Let’s Talk Data: Business Technology Podcast | SAP

In this episode of Let’s Talk Data, host Jose Chicas sits down with Leona Hasani, Product Manager for SAP Business Data Cloud and former data scientist, to explore how modern data platforms are transforming the data science workflow. The conversation dives into the real-world challenges data scientists face—from fragmented data access and lack of business context to time-consuming data preparation and trust issues with datasets. 

Leona outlines the end-to-end data science lifecycle, emphasizing that up to 70% of a data scientist’s time is spent on data cleaning and preparation rather than modeling. She explains how SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), combined with SAP Databricks, streamlines this process by providing ready-to-use, governed data products enriched with business context, definitions, and hierarchies. 

A key highlight is the concept of zero-copy data sharing, enabling real-time access to unified SAP and non-SAP data without duplication. This reduces latency, lowers costs, and ensures data consistency across teams. The discussion also explores how integrated tools like MLflow enhance model tracking, governance, and auditability—critical for enterprise and regulated environments. 

Through a practical use case—predicting purchase order delays—Leona demonstrates how BDC accelerates time-to-value by eliminating manual data extraction and enabling seamless model deployment back into business systems. 

Whether you’re a data scientist, engineer, or analytics leader, this episode offers valuable insights into building scalable, efficient, and business-aligned data workflows in today’s AI-driven landscape. 

 

Key Topics of Discussion:  

SAP Business Data Cloud for Data Scientists 
Explores how SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) empowers data scientists with governed, ready-to-use data products that include business context, improving efficiency and accelerating insights.  

Data Science Workflow Optimization & Automation 
Covers how modern tools reduce manual tasks like data access, cleaning, and preparation—allowing data scientists to focus more on modeling, analysis, and delivering business value.  

SAP Databricks Integration & Machine Learning at Scale 
Highlights the native integration of SAP Databricks within BDC, enabling scalable machine learning, AI workflows, and seamless access to enterprise SAP and non-SAP data.  

Zero-Copy Data Sharing in Enterprise Data Architecture 
Explains how zero-copy data sharing allows real-time access to data across systems without duplication, reducing costs, improving performance, and ensuring consistency.  

Data Governance, Data Trust, and Business Context in Analytics 
Focuses on the importance of trusted, well-defined data with embedded business semantics, enabling accurate analysis, better decision-making, and compliance in enterprise environments. 

 

 Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast 

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Connect With Leona Hasani 

Linkedin 

 

Connect With Jose Chicas 

LinkedIn 

 

Additional Resources: 

To learn more about SAP Data and Analytics solutions, please check out SAP Business Data Cloud athttps://www.sap.com/products/data-cloud.html 
• And to engage further, please join our Data Professionals Community on https://community.sap.com/t5/data-professionals/gh-p/data-professionals 
• To see what's new and upcoming with all SAP solutions, please look at our roadmap explorer on https://pages.community.sap.com/topics/road-map-explorer

What does a day in the life of a data steward really look like? This podcast pulls back the curtain on the people who keep enterprise data trustworthy, usable, and compliant. We will discuss how these data steward navigate through the rhythms of their day—triaging data incidents, curating metadata, negotiating business definitions, enforcing access controls, and coordinating fixes across engineering, analytics, and business teams. We explore both process realities and the best practices in place to ensure trust. 

 
Listeners will hear examples of the types of data sources stewards wrestle with and learn how stewards set and enforce quality rules, measure trust, and assign clear ownership to ensure accountability. From root-cause investigations and remediation workflows to balancing speed with governance, the podcast surfaces recurring pain points and pragmatic solutions, with real-world stories, lessons learned, and actionable tips for improving processes, tooling, and cross-team collaboration. 

 

 

Key Topics of Discussion: 

The evolving role of data stewards 
How data stewards act as “data guardians,” ensuring data is accurate, consistent, and usable across the business, and how the role is becoming more strategic over time.  

Cross-functional collaboration and breaking silos 
The importance of working across finance, IT, and other business units to treat data as a shared enterprise asset rather than something owned by one team.  

Data governance, prioritization, and business value 
How teams decide which data issues or projects to tackle first based on impact, business value, and dependencies across processes.  

Challenges: stakeholder management, education, and pushback 
The need to educate others about data, handle difficult conversations, and push back on requests that could harm data quality or long-term outcomes.  

Technology and tooling enabling data stewardship 
The role of tools like data catalogs, lineage tracking, master data governance (MDG), and unified data platforms in supporting transparency, quality, and scalability. 

 

Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast 

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Connect With Corrie Birkeness 

Linkedin 

 

Connect With Ralitsa Dakova 

LinkedIn 

 

Connect With Grigor Kartev 

LinkedIn 

 

Connect With Tina Rosario 

LinkedIn 

 

 

Additional Resources: 

To learn more about SAP Data and Analytics solutions, please check out SAP Business Data Cloud at https://www.sap.com/products/data-cloud.html  
And to engage further, please join our Data Professionals Community on https://community.sap.com/t5/data-professionals/gh-p/data-professionals

This episode of Let’s Talk Cloud ERP features Jennifer Frank McGrory in conversation with Lindsay Callaghan, Director of Business Systems at Rytec Corporation, a North American leader in high-speed, high-performance doors. The discussion explores how Rytec's ERP transformation journey has evolved within a long-standing SAP environment and how new business realities are shaping its future. 

Rytec has operated in a stable SAP system for over a decade, supported by a lean team and strengthened by a recent smart factory manufacturing transformation. As the company began planning its move toward SAP S/4HANA, it was acquired by Nucor in 2024—an event that increased the urgency for process visibility and strategic alignment. 

A major turning point was the use of SAP Signavio. Within 24 hours, Lindsay’s team gained clear, data-driven insight into real business processes, data gaps, and system flows. This shifted conversations away from opinion-based workshops and toward visual, fact-based discussions. As a result, meetings became more focused, resistance rooted in past ERP project fatigue decreased, and the organization could better determine which legacy processes should be improved or retired. 

Looking ahead, 2026 is set to be a pivotal year, with Rytec evaluating RISE with SAP and preparing for S/4HANA—emphasizing continuous improvement, strong partnerships, and process intelligence as keys to long-term success. 

 

 

Key Topics of Discussion: 

Fact-based transformation beats assumptions – Real process data from SAP Signavio replaced guesswork and opinion-driven workshops. 

A stable ERP foundation enables smarter modernization – Rytec’s long-running SAP system allowed for strategic planning toward S/4HANA rather than reactive change. 

Process visibility reduces resistance to change – Visual insights help business users understand impacts, shortening meetings and easing “ERP fatigue.” 

Transformation is a chance to eliminate legacy baggage – Data helps identify which processes add value and which are just being carried forward out of habit. 

Strong partners plus modern tools accelerate success – Combining SAP best practices, experienced partners, and process intelligence supports better decisions and continuous improvement. 

 

Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast 

Apple Podcasts 

Spotify 

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Connect With Lindsay Callaghan 

Linkedin 

 

Connect With Jennifer Frank McGrory 

LinkedIn 

 

Don’t stop here – discover more: 

Experience SAP Like Never Before: Cloud ERP Simulation Challenge: 

https://events.sap.com/noam-cloud-erp-sim-vew/en_us/home.html

In this episode of the SAP Let’s Talk Data podcast, SAP’s Lauren Wong sits down with Robin Bloor and Daniel Howard from Bloor Research to discuss findings from their recent study on SAP HANA Cloud and its role as a modern, in-memory cloud database for developers. 

 

Drawing from interviews with SAP customers across industries, the conversation uncovers real-world insights into how organizations are using SAP HANA Cloud to modernize applications, scale efficiently, and bring intelligence closer to their data. Robin and Daniel share developer perspectives on the platform’s most valued capabilities and discuss how these features are shaping productivity and performance outcomes for teams of all sizes. 

 

Together, they explore key trends revealed through the study, highlight the measurable benefits developers are achieving, and share their broader perspective on SAP HANA Cloud’s versatility as a foundation for building intelligent applications that adapt, learn, and innovate in real time. 

 

Key Topics of Discussion: 

About Bloor Research – An introduction to Bloor as a long-standing technology analyst firm, with Robin Bloor and Daniel Howard sharing their background in data, analytics, and database research. 

Inside the SAP HANA Cloud Study – A breakdown of the study’s goals, methodology, and findings, based on interviews with customers across automotive, financial services, and green energy sectors. 

Customer Use Cases and Outcomes – How organizations are adopting SAP HANA Cloud to support high-performance analytics, scalability, and modernization, including a financial services example using it for workload forecasting and optimization. 

Key Capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud – A look at the platform’s standout performance, multi-model support, reduced need for tuning, and the ability for small teams to manage large-scale environments efficiently. 

AI Readiness and Future Innovation – Insights into how customers are approaching AI, the role of vector and RAG capabilities, and how SAP HANA Cloud is positioned to support the next generation of intelligent data-driven applications. 

 

Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast 

Apple Podcasts 

Spotify 

YouTube 

 

Connect With Robin Bloor 

Linkedin 

 

Connect With Daniel Howard 

LinkedIn 

 

Connect With Lauren Wong 

LinkedIn 

 

Don’t stop here – discover more: 

Read the InBrief report from Bloor Research for their perspective on SAP HANA Cloud for SAP and non-SAP customers https://bit.ly/4odk28k 

Learn more about Bloor Research: https://bit.ly/3LQGozb 

Join the SAP Community and get involved with other developers: https://bit.ly/4abD2Rc 

Learn more about SAP HANA Cloud: https://bit.ly/4oTy3Jv\

Don’t have time to read The Top Reason Why Organization Choose SAP HANA Cloud? Well you’re in luck! Step into the future of business innovation with SAP HANA Cloud! In this AI generated episode of The Let’s Talk Data Podcast, we unveil how SAP’s in-memory cloud database is revolutionizing the way organizations harness their data. This isn’t just another database—it’s a game-changing platform that unifies structured and unstructured data, powers AI workloads, and delivers real-time insights, all while slashing complexity and simplifying infrastructure. 

You’ll hear the 10 powerful reasons why leading businesses are making the switch: from multi-model capabilities that eliminate juggling multiple databases, to true multi-cloud freedom across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and beyond. Discover how intelligent data tiering saves costs without sacrificing performance, and how built-in engines for vectors, graphs, and spatial data supercharge the development of smarter applications. 

But that’s not all—SAP HANA Cloud also delivers native AI capabilities, elastic scalability, seamless data integration, enterprise-grade security, and even AI-powered automation that transforms database administration into a strategic advantage. And for developers? The SAP Build ecosystem brings no-code, low-code, and pro-code development together, accelerating innovation at every level. 

Don’t miss this episode! Find out how SAP HANA Cloud can help your business move faster, modernize infrastructure, and unlock the full power of your data today. 

 

Key Topics of Discussion: 

Multi-Model Data Management – Unifying relational, JSON, spatial, graph, and vector data in one platform for faster insights and simplified applications. 

Cloud Flexibility & Scalability – Multi-cloud deployment across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and more, with elastic scaling to handle unpredictable workloads. 

Cost-Optimized Storage – Intelligent data tiering that balances hot, warm, and cold storage while keeping access seamless for users. 

AI at the Core – Native vector support, semantic search, and retrieval-augmented generation to power smarter business applications. 

Developer & DBA Empowerment – SAP Build’s no-code to pro-code ecosystem plus AI-powered DBA tools that reduce manual work and accelerate innovation. 

 

Subscribe to The Let’s Talk Data Podcast 

Apple Podcasts 

Spotify 

YouTube 

 

Additional Resources: 

Read the brochure, Top 10 reasons organizations chose SAP HANA Cloud: http://bit.ly/4pqNOs4 

What’s the potential value of SAP HANA Cloud for your organization? Complete this short assessment: http://bit.ly/46oekJO 

Learn more about SAP HANA Cloud: www.sap.com/hana