data Modelling
3.
RAP – Business Objects,
Services & Transactions
4.
SAP Fiori / UI5 – User
Experience
5.
APIs, OData &
Event-driven integration
6.
ADT/Eclipse – Modern ABAP
development
7.
ATC & Custom-Code
Remediation
8.
AI-assisted development with
Joule
9.
Legacy awareness – BOPF and other traditional frameworks remain relevant when
maintaining or modernizing existing SAP landscapes.
The exact combination will, of course, depend on the
developer's role and the SAP landscape in which s/he works.
Career Progression: From ABAP Programmer to Enterprise Application Developer
The ABAP developer of the future should not think of
the career journey simply as learning newer versions of ABAP. It is better
viewed as a progression up the application-technology stack:
1. ABAP + Object-Oriented Programming
↓
2. CDS + HANA
↓
3. RAP + APIs
↓
4. Fiori + UX
↓
5. Cloud + Clean Core
↓
6. Integration + Events
↓
7. AI-Assisted Development
↓
8. Enterprise Application Development
This is an important change in perspective. The objective is not to move away from ABAP. It is to build on ABAP and progressively acquire the skills required to design, develop, integrate and operate modern enterprise applications.
In short, the evolution is not:
ABAP → No ABAP
It is:
ABAP Programmer → Modern ABAP Developer → Enterprise Application Developer
Conclusion
So, is SAP ABAP still relevant in the S/4HANA, BTP and
AI era?
Yes—but ABAP itself has changed.
The language and its surrounding development model
have evolved significantly, with ABAP Cloud, CDS, RAP, APIs, ADT, clean-core
principles and AI-assisted development becoming increasingly important.
The critical question, therefore, is not:
“Will ABAP disappear?”
It is:
“Can an ABAP developer evolve with the technology?”
The answer to that question will determine the
relevance of the individual developer far more than the continued existence of
the language itself.
ABAP is not simply disappearing.
The ABAP developer's role is being transformed—from a
traditional programmer into a cloud-aware, API-driven, AI-assisted enterprise
application developer.
So yes, the short answer to the question asked at the
start of this article is a resounding YES!
(Consulting answer: “Yes, it depends.”😊)
-Prashant Pimpalekar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(For similar insightful articles, please buy a copy
of my book ‘SAP S/4HANA Condensed: For CXOs to Consultants’. See URL under
first comment)
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Gen Z, Gen AI and the Future of Work
Hardly a quarter of the 21st century is over
and mankind is on the cusp of witnessing a ‘never-seen-before,
never-imagined-before’ revolution, impacting lives of most of us. One
particular segment could be bearing the brunt of it and that could be Gen Z!
Gen Z –
This could be of one of the most widely used terms in the
last couple of years.
By the way, naming a generation is typically a US
phenomenon; we read of ‘silent generation’ (Born 1928-1945), then came the
‘Boomers’ (they were born
during a massive ‘baby boom’ that happened after World War II , spanning the
years between 1946 and 1964), followed by Gen X (born 1965-1980),
Millennials/Gen Y (born 1981-1996) and then came in Gen Z (born in 1997-2012)!
While these names until Millennials/Gen Y were more or less confined to US
media, Gen Z became a buzzword across the world, mostly due the world coming
closer due to technological advancements and thereby the vast reach of social
media!
The formative years of Gen Z (all over the world) were impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. For almost 2 years, they didn’t go to school (or some to office); attended school/office from home. This early (and over) exposure to smartphones made them digitally fluent with vast access to information and thereby got them global exposure. But it also came with the downside. Too much screen time has been affecting their health, people skills, EQ (Emotional Quotient) and attention span also.
And as
if all this were not sufficient, just when they are about to enter the
corporate world (or just entered it a couple of years ago and learning the
ropes) , they have to face the biggest of the challenges, …of the most disruptive
technology of.. Gen AI!
Gen AI – (Generative Artificial Intelligence)
In 1950,
Alan Turing proposed the question ‘Can machines think?’ and outlined the famous
Turing Test. In this test, a human judge has a text chat with both a person and a
machine. If the judge cannot tell which one is the machine, the machine passes.
(By the way, the first
Turing test was passed in 2014, just 12 years ago, by a computer program named
Eugene Goostman)
In 1956,
John McCarthy coined the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ at Dartmouth College,
marking the official birth of AI as a field of study. The 1970’s saw the
development of Expert systems (rule-based programs designed to solve specific
domain problems e.g. Medical diagnostics). 90’s witnessed Data-driven machine
learning. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry
Kasparov (proved the power of raw computing power and decision trees). The years
2000-2010 saw rise of Deep Learning and Big Data explosion.
In 2016,
Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeated world champion Lee Sedol at Go, a complex
game once thought impossible for machines to master.
LLMs
(Large Language Models), The Generative AI (using NLP – Natural Language
Processing) and autonomous Agents got developed.
Year 2022-2026:
OpenAI’s ChatGPT popularized Gen AI, followed by Gemini, Copilot, Meta AI, Grok,
DeepSeek, Perplexity, Claude.
Corporate world has been quick to move in. Traditional BI, which helped analyse and report data (that too in a batch mode) is getting replaced by AI which not only makes predictions and recommendations in real-time but also enables automated decision-making when you use AI-powered autonomous agents. In short, we’re seeing Reporting à Predictions → Recommendation → Autonomous Action.
Indian enterprises have been pretty receptive. While the early adopters were e-Commerce players (like Swiggy, Zomato, Paytm, Amazon), many industries/verticals are embracing AI with gusto.
•
Software
Engineering/IT – (GitHub Copilot, Claude) – writing code to auto-debugging to
creating Apps
•
Marketing/Sales/Content
creation
•
Back
office - BPOs/customer care agents, email automation, Personal Assistant (thru’
agentic AI)
•
Healthcare
and life sciences – drug discovery (predicting protein structures/design custom
molecule etc.) , clinical workflows
•
Media/Gaming/entertainment
- News/cartoons/memes creation, create songs(numbers/album!) from lyrics (AI
writes lyrics too!!)
•
BFSI
industry, stock brokers, investment consultants
•
Professional
services, Legal professionals
Even the traditional engineering/automobile companies are deploying AI.
Tata
Motors, Hyundai Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra,
Larsen and Toubro are using AI in some of the following applications -
•
Predictive
maintenance
•
Automated
quality checks
•
Simulate
crash tests
•
Driving
assistance software
•
Supply
chain and smart plants
Future of Work –
Gen AI
is a transformative force with some some metrics showing capability
doubling every 6 to 7 months (sometimes described by industry leaders as
"Moore's Law squared"). Humanoid AI could be accelerating the pace
further and thereby promising 20X/50X productivity gains. This is bound to make
paradigms shift (rather, it could be seismic shifts!)
So can anyone really foresee what the workplace will look
like in 2040? Probably not!
..And here is yours truly giving it a humble try; so please take it with a liberal pinch of salt! 😊
There could be three possible scenarios (or rather, stages) unfolding over next 20 years.
•
Scenario A (Next 10 years) – AI augments humans
Limited net impact on white-collar employment,
but significant task-level changes.
Stanford University Study says-
•
AI’s impact on aggregate employment is likely
small right now.
•
A tough market for recent graduates may be
partly due to AI.
•
AI’s impact on worker productivity is mixed but
generally positive.
•
Firm adoption has accelerated but unevenly
across the economy
Boston Consulting Group has
something similar –
•
Reshaping over replacement: Most jobs are
changing rather than disappearing completely. Over half of jobs are being
actively transformed. BCG says - AI Will Reshape More Jobs Than It Replaces.
•
Entry-level squeeze: Early-career and
entry-level positions—such as junior analysts, customer support, and data
entry—face the steepest decline as AI agents handle foundational tasks.
•
High-exposure sectors: Finance, legal
services, software development, and administrative support see the highest task
overlap with current generative AI tools.
Times of India news (8th
Aug’26) confirming the same –
‘AI creating more jobs than it cuts
in India. India recorded 83,100 AI-related hires during the period,
compared with 31,921 layoffs and attrition, according to the report released
Friday.’
Vineet
Nayar (former CEO of HCL Consulting) captures it succinctly. He says, “Worldwide,
the number of people in technology is going to go up and not down. But for some
companies that are not going to re-invent themselves in the age of AI, the
number of employees is going to go down. And That’s what you are seeing today. You need more what I call imagineers
— people who imagine different kind of solutions.”
• Scenario B (After 15 years) – AI replaces many tasks
White collar jobs would be affected greatly.
Blue collar jobs would be in demand. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AI Godfather
Geoffrey Hinton believe manual labour is safer from AI because it will take
longer for AI to have the dexterity to take on more physical jobs.
• Scenario C (After 20 years) – (AI + Robotics/Humanoids) radically reshape work
White collar as well as blue collar jobs would
be reduced drastically. There would be productivity boom (due to AI and
affordable automation/robots/humanoids). Governments would be giving UBI
(Universal Basic Income) to all – to be at home and do nothing!
While nobody would be 100% correct over which scenario
would unfold over the next 20 years, overall, it certainly isn’t very rosy. How
should Gen Z prepare for it?
While there is no magic mantra (or a magic wand), one
needs to do a SWOT-style analysis of what AI brings to the table (speed, scale,
data, pattern recognition, content generation) and what we (humans) bring to
the table (judgement, empathy, leadership, creativity, ethics, context).
We should neither shun nor fear AI nor should we blindly follow it. (Never develop the notion that ‘AI is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent’)
But we need to see AI as our coworker/collaborator
bringing out the synergistic results/huge productivity gains.
While 74% of Gen Z use artificial intelligence tools every day, we don’t know how much it adds to their efficiency. Prompt engineering should not be overlooked.
As noted by Fortune, about 62% of Gen Z admit they use
artificial intelligence as a mental crutch. Heavy use of automated tools can
weaken natural problem-solving and critical thinking skills. So, one needs to
draw a boundary over AI usage and should not overlook his/her innate human
skills, rather they need to be leveraged to survive/succeed!
It is worth noting that AI doesn't necessarily replace entire jobs. AI changes the tasks within jobs. There will be new tasks unimagined today. One just needs to have his/her eyes and ears open to see the changes happening around, spot the opportunities and embrace the best possible one with open mind. The time-tested best habits of networking, continuously sharpening your skills and keeping abreast of the technologies/developments would come in handy!
अपनी भी पाठशाला..
शशिकांत(जाधव)ने शाळेत मला आधी बराच त्रास दिला पण नंतर मैत्री छान झाली होती! त्याचा आवाज चांगला होता! ‘शिर्डीवाले साईबाबा ‘ हे हिंदी गाणं त्याच्या पुढाकारामुळे आमच्या वर्गातील ५-६ जण सामूहिक म्हणायला जमायचो! नळदुर्ग रोडवर , गोलाईच्या जरा पुढे / पंचायत समितीचं कार्यालय / गोदामाजवळच्या मोकळ्या मैदानावर! (आता हे आठवून गंमत वाटते!)
अशीच हिंदी चित्रपटातील गाण्याची चाल हिंदी कवितेला fit बसवली होती कै सदाशिवराव कुलकर्णी सरांनी! सदाशिवराव धोंडोपंत कुलकर्णी! (लहान गावात राहण्याची एक वेगळीच मजा असते. तुम्हाला मित्रांची (आणि शिक्षकांची पण) केवळ पूर्ण नावेच नाही तर त्यांचं आख्ख कुटुंब माहीत असतं) ...कडक इस्त्रीचा नेहरू शर्ट, पांढरी विजार, डोक्यावरचे केस पूर्ण मागे वळवलेले, कपाळावर अष्टगंध, तोंडावर एक मिस्कील हास्य आणि हातात वेताची छडी! 'Spare the rod and spoil the child' याला त्यांचं १००% समर्थन असणार! (मार खाल्लाय नां मी त्यांचा एक-दोनदा तरी! :-) तुफान वेगानं चालायचे ते (म्हणून आमचा मित्र शशिकांतने त्यांना 'बुलेट' हे टोपण नाव दिलं होतं! :-)) पाचवीत असताना आमच्या इंग्रजी व हिंदी शिकण्याचा श्रीगणेशा त्यांनीच केला होता.
..तर सांगत होतो ती हिंदी कविता;
‘ऐ मातृभूमी तेरी , जय हो सदा
विजय हो। तेरे प्रसन्न
नभ में, सुखशांती सदा
हो।’
आता हे खुप जुनं गाणं म्हणून बघा .. ‘ऐ दिल मुझे बता दे, तू किसपे आ गया है..’ !!
…अर्थात ती कवितेची चाल या गाण्यावरून घेतलीय, हे मला परवा परवा कळलं! 😀
सदाशिवराव सरांनी आम्हाला ५ वीत ‘Lazy Mary, will you get up’ ही कविता २ विद्यार्थ्यांकडुन मुलगी व आई यांचा अभिनय करून घेत शिकवली होती! म्हणजे एकाला सांगितलं बाकावर झोप Mary असल्याचं सोंग घेत. (तेंव्हा बाकच होते , डेस्क आम्ही ७वीत असताना आले) दुसऱ्या मुलाला आई म्हणुन बाकाजवळ उभं केलेलं. संवाद/कविता सुरू -
आई
झालेला मुलगा: Lazy Mary, will you
get up? Will you get up??
मेरी झालेला/बाकावर झोपलेला मुलगा: No, no mother; I won’t get up! I won’t get up!! 😀
पण बघा , असं interactive / role-play करून त्यांनी अंदाजे १९७६ मधे शिकवलेलं आज पन्नास वर्षांनंतर २०२६ मध्येही जणू काल घडलंय असं आठवतंय!!
…आणि
रम्य त्या आठवणी!!
जिल्हा
परिषद उच्च माध्यमिक प्रशाला..!!
(...अर्थात
मराठी माध्यम! Convent किंवा ‘इंग्रजी माध्यम’ असे शब्दही तेंव्हा
कधी कानावर पडले नव्हते हो!!)
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