APOS Expands SAP Analytics Cloud with Live Connectivity to 200+ Data Sources

The challenge: Enabling live connectivity beyond SAP for a growing customer base

APOS Systems is a Canadian software provider with more than 25 years of experience helping enterprise customers get more value out of their SAP investments. As a long-time SAP partner, APOS has built a strong reputation for its BI and analytics enhancement solutions, most notably for SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). Its portfolio includes tools for report publishing, broadcasting, and real-time data access, with the APOS Live Data Gateway emerging as a critical bridge for customers who need live connectivity to external data without moving or duplicating it in the cloud.

While SAP Analytics Cloud supports live connections to SAP-native sources, it does not offer the same for non-SAP systems. That posed a growing challenge. APOS customers increasingly wanted to bring outside data—like Salesforce marketing data, SQL Server operational data, or Google Analytics traffic insights—into their SAC dashboards and decision-making processes. And they wanted to do it without adding complexity or IT overhead.

To meet these demands, APOS needed to connect to a broad and unpredictable mix of external systems. But building and maintaining custom drivers for every request wasn’t feasible. Each new connector added engineering lift, delayed product updates, and diverted resources from APOS’ core value: delivering smart, flexible, self-service analytics solutions within the SAP ecosystem.

“It became very clear to us the wide range of drivers that CData provides. That was a big factor for us and allows us to say yes to more and more customers.”

— Allan Pym, Chief Operating Officer, APOS Systems

The solution: Embedding JDBC drivers into the APOS Live Data Gateway

Rather than attempt to build and maintain a large portfolio of custom drivers, APOS embedded CData’s prebuilt JDBC drivers directly into the data virtualization layer of their solution. CData’s expansive library, along with proven quality and deep engineering expertise, gave APOS confidence to support new customer requests without hesitation.

The embedded drivers now power direct connections from the APOS Live Data Gateway to virtually any data source their customers use. From there, APOS’ semantic layer enables self-service modeling through a point-and-click web interface—no code or technical skills required.

“We found that the quality of the CData drivers has been quite good. We recognized very quickly in our discussions with CData that there was strong, deep technical expertise within the CData team. It’s critical for us and our reputation in the market to be able to have that sort of quality behind the scenes.”

— Allan Pym, Chief Operating Officer, APOS Systems

The outcome: Removing integration barriers and focusing on innovation

By integrating CData, APOS transformed connectivity from a deal barrier into a competitive advantage. Customers can now bring their full data estate into SAC without compromising security or requiring IT support. And APOS has been able to shift focus from plumbing to innovation, like enabling data blending, hierarchical modeling, and expanding into new platforms.

One global manufacturing customer used the Live Data Gateway to create a unified “One World View” of KPIs from SAP, Google Analytics, and Salesforce. The data powers a real-time dashboard visible across both executive offices and the production floor—something only possible because of the broad and reliable connectivity now built into the APOS platform.

“With the removal of connectivity as a barrier, it really has allowed us to focus on our unique value—our semantic layer and our integration with SAP Analytics Cloud.”

— Allan Pym, Chief Operating Officer, APOS Systems

CData Embedded Connectors: Powering your product’s potential

With CData’s embeddable drivers, you can handle any integration request, deliver real-time access to live data, and free your engineers to build what’s next.

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