SAP Enable Now Alternative – FlowShare?

What can Enable Now from SAP do? Is the SAP software right for you or is an SAP Enable Now alternative a better fit?

Perhaps you are currently faced with a decision yourself: You are dealing specifically with the topic of documentation or knowledge management and are asking yourself: What to do? Should you purchase the SAP Enable Now software solution for “all aspects of corporate learning” in your company? Or is there an SAP Enable Now alternative that might be a better fit for you?

Don’t worry, you are not alone. In recent months, several companies have contacted us with the question:

SAP Enable Now or FlowShare – which suits us better?

With this article, we will give you some guidance and help you get a little closer to your solution on the topic of “SAP Enable Now (Alternative)”. In the first step, it is essential that you answer a few basic questions:

Basic questions for the right e-learning software

• Do you plan to create or document content centrally (power user) or decentrally (user-generated content) in your company?
• How much content do you want to generate?
• What and how many resources do you have for this?
• Do the content creators have experience in documenting or are you prepared to provide sufficient training to key personnel?

If you want to generate content easily and quickly, decentralized and without any training effort, and if you want to own the content in the end, FlowShare might be the solution for you.

However, there are cases where the decision is not quite so simple: For example, if you just start working on the e-learning topic or if you want to create content on a rather small scale. Or if it is not yet entirely clear who is going to create learning content at your company in the future and who the target group will be. For this case, we provide you with an overview and elaborate on the respective strengths of Enable Now and the Enable Now alternative FlowShare with this article.

FlowShare vs. SAP Enable Now – Overview

Functions	SAP Enable Now	FlowShare
Training period	Training required (3-10 days familiarization, depending on prior experience)	No training required, ready to use within minutes
Availability	Cloud or on-premise	On-premise
Languages	Over 40 languages, translation of text and screen	German, English, French (soon translation of texts in 32 languages)
Training material output formats	Videos, simulations, process documentation, e-learning courses, tests, solution manager content, context-sensitive instructions, e-learnings, training manuals	Editable flow file, PDF, Word, PNG, PowerPoint, HTML (interactive demo), xAPI, SCORM, OpenRPA, video via Synthesia, individual connection to wiki systems via integrations
Distribution or sharing of created training materials with users outside the organization allowed?	No	Yes
Costs	Variable costs on a large scale	From $32 per month per workstation, modular applicable
Further editing possible?	Yes, comprehensive	Yes, limited, in the software as well as the finished documentation in Office
Adaptation to corporate identity?	Yes, comprehensive	Colors, logo, fonts, design, upload your own PowerPoint or Word template
Platform for the learning content?	Yes	No own platform, but integration into existing platforms possible (e.g. WordPress, Confluence, Guru)
Software compatibility	32-bit optimal, with 64-bit additional effort	64-bit
Free trial?	No	Yes

SAP Enable Now

The declared goal of Enable Now is to make knowledge transfer efficient. For this purpose, the software offers a comprehensive range of functionsFrom simulations and test scripts to e-learning videos and transaction documentation. In addition, training manuals, demos, and context-sensitive user assistance are also possible with Enble Now. A wide range of materials and formats can be generated and accessed and shared via a database .

Availability and languages of SAP Enable Now

Furthermore, Enable Now is available both in the cloud and on-premise and offers automatic translations in over 40 languages. Especially handy is the automatic screen translation: Enable Now’s re-recording capability allows a recording made in German to be automatically replicated in another language and saved to a new file. Without the need for explicit knowledge of the foreign language , it is thus possible to quickly create instructions in many different languages.

With Enable Now, information can be imported from various formats and the materials can be edited afterwards. For the latter, linking with external programs, such as Paint, is also possible. Overall, the software enables comprehensive development, editing and distribution of learning content.

Ideal use case for SAP Enable Now

Enable Now is especially useful when you want to display complex content in combination with media such as graphics or process diagrams. The e-learning software is also very helpful for disseminating information in different languages. An important use case is the knowledge base: Enble Now is very well suited for building a complete knowledge management system. The software enables power users to produce a wide variance of documents with high quality and information density.

SAP Enble Now a little less complex: Instant Producer

Less trained software support staff can be involved using the “Instant Producer”. The Instant Producer is one of the four components of Enable Now and is less extensive in its post-processing capabilities. It can be released to certain users, e.g. to record department-specific processes. In this way, the Instant Producer also enables decentralized documentation to some extent.

Nevertheless, the Instant Produceris still relatively complex and is usually only made available to a very limited number of employees. Post-processing of content from Instant Producer is possible only for users with an author license.

SAP Enable Now advantages in a nutshell:

• Comprehensive functions, output formats and editing options
• Support for more than 40 languages
• Presentation of complex content with high information density
• Cloud and on-premise availability

Hurdles in the application of SAP Enable Now

However, there are also less suitable use cases: Content generated with Enable Now is subject to the consumer licensing model. This means that redistribution of the materials is not permitted. Instead, the content may only be used within the company. This might be difficult for training companies and external authors. The reason is that they do not have an influence on whether their customers own the SAP license or not.

High license costs

In addition, the whole thing has its price , of course. It is difficult to make general statements, because the price of SAP’s Enable Now can vary depending on the company and the use case. Overall, it can be said that the costs reflect the wide range of possibilities of the software – and are accordingly extensive. Even for small companies, these costs can be in the four-digit range annually.

Complexity

Moreover, a major advantage of Enable Now can simultaneously become its pitfall. The large range of functions is also accompanied by complexity . For successful use, initial consultation is required after installation. Without such training, Enable Now can hardly be used. Depending on the intended use and existing infrastructure, a lead time of roughly 3-10 days should be allowed for before using the software.

Personnel requirements for SAP Enable Now

In addition, companies need to be aware that even after the introduction of Enable Now, capacity will be needed on an ongoing basis to take care of content preservation. The software provides the framework, but it must be filled with content independently. Ideally, Enable Now is handled by someone who is trained for the software, at the same time, knows the company’s processes. This person can then communicate the content with the software and, if possible, also convey it to colleagues with the help of training. If there is no power user who is familiar with Enable Now and is responsible for its maintenance, the content will quickly become outdated.

32-bit alignment

It is still important to note that Enable Now is targetedat 32-bit applications . This means that users can document 32-bit applications. For other 64-bit applications, your organization may face increased workload and additional costs because subprograms must be written to use Enable Now.

Expert opinion

Jörn Halsinger is a trainer and author for IT training projects in the SAP environment and appreciates the variable application possibilities of the software:

“Enable Now is huge. It has possibilities far beyond what was common in the past. The SAP original software offers tremendous possibilities and opportunities for companies that want to build a comprehensive knowledge management system.”

He himself uses the software to create, for example, “user documentation, training presentations and simulations” that are incorporated into training courses.

“In addition, these can also be integrated into customer support systems, such as DesktopAssistant, as needed.”

Jörn Halsinger, IT expert

Required resources and dependencies with Enable Now

At the same time, Jörn makes it clear that Enable Now is very “intense”: “I need to be clear that deploying Enable Now is not something that can be done on the fly. As a company, resourcesneed to be createdinternally for such a system to take care ofit”. On the one hand, according to Jörn, Enable Now requieres time for use, and on the other hand, a certain amount of user knowledge is needed. The latter should be acquired in training courses.

As an SAP trainer, Jörn is also dependent on his customers:

“If customers don’t have Enable Now licenses, the training can’t be created with the software because of the SAP licensing model.”

FlowShare for Test Report Documentation and Training Documentation (SAP Enable Now Alternative)

Compared to the universal software SAP Enable Now, FlowShare is the little magic dwarf. The documentation software provides fast and easy automated creation of step-by-step instructions.

FlowShare runs on-premise and on Windows. It supports the languages German, English and French. The creators of FlowShare currently work on further languages. In the future, FlowShare will enable automatic translation into more than 30 languages. As with Enable Now, documents that have already been recorded can then also be translated automatically. Starting at $32 per author license per month, FlowShare represents a much more flexible and smaller investment than Enable Now.

Ideal use case for FlowShare

With FlowShare, digital processes can be automatically recorded in the exact moment when they are performed and thus captured for other users. The generated click instructions can be saved in various formats : From PDF, to PowerPoint, Word and PNG, to HTML format for direct embedding into the company wiki. In addition, the instructions can be adapted to the corporate identity with the color selection and the company logo. Furthermore, own customized templates for PDF and PowerPoint can be created. This gives users a great deal of freedom to adapt their instructions and training documents precisely to their own needs. FlowShare is already being used extensively by companies and administrations, for example to train employees in ERP and IT processes or to make onboarding simple and effective.

Advantages of FlowShare as SAP Enable Now Alternative

Besides the price, its simplicity is a big advantage of the software: FlowShare was developed to record user knowledge efficiently and quickly. It is intentionally a “small solution” that can be used to record any kind of process without any effort. The software is understandable for everyone and does not require any training time. In this way, not only trained employees from the IT department or from oonboarding can use FlowShare. Instead, every employee in the companyisempowered to record and share their user knowledge.

FlowShare enables user-generated content

This follows the general trend of “user-generated content“: instead of the providers of a software or IT support, the actual users of a medium create the associated content. This is because users often have a better insight and understanding of the issues and processes involved through their personal experience. This is especially important in light of increasingly decentralized companies and increased specialization. With the help of FlowShare, experts can document their unique expertise themselves.

Compatibility: Flowshare and SAP GUI

FlowShare is a multi-talent that actually works with any other software. Since version 2.13, the documentation software is also compatible with the still widely used desktop application SAP GUI. As of this version, FlowShare can recognize and read SAP GUI controls, which enables fast and easy documentation. This is because FlowShare automatically creates appropriate descriptive texts for the steps created, as well as automatic outlines of clicks.

FlowShare instructions are only owned by you

In addition, once FlowShare instructions are created, they are completely owned by you. This means that unlimited distribution of the instructions is possible and the materials can also be incorporated, e.g. in HTML format, directly on the company website, in the wiki or wherever else they should be. Unlike Enable Now, this allows FlowShare content to be uploaded into your existing systems. FlowShare includes direct integration to tools such as WordPress, Confluence and Guru. FlowShare can be downloaded and tried for free on the miraminds website.

Currently, the developers of FlowShare are also working on further solutions in the direction of performance support and intelligent, context-sensitive help.

Advantages of FlowShare in a nutshell:

• More cost effective and flexible
• No training period – directly applicable
• Unlimited distribution of the instructions
• Integration with your existing systems
• Free trial version – try without risk

Potential hurdles when using FlowShare as an SAP Enable Now alternative

If you compare FlowShare and Enable Now, it quickly becomes clear that FlowShare comes with a much smaller feature set. It does not provide the wide range of output formats that can be output with Enable Now and allows limited editing of the generated instructions. This also means that animated click instructions created with Enable Now cannot be created one-to-one in the same way with FlowShare. FlowShare also allows you to create click instructions, but in a simplified version. In return, the effort required to create them is also significantly less than with Enable Now.

Expert opinion on the SAP Enable Now Alternative FlowShare

The expert Jörn Halsinger also perceives these arguments:

“The advantages of FlowShare are theease of use, because it does not require much training, and an attractive pricing and licensing model. The licensing model allows us to create user documentation with our computers on behalf of the customer and also to reworkit if necessary without the customer having to purchase the software.”

For him, the biggest differences lie in the: “post-processing and reusability of raw recordings”:

“FlowShare is a simple tool that is very well suited for the area of click instructions due to its easy-to-use user interface . We like to use it for customers who don’t want or can’t use a big software solution. For creating simple user documentation in the form of click instructions, it’s a good tool.”

Jörn Halsinger, IT expert

Conclusion on the SAP Enable Now Alternative:

SAP Enable Now is a useful software with impressive functionality, developed and optimized for over 20 years. However, that the purchase is worthwhile for you depends on certain conditions. When making your decision, it depends a lot on your goals and budget for your e-learning software.

SAP Enable Now’s strengths lie in its automatic translations into many languages, collaborative and detailed work, editing the content, and creation of simulations. It is well suited for very high expectations of learning content and extensive need for post-processing, as well as, for example, the establishment of comprehensive knowledge management.

For SAP Enable Now you need power users and the right budget

The prerequisites for Enable Now are power users who have been trained on the software and have didactic know-how to get the most out of it. Additionally users need to be able to provide the budget for training and afford the cost of the software itself. In addition, the use of Enable Now can only work under the condition that the target audience of the learning content, such as the creators, also has a license of the software.

FlowShare distributes the documentation on different shoulders

FlowShare is designed to provide potentially any employee with immediate, solid and easy documentation. The approach behind this is to be able to distribute documentation on several shoulders without having to be trained beforehand and still guarantee consistent and high quality of the instructions. Any employee who owns a FlowShare license can create and edit the created guides.

The instructions, in turn, belong to you and can be accessed at any time. This means that anyone inside or outside the company can use the content, even without having installed FlowShare. The fact that FlowShare documents can also be shared with your customers makes the software especially interesting for trainers and software vendors. For example, ERP projects can also be successfully implemented by external trainers by using FlowShare.

SAP Enable Now Alternative FlowShare – try it for free

A big advantage if you are not quite sure yet: You can easily test FlowShare for free and without any risk.

You can also look at it this way:

Enable Now is the A380, FlowShare is the air cab (in terms of price as well as functionality) – the question in which constellation you need which one of them depends on your situation.

We hope that this overview will help you to better evaluate our solutions and decide which software to purchase. In general, there are of course a number of other solutions besides Enable Now and FlowShare – all with their own advantages and disadvantages.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at support@getflowshare.com.