In 2021, SAP announced that it had acquired the low-code platform AppGyver and that it would be integrated into the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). Since SAP had already announced a partnership with the low-code platform Mendix in the past, and AppGyver was a relatively unknown startup from Finland, we found this to be a surprising development.
We saw this as a great opportunity to explore this newly acquired platform and see if we could identify any potential in it. Various pieces of content can still be found on our YouTube page, such as the demo “How to Build an App?”, which, as of this writing, remains our most-viewed video.
Our opinion at the time? We were enthusiastic about the platform, but felt that there was still a lot of work to be done, especially in terms of integration with SAP. For example, it wasn’t yet possible to communicate with an SAP system via an OData service. It also wasn’t entirely clear to us what the suitable use cases were and to what extent someone without programming experience could actually make use of it.
Rebrand
It’s been two years now. What has changed? First, a rebrand: AppGyver is now known as SAP Build Apps. In addition, the platform has become part of the SAP Build umbrella, which also includes SAP Build Process Automation (for automating tasks and processes) and SAP Build Workzone ( for creating personalized business sites). All of these platforms are available on SAP BTP.
SAP Integration
The big question: What’s the status of SAP integration? It’s clear that integration and deployment have definitely been a priority for SAP, because it now works flawlessly. When you want to add a new data source, you’ll have the option to configure integration with your SAP BTP destinations, among other things. This makes it easy to access the OData services you’ve defined.
Visual Cloud Functions
A new feature is Visual Cloud Functions, which you can also use as a data source for your application. Build Apps allows you to implement your own application backend in the cloud (this is a separate project from the front-end app).
Here, too, you don’t need to write any code. Define the entities you need and then create the relevant cloud functions with the desired input and output. Don’t forget that these must be deployed first before they can be used in your front-end application.
User Experience
What stands out to us: In terms of UX, very little has actually changed. This isn’t necessarily a problem (after all, the platform does what it’s supposed to do), but it hasn’t dispelled our earlier doubts.
To build an application in Build Apps, a basic understanding of software development is still required; this includes terms such as front-end/back-end, data sources, parameters, and variables. If the user knows absolutely nothing about software architecture, they will definitely not be able to get started without guidance. We therefore wonder whether it offers much added value in practice, given that it’s already relatively easy to generate a simple Fiori app using SAP Fiori Elements, for example.
It remains a great product in its own right, but we don’t expect it to be a real competitor to the “old” familiar SAPUI5 applications. After all, with the rise of AI and the recently announced SAP Build Code, standard development is becoming increasingly efficient and accessible.
