Many large organisations rely on SAP enterprise software to run their applications. But traditional on-premise deployment is both expensive to maintain and difficult to manage. New updates create migraines for IT managers and rarely function efficiently. SAP on cloud, on the other hand, is a demonstrably more cost-effective and efficient solution. Organisations are increasingly moving their SAP deployment to the cloud at an unprecedented rate, and here are some very good reasons why SAP is better in the cloud.

Running SAP in the cloud rather than the on-premise model of traditional IT has a huge range of benefits for corporations big or small. Here are just a few.

1. Ease of access to experts in the field

SAP on Cloud managed service providers (MSP’s) have cloud expertise together with a thorough understanding of SAP. An MSP will encounter all technical scenarios and will help you confidently manage your SAP on cloud landscape. Your MSP will have expertise in both SAP and cloud together and separately, which will enable you to approach all angles of your business.

2. Simplicity by Automation

In the cloud, your SAP landscape is no longer dependent on one particular set of hardware systems, which have to be carefully monitored and tuned to ensure proper system functioning. You’ll have access to the latest updates as and when you require, with change managed to make sure your applications and infrastructure are continually functioning at their best.
SAP Basis managed services allow you to utilise an established platform built for all the requirements and offerings of advanced technology. A full scope of services is delivered with checkpoints, automation; leading to shorter deployment cycles, increased reliability and more focused internal IT.

3. Easy to manage / Better Stability

Moving SAP to the cloud removes the need for complicated infrastructure management that drains resources and adds cost but little business value. Systems can be more effectively streamlined and cross-managed without the need for any on-site presence. With an MSP model, MSP resources manage your systems with up to date best practices, so that your environment keeps working with an unending consistency, no downtime or slowdowns occurring, providing stability.

4. Cost savings

Moving your SAP on-premise deployment to the cloud has the added benefit of moving potentially large CapEx on hardware updates to more stable and cost-effective OpEx payments. You only have to pay for the compute you actually use, rather than investing in developments that you may never make full use of – and probably have to make again in the near future. The nature of the cloud means you pay for what you use and no more – cost savings compared to traditional IT are inevitable. People can also save from investing in huge Disaster Recovery infrastructures.
At scale, your environment is followed up 24/7 and maintenance cost is much lower compared to in-house delivery.

5. Agility

Running SAP in the cloud makes your applications and your ability to maintain and manage them more agile and flexible. As your needs evolve, you can make changes easily and replicate them in whichever part of your set-up that you require. You can start an SAP implementation or project on AWS without any upfront cost or commitment for compute, storage, or network infrastructure.

6. Efficiency

With a cloud-based operation, there’s no need for recurring structural investment, and you only pay for what you use, when you use it. So you can get maximum bang for your buck, with minimum wastage, and all your investment is easily trackable. You can also automate resource usage to maximise efficiency.

7. Scalability

Changes and improvements can be trialled and rolled out on a small scale, and then be easily scaled up whenever you require. There’s no need to guess capacity for the coming quarter or year – you can scale up or down whenever you need to. You can rapidly develop compute, storage and networking infrastructure for new SAP projects and systems, including SAP HANA, with faster time to value in minutes rather than the weeks or months that are required with traditional IT infrastructure.

8. Resiliency

The cloud greatly improves disaster recovery, availability and business continuity. With replicated storage, and the ability to harness multiple network providers, you can avoid the risks that come with running your landscape out of a single private data centre. And it’s managed 24/7 to make sure it’s always performing at its best.

9. Security

Cloud-based systems are constantly monitored for potential security risks, and run the very latest security software to make sure they stay secure. Investing in third-party security measures can be costly, and requires monitoring – with SAP in the cloud, it’s already taken care of.

10. Globalisation

The cloud can be accessed virtually anywhere in the world. International companies with multiple sites can share access and learnings for increased efficiency and rollout savings.

Runibex is an MSP specialising in e-commerce, cloud services and SAP consulting. Find out more about how we could help your business.