I am thrilled to share details on a new initiative we just launched at SAPPHIRE NOW, called project “Embrace.”
We launched this exciting and impactful initiative to help our customers accelerate their journey to an intelligent enterprise by leveraging the power of the cloud.
After sitting down and spending a lot of time with customers and analysts, several common themes began to emerge:
- Our customers no longer want to own and operate data centers.
- Enterprises are moving to the cloud at a record and accelerating pace.
- Customers are finding it difficult to navigate their journey, and those that do achieve lower business results than expected from the move to the cloud.
When I asked our customers why they were migrating to the cloud and shuttering their data centers in favor of a hyperscaler, they said they were hoping to achieve the following business outcomes: cost reductions, improved system performance, and access to innovation.
As they strive to reach their goals, they were encountering many challenges along the way, including:
- Widely differing opinions from the systems integrators, hyperscalers, and SAP on how and what to transition to the cloud
- No mutually agreed blueprint for their journey or a supported reference architecture
- Ability to safeguard success across their landscapes
Once SAP gained an understanding of the desired business outcomes and the challenges, we brought together the hyperscalers with our global strategic service partners to develop project “Embrace,” which consists of the following:
Every successful journey starts with a road map, because if you don’t know where you’re heading, no way is right. Our road map comes in the form of a market-approved journey, which aligns the desired business outcomes with the steps required to achieve them.
Here is an example for the industrial machinery and components industry. As our customers move their environments to the hyperscaler cloud, they will be asked to make both investment and technical decisions to address their business requirements. To assist in this process, we worked together to create a reference architecture representing the required technology to support to the journey.
Additionally, we offer New SAP MaxAttention services specifically designed for the migration to a hyperscaler. These services range from discovery workshops to accelerated support, from design through go live.
When migrating SAP landscapes to a hyperscaler cloud, SAP is in a unique position to offer a portfolio of differentiating services to positively impact our customer’s move to the experience economy.
Above all, SAP’s choice of on-premise, cloud, and hybrid scenarios is quite unique. While it’s undebatable that the future is in the cloud, customers want to choose their own pace. I am confident that giving customers this choice is the foundation for a trusted, long-term partner relationship.
Along with our partners, we are excited to be on this cloud journey with our customers.
Stefan Hoechbauer is global president of Digital Core and Global Customer Organization at SAP.
This article first appeared on the SAP News Center.
