SAP users now eyeing that cloud move

The one thing that is certain is that a large number of SAP users will be facing the transition of their trusted applications from an on-premise world into the cloud. Many have already started, of course, but now the rush is on.

This is shown in a new survey from HCL Technologies, which has revealed that $39 billions-worth of the global SAP landscape could move to the cloud in the next two years, as large enterprises plan to migrate 46 percent of their existing SAP on-premise environment.

The global survey of 100 executives from large enterprises focused on their current and future plans to deploy SAP applications and infrastructure in the cloud. It revealed that 45 percent of organisations have increased their SAP cloud investments over the past year and that they expect to nearly double these investments in the next 12 months.

Migration isn’t just being motivated by potential cost savings, as the research highlights. Give or take a few percentage points, business agility and speed, access to new technologies and improved customer satisfaction are also seen as big drivers.

“These finding clearly demonstrate that there is a market shift towards moving a greater proportion of existing SAP environments to the cloud,” said Steve Cardell, President of Enterprise Services and Diversified Industries, HCL Technologies.  “Improved business agility and speed is undoubtedly a big driver, as is the growing maturity and availability of new cloud-based technologies.  For those organisations looking to refresh their existing estates, reduce cost and access HANA-powered applications, SAP’s cloud offerings are an attractive proposition. In fact, 56 percent of organisations stated they expect to use SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud in the future.”

When asked about the biggest inhibitors to moving more SAP applications and infrastructure to the cloud 30 percent of respondents noted integration challenges with existing systems, while 36 percent cited security concerns.  This isn’t surprising considering 88 percent of organisations expected to adopt a hybrid model, while 45 percent stated that integration into their existing landscape had been their biggest cloud implementation challenge to date.

The survey also showed that organisations are in need of help when it comes to their cloud strategies, with only 18 percent stating they had a comprehensive cloud strategy.

“Cloud is undoubtedly disrupting traditional enterprise architectures. Organisations now have to contend with a multi-cloud environment in which they need to integrate SAP and non-SAP applications into their existing landscape.  This has ultimately made integration and cloud orchestration a key concern. Only by taking a lifecycle view of cloud enablement, from assessment right through to service delivery, will organisations be able to overcome integration issues and truly realise business benefit,” Cardell added.

The survey also revealed that SAP’s Cloud Extension policy, which enables the partial termination of existing on-premise software licenses and associated maintenance costs, has made moving to the cloud a more attractive prospect for nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of organisations. These findings are perhaps unsurprising given that 30 percent of them said their existing investments in on-premise and legacy systems had been an inhibitor to moving more SAP applications and infrastructure to the cloud.

The global survey of 100 large enterprises with revenues in excess of $1 billion was commissioned by HCL Technologies and conducted by independent research company Vanson Bourne.