S/4HANA Cloud: Digital success with air support

Why you should start with GAMBIT in the Cloud

You are using SAP ERP and would like to know whether the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Edition is a serious alternative to the On Premise Edition? Are you a new SAP customer and looking for a specialist to implement the SAP S/4HANA Cloud in your company? Have you already decided on a specific SAP S/4HANA cloud and are looking for an experienced partner who can advise and support you in all phases of an implementation?

Planning, implementation, relocation - all services from a single source

Talk to us - we are an official S/4HANA Cloud Partner of SAP, have all the necessary certificates and have a command of methodology and process models.

Your advantages

• Solution immediately available
• Short project durations
• Most modern and latest SAP S/4HANA version (four or two enhancements and further developments per year compared to only one release in the on-premise edition)
• All-in package including license, maintenance, application management and data center
• Arbitrary extensibility on the SAP Cloud Platform possible
• High security computing in original SAP data center

Many paths lead SAP into the cloud, but which is the right one?

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Cloud Platform - in the jumble of terms of the new SAP technologies one can lose track of things.

SAP S/4HANA - the basis of the intelligent company

The introduction of the SAP-HANA database in 2010 was - after the leap to client-server technology with R/3 - the biggest product-technical paradigm shift of SAP to date.

As an in-memory computing architecture and platform, SAP HANA today enables the processing of the largest data volumes in the production system. In addition to performance gains of up to 90 percent in individual processes, this also opens the door to digital transformation topics such as predictive analytics or machine learning.

But SAP HANA also provides the basis for solutions for non-digital topics - this applies, for example, to a reporting system that enables better management decisions to be made on the basis of facts that are always real-time and accessible.

In recent years, SAP has increasingly linked the HANA database technology to its ERP software (and other SAP products such as SRM, CRM and SCM). Although initially offered only as an alternative to existing databases ("AnyDB"), in-memory technology is now firmly integrated with SAP Business Suite 4.

The name of the new, integrated product: SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA for short. SAP has redesigned and streamlined its applications to make the best possible use of the performance advantages of in-memory technology. SAP S/4HANA is thus an ERP business suite that is optimally prepared for operation in a digital, networked world.

ERP goes to the cloud

Another central theme of SAP's product strategy is the cloud. According to SAP, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the cloud is the future. SAP is therefore pursuing a clear "cloud-first" strategy. Companies should be able to reduce the acquisition costs for ERP systems with this operating model. The cloud should ensure that implementations are possible more quickly. And companies should be able to use and implement innovations faster.

For many years, SAP has been offering products for the cloud - a diverse portfolio of so-called line-of-business solutions for specific topics. The cloud-based SAP Business ByDesign for small businesses was one of the first products in this area.

In the meantime, SAP has significantly expanded its cloud strategy. The company is accelerating the availability of cloud-based applications by acquiring companies such as SuccessFactors, Hybris and Ariba - each one of the market leaders in its field.

Because the in-memory technology of the HANA platform has fundamentally redefined the market for business software, it was only logical for SAP to also make its own offerings available in the cloud.

In spring 2013, SAP therefore introduced the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. The enormous performance potential of in-memory computing will be combined with the potential of cloud products. The main advantage of the SAP Enterprise Cloud (and of SAP HANA in general) is that transactional and analytical data can be processed at much higher speeds than with traditional, sequential database technology.

The SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud provides SAP Business Suite 4, as well as individual and standard applications in a private cloud based on HANA technology (Private Cloud managed by SAP). An SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse is also provided on a single instance of the HANA in-memory database. The target group for the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud are companies that use SAP HANA but do not want to or cannot install it on-premise, i.e. on their own servers.

By using the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud and SAP's Application Management Services, IT staff are relieved of many of the everyday tasks of an on-premise installation. As a result, they can concentrate on value-adding activities, such as improving business processes or harmonizing master data through master data governance.

Freedom of choice: On-premise vs. Cloud

However, SAP gives companies more choices when operating SAP S/4HANA. In addition to the well-known on-premise variant and the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud as a private cloud variant described above, the system can also be operated completely as S/4HANA from the SAP Cloud Platform (SCP), whereby the SCP is a public cloud solution.

On-premise currently still offers the largest range of functions and can be customized to the company's wishes (with all its advantages and disadvantages).

On the other hand, those who run SAP S/4HANA on the SAP Enterprise Cloud no longer have to worry about hosting and, in particular, security. Both are then the responsibility of SAP. However, customers can make adjustments and modifications to the software completely independently of SAP, just like with an on-premise installation.

Excursus: SAP Enterprise Cloud (SEC) vs. SAP Cloud Platform (SCP)

The SAP Enterprise Cloud is easily confused with the SAP Cloud Platform. The former can be imagined as "Infrastructure-as-a-Service plus Managed Services for SAP Software".

This means that customers can also operate their own SAP HANA applications (Z programs) as well as software for selected third-party applications approved by SAP.

In contrast, SCP is a Platform-as-a-Service offering that allows customers and partners to extend existing applications (cloud or on-premise applications) and build applications.

Everything from the Cloud as a Complete SaaS Solution: S/4HANA Cloud

Another option is the S/4HANA Cloud and thus the complete purchase of the Business Suite as "Software as a Service" (SaaS). Here, the entire technology is transferred to the cloud, while SAP takes care of server provision as well as the operation and possible updates of the system.

SAP offers two options here:

• SAP S/4HANA ES (Essential Edition, formerly: Public Cloud) and
• SAP S/4HANA EX (Extended Edition, formerly Private Cloud).

Quarterly (or semi-annual in the case of Cloud EX) updates and extended industry-specific core functions are provided for the SAP S/4HANA cloud. This means that customers' operating expenses for operating an ERP landscape are reduced many times over.

Since the user does not have his own hardware with this cloud variant, however, his scope for modifications to the SAP code is also limited. However, own extensions and applications can be installed.

The model is therefore best suited to companies whose core business consists of standardized processes, for example in sales, warehouse management or controlling.

In the further development of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP has focused on the areas of finance and procurement, among others, where manual routine activities have been automated. Processes for financial planning, budgeting and forecasting were simplified through integration with SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning.

Hybrid Cloud Solutions

When a company runs its SAP system on-premise, but transfers the processes of the subsidiary(s) to the SAP S/4HANA cloud, it connects both worlds.

Such a hybrid ERP landscape can be set up with little effort. Companies can gradually transfer their ERP processes to the cloud without affecting the operation of the existing IT landscape.

SAP accommodates its customers here by allowing them to combine the advantages of the cloud with their established on-premise systems in a synergetic manner.

In practice, a company often operates its core business and its core processes, which set it apart from the competition, on-premise. This provides the greatest possible flexibility and configuration options to adapt the SAP business logic to its own requirements.

In areas where a high level of standardization is more important, the SAP S/4HANA cloud is the ideal solution. It already provides specific best practices and maps the most important scenarios with which companies can conduct their business in the cloud.

These include finance and accounting, controlling, procurement, sales, production, maintenance, project system and product lifecycle management. In addition, there are integrations with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP Ariba Network, SAP Hybris Marketing, SAP Fieldglass and SAP JAM.

The Cloud is coming - best with GAMBIT

Cloud solutions today offer everything that companies need in these rapidly changing times:

• They enable lean architectures and high scalability of the IT infrastructure.
• They ensure fast business processes and greater flexibility.
• And they help to launch new business models and implement innovations in less time.

For companies, this means that they need to look into the advantages of the cloud as soon as possible in order to jump on the cloud train at the right time and thus be "digitally ready".

Do you have questions about SAP's cloud solutions? Would you like to know what a cloud-based solution could look like in your company? Our experts are available to show you the possibilities. Contact us - we are always there for you!