The experience gap in SAP landscapes
SAP has long been the cornerstone of enterprise operations, offering unmatched capabilities in managing core business processes, including Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain and Human Resources. However, as organizations increasingly prioritize user experience as a strategic differentiator, a critical gap has emerged. While SAP is exceptional at handling structured data and transactional workflows, it often falls short in delivering the intuitive, personalized and seamless digital experiences that today’s users, whether suppliers, partners, customers or employees, expect.
This is where Liferay comes into play. As a leading Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Liferay complements SAP by acting as the experience management layer. It enables organizations to build modern, user-centric portals that not only integrate deeply with SAP systems but also provide the flexibility and agility needed to meet evolving business and user demands.
Why SAP needs an experience layer
SAP’s architecture is designed for robustness, scalability and transactional integrity. However, its user interfaces are often complex, rigid and not optimized for external users or non-technical stakeholders. Customizing SAP to deliver modern digital experiences can be time-consuming, expensive and difficult to maintain. Moreover, SAP lacks native capabilities for content management, personalization and omnichannel delivery - features that are essential for delivering consistent and engaging user experiences across touchpoints.
Liferay addresses these limitations by providing a flexible, modular platform that sits on top of SAP. It acts as a bridge between the structured world of enterprise data and the dynamic needs of users, offering a unified interface that simplifies access to SAP functionalities while enhancing usability and engagement.
Liferay as the experience management layer
Liferay is purpose-built to deliver personalized, role-based experiences across a wide range of user types. It allows organizations to create portals which are not only visually appealing but also contextually relevant and functionally rich. With its built-in content management system, Liferay enables teams to manage dynamic content without relying on developers. Its low-code development tools accelerate the creation of custom workflows and interfaces, reducing time-to-market for new digital initiatives.
What makes Liferay particularly powerful in SAP environments is its ability to integrate seamlessly with SAP systems, whether it’s S/4HANA, Ariba, SuccessFactors or legacy ECC. Through APIs, connectors and support for standards like OData and REST, Liferay can surface SAP data and processes in a way that is intuitive and actionable for users. This integration ensures that while the complexity of SAP remains under the hood, users interact with a streamlined, user-friendly interface.
Real-world use cases in B2B and beyond
One of the most impactful applications of Liferay in conjunction with SAP is in the creation of supplier portals. In a typical B2B scenario, suppliers need to interact with an organization’s procurement system to manage purchase orders, submit invoices, track deliveries, and access compliance documentation. Doing this directly through SAP can be cumbersome and unintuitive. By building a supplier portal on Liferay, organizations can offer a self-service interface that simplifies these interactions, reduces manual effort and improves supplier satisfaction.
Similarly, partner portals built with Liferay can provide channel partners with access to sales tools, training resources, marketing collateral and performance dashboards - all integrated with SAP backend systems. This not only empowers partners to be more effective but also strengthens the overall partner ecosystem.
Customer portals are another area where Liferay shines. Whether it’s enabling customers to track orders, raise support tickets or access product documentation, Liferay can deliver a seamless experience that integrates with SAP CRM or C/4HANA. Even internal use cases, such as employee portals, benefit from this approach. By integrating with SAP SuccessFactors, Liferay can centralize HR services, payroll information and internal communications in a single, user-friendly interface.
Strategic benefits of the Liferay + SAP approach
The combination of Liferay and SAP delivers significant value across both business and technical dimensions. From a business perspective, improved user experience leads to higher adoption rates, reduced training costs and increased satisfaction among users. Self-service capabilities reduce the burden on internal teams, freeing up resources for more strategic tasks. The ability to rapidly deploy and iterate digital experiences also means organizations can respond more quickly to market changes and
user needs.
From a technical standpoint, Liferay’s modular architecture and support for modern integration standards make it a future-proof choice. Developers can build reusable components, leverage microservices and integrate with a wide range of enterprise systems beyond SAP. Security and access control are built into the platform, ensuring compliance with enterprise policies and regulations.
Experience as a strategic differentiator
In today’s digital economy, delivering exceptional user experiences is no longer optional, it’s a strategic imperative. While SAP provides the operational backbone, it is platforms like Liferay which bring those operations to life for users. By using Liferay as the experience management layer for SAP, organizations can unlock the full potential of their ERP investments, drive engagement across their ecosystem, and position themselves for long-term success.
