Expanded partnership offers customers joint cloud
capabilities and a trusted road map
REDMOND, Washington and
WALLDORF, Germany, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft
Corp. and SAP SE on Monday announced integrated offerings to
provide enterprise customers with a clear road map to confidently
drive more business innovation in the cloud. In a bold show of
commitment, the two companies also announced they will be deploying
each other's cloud solutions internally. Through their unique
partnership, the companies will co-engineer, go to market together
with premier solutions and provide joint support services to ensure
the best cloud experience for customers.
SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud — SAP's private managed
cloud service — on Microsoft Azure will allow customers to run SAP
S/4HANA in a secure, managed cloud. Additionally, Microsoft will
deploy SAP S/4HANA® on Azure to help run its own
internal finance processes, and SAP will move its key internal
business critical systems to Azure. Finally, SAP Ariba is currently
utilizing Azure and is exploring further use within its procurement
applications. Together, SAP and Microsoft will help companies make
the most of running SAP applications in the cloud.
"As technology transforms every business and every industry,
organizations are looking for the right platforms and trusted
partners to help accelerate their digital transformation," said
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
"Building on our longtime partnership, Microsoft and SAP are
harnessing each other's products to not only power our own
organizations, but to empower our enterprise customers to run their
most mission-critical applications and workloads with SAP S/4HANA
on Azure."
Enterprise companies are increasingly moving business-critical
systems to the cloud for the benefits digital transformation
provides: better customer relationships, more empowered employees,
streamlined operations, new business models, and new products and
services. According to research firm Gartner Inc., two-thirds of
all business leaders believe that their companies must pick up the
pace of digitalization to remain competitive.* As leaders in
enterprise software, SAP and Microsoft are aligning closely to
provide customers with the safe and trusted path to digital
transformation.
"We are taking our partnership to the next level with this new
capability to run SAP S/4HANA in the Microsoft Azure environment,"
said SAP CEO Bill McDermott. "The
world's significant businesses trust Microsoft and SAP. Together,
we will help companies win the customer-driven growth
revolution."
SAP and Microsoft both will run SAP S/4HANA on Azure for their
internal operations. Microsoft is transforming its internal systems
— which include legacy SAP finance applications — and will
implement the SAP S/4HANA Finance solution running on Azure.
Microsoft also plans to connect SAP S/4HANA to Azure AI and
analytics services for more efficient financial reporting and more
powerful decision-making. SAP is migrating more than a dozen
business-critical systems to Azure for the optimal
efficiencies, flexibility and innovation the platform offers. This
includes the SAP S/4HANA software supporting Concur, an SAP
company.
Both companies will document the internal projects to provide
customers with guidance and enterprise architecture for deployment
of SAP applications on Azure.
With SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud on Azure, customers get the best
of both worlds: application management and product expertise from
SAP and a global, trusted and intelligent cloud from Microsoft
Azure, including the range of Microsoft cloud services.
Enterprise customers of all types, such as The Coca-Cola
Company, Columbia Sportswear Company, Coats and Costco Wholesale
Corp., count on SAP and Azure today for their businesses.
"The strategic partnership announced between Microsoft and SAP
is an extremely important development for the Coca-Cola System,"
said Barry Simpson, senior vice
president and chief information officer at The Coca-Cola Company.
"The value of aligned engineering, sales and delivery between these
two strategic partners will allow our system to accelerate our
digital agenda. This is a very positive and exciting development
for us."
"SAP and Microsoft are key partners with Costco, and this
alliance will help drive our cloud strategy and digital business
forward," said Jim Rutherford,
senior vice president of Information Systems at Costco
Wholesale.
"Microsoft and SAP are strategic partners helping us grow our
wholesale and direct-to-consumer businesses. Their close alignment
is an integral part of advancing our technical architecture and
cloud strategy to better serve our customers around the world,"
said Mike Hirt, vice president and
chief information officer at Columbia Sportswear Company. "We
produce innovative products that allow our customers to pursue and
enjoy their outdoor passions. Our partnership with Microsoft and
SAP is essential to us continuing to deliver on that
commitment."
"With SAP HANA on Azure, we have the data intelligence to
operate more efficiently across all aspects of our business and
accelerate the delivery of finished goods to our customers," said
Hizmy Hassen, chief digital and technology officer, Coats. "The
Microsoft and SAP alliance provides us with the assurance we need
for our innovation in the cloud."
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application
software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and
industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to
storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and
organizations to work together more efficiently and use business
insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP
applications and services enable more than 365,000 business and
public-sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously,
and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at
@sapnews.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft)
is the leading platform and productivity company for the
mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower
every person and every organization on the planet to achieve
more.
*Gartner, Smarter with Gartner, Embrace the Urgency of Digital
Transformation, Oct. 30, 2017,
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/embrace-the-urgency-of-digital-transformation/.
For customers interested in learning more about SAP
products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)
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