7th July, 2025
By combining advanced platforms like SAP BTP with HR process know-how, our innovation practice delivers solutions that are as business-smart as they are scalable.
By Malcolm Soans, Practice Director – Technology and Innovation, HR Crowd
HR Crowd’s Technology and Innovation Practice is the innovation engine behind truly business-aligned HR solutions.
What began as a specialist SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform) practice has grown to encompass a wider range of services and technologies, from data migration, analytics and reporting to digital adoption platforms like WalkMe and emerging AI tools like SAP Joule. But at its core, our purpose remains the same: to help organisations solve high-impact HCM challenges like complex rostering, workflow gaps or compliance processes, without compromising their SAP foundation.
BTP remains one of the most powerful enablers in our toolkit for helping customers ensure their SAP investment meets the unique needs of their business.
We work with businesses that rely on SAP technologies to manage their most important asset: their people. Platforms like SuccessFactors, S/4HANA and even ECC provide a strong, standardised foundation, which is important— but many businesses have complex, non-standard requirements. That’s where SAP BTP comes in.
In a nutshell BTP is a platform that sits outside your core SAP applications. Think of it as a box of LEGO for your SAP systems. It lets you build exactly what your business needs, from automated workflows and integrations to custom AI-powered apps, without modifying the core platform code. This approach gives you the flexibility to innovate and deliver new capabilities across the enterprise while keeping your system stable, upgrade-ready, and aligned with SAP’s “clean core” principles.
For HR leaders, that unlocks major value. In complex, high-compliance sectors like mining, healthcare, infrastructure, and government, we’ve used BTP to tackle issues like roster visualisation and managing background, certification and licence checks, alongside other smart integrations that drive efficiency, reliability and automation across critical business processes.
With BTP, HR teams can:
- Automate manual, repetitive tasks
- Integrate payroll, time and finance systems for seamless data flow
- Deliver user-friendly experiences that reflect how your business works
- Embed smart tools like chatbots, alerts and guided workflows
Furthermore, BTP is purpose-built for SAP. This means tighter integration with SAP systems including SuccessFactors and S/4HANA, stronger governance, and more sustainable customisation. It also supports integration with non-SAP applications, giving you the ability to connect your entire technology landscape.
We don’t just code. We solve HR challenges through strategy, smart design and a deep understanding of how HR and businesses really work.
Anyone can build on BTP with the right skills. We start by asking: what does the process need to achieve? Who’s using it? What are the compliance needs? How does it connect across the business? Whether it’s a shift worker, site admin, payroll officer, or HR admin, we design with real users in mind.
Our team also engages with stakeholders across the business—from frontline users to IT and the C-suite—to turn needs into business-aligned solutions.
That depth across tech and real-world operations is what makes the difference between a tool that works, and one that works for your business.
Alongside custom solutions, our practice use BTP to build reusable components that can be deployed across our customer base to deliver value faster.
We’ve developed a growing suite of BTP-based accelerators. These are flexible templates and frameworks that speed up delivery without cutting corners. They’re not cookie-cutter apps, they’re building blocks, like LEGO, that tailor to your needs so you don’t have to start from scratch.
Take CrowdSchedule. We originally built it to give managers in FIFO- (Fly-In Fly-Out) and DIDO- (Drive-In Drive-Out) heavy industries like mining a unified view of their team’s shifts, leave and travel days. It’s since evolved into a flexible tool we can customise for other high-compliance sectors. Built entirely on BTP, CrowdSchedule connects real-time data from HR and time tracking, eliminating the need for spreadsheets and manual workarounds. It supports daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly schedule views, includes leave and timesheet data, and even integrates travel and flight details. With single sign-on (SSO) and secure access, it’s a practical, powerful way to streamline workforce planning and improve compliance
It’s already been a game-changer for a major project, and now it’s solving similar challenges in new contexts. It's a clear example of how BTP can solve operational problems without cumbersome workarounds, waiting on platform roadmap releases, or spending on third-party bolt-ons.
Ever wished you had a 360° view of your team’s roster? Get in touch for a personalised CrowdSchedule demo. We’d love to show you
We’re expanding our capabilities with SAP Joule and WalkMe. With Joule’s AI copilot capabilities and WalkMe’s digital adoption platform, HR leaders can accelerate data-driven decision-making, improve systems usability and ensure that employees adopt new processes.
SAP Joule uses AI to deliver contextual, plain-language insights—such as employee turnover forecasts, or alerts identifying individuals or teams with low engagement along with recommendations to help re-engage them—directly within the systems teams use every day. This significantly reduces time spent digging through reports and dashboards.
Meanwhile, WalkMe embeds interactive, step-by-step guidance into the user interface of any platform (not just SAP), slashing support tickets and helping users confidently navigate everything from onboarding to policy updates.
Together, they can enable HRs to focus on strategy rather than troubleshooting, ensure compliance by enforcing workflows, and roll out change management across the organisation with minimal training.
With the right partner, BTP solutions, combined with the power of tools like Joule and WalkMe, unlock the flexibility, usability and ROI that business-aligned solutions deliver.
Curious what that could look like for your organisation? Let’s have a conversation.
About Malcolm Soans
Malcolm Soans leads the Technology and Innovation Practice at HR Crowd, bringing together deep technical expertise and a strong understanding of real-world HR challenges. With 16 years’ experience across SAP development, architecture and delivery, he helps large organisations unlock value from theirHR technology investments. Inside and outside of work, Malcolm applies the same energy and creativity he once brought to fronting a heavy metal band.
Contact Malcolm: Malcolm.Soans@HRCrowd.com
