This week IgniteSAP is drawing attention to two more agreements that have been announced recently as IT corporations work together to facilitate the process of moving customers to the cloud.

SNP (Schneider-Neureither & Partner) have signed an agreement with Microsoft to expand SAP Cloud Migration Solutions as part of a strategic alliance to simplify SAP customers’ journey to SAP on Microsoft Azure. This alliance includes the “Cloud Move for Azure” component of the SNP data transformation platform “CrystalBridge” that they have developed with Microsoft. This is part of an ongoing project to develop further components for a modular data transformation platform.

This new platform is specifically designed to migrate SAP systems quickly and efficiently, with minimal risk. The SNP “Bluefield” approach makes it possible for customers to S/4HANA and Azure simultaneously. Michael Eberhardt, CEO of SNP commented:

“Together with Microsoft, we have set ambitious goals for the next three years and will continue to work together on our cloud migration solution to help Microsoft’s SAP customers throughout the world move to the Azure Cloud.”

João Couto, Vice President for SAP Business Unit at Microsoft said:

“We see a tremendous market opportunity to support SAP customers in accelerating their transformation journey to SAP S/4HANA and the cloud… The integrated approach and close agreement between SAP, SNP and Microsoft provide SAP customers with extremely reliable planning and a highly automated solution, allowing them to focus on the real innovation potential and business opportunities created by SAP RISE, SAP S/4HANA and Azure as an intelligent platform.”

This coincides within a week of the announcement by another German corporation.

The subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, T-Systems has publicised its qualification to provide transformation packages based on multi-cloud landscapes to support SAP’s new transformation as a service offering, Rise with SAP.

T-Systems will be assisting in the migration of companies to the SAP platform with existing services like integration, consulting, DevOps, implementation and application management and modernisation. T-systems and SAP have also been working together to evaluate the partial migration of Deutsche Telekom’s SAP environment to a new SAP S/4HANA landscape according to the methods and principals of Rise with SAP. As a multi-cloud orchestrator for SAP landscapes including non-SAP systems, T-Systems will also bring to bear its recently expanded alliances with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

Whether these events are directly or indirectly linked to SAP’s big push for facilitating cloud migration we can see they all have similar aims and objectives.

According to SAP CEO Christian Klein during the introductory event last month, Rise with SAP is a “personal concierge service to the intelligent enterprise.” It provides the components of an intelligent enterprise in one bundle so we can say that all of these developments in this extended network of companies are geared toward simplifying the process of transition to new platforms or to the cloud.

Christian Klein also used the Rise with SAP event to draw attention to new collaborations between SAP and Microsoft in the provision of S/4HANA Cloud via Azure and the integration of Microsoft Teams into S/4HANA.

They key motivation behind all these companies’ recent moves is that there has been continuing reticence in adopting S/4HANA, and migrating to cloud provision of services despite all parties recognising the benefits of going ahead: so they need to make the process easier.

Uncertainty in the economy over the last two years, initially due to the Brexit transition period and other global events like the U.S./China trade war, and then due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the national lockdowns, has caused some companies to pause in their development into fully digitised enterprises.

Companies like SAP and Microsoft have responded by addressing concerns and simplifying the process of transition. As part of this reorientation to the new digital economic environment large corporations have been making acquisitions of startups with relevant technologies, and making strategic partnerships with both large and smaller partners. This process is reflected in the wider network of SAP partners like Deloitte and Accenture.

Technology companies traditionally expand or develop by either selling more products or creating new products, or acquiring other companies as part of their growth. They are constantly called upon to respond to the new technological and business environment and sometimes this new unstable environment is partly of their own making. These two dimensions of operation are inseparable and consequently, in order to bring stability in their development they form alliances with other corporations in a similar sphere of operation as a means to foster more deeply rooted connections with the wider economy.

What we are seeing here, as an example of an unprecedented degree of cooperation between large companies, is an industry wide response to challenging economic conditions which are partially due to the geopolitical changes of the last few years, but also due to their previous success in bringing about a fundamental shift in the world of commerce.

As participants in the new world of digital commerce we have become used to regular paradigm shifts, and despite sometimes feeling exasperated with the rate of change we applaud the end goal and its emphasis on simplicity, and we are proud to be part of a movement designed to bring about steady and sustained growth.

For more News, Updates and Insights from the SAP Market read the Ignite SAP Blog.