The reasons that enterprises choose to migrate their SAP systems to a hyperscale Cloud provider are very well known by now:
• Cost Reduction
• Improved Agility
• Better Reliability
• Enhanced Security
• Access to cutting-edge innovation
But these benefits are not actually delivered by the migration itself. They are enabled through the ongoing focus and management that occurs while running and optimizing these SAP systems in their new (and different) home.
Many enterprises opt to outsource the ongoing day-to-day management of their SAP systems to a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to try to get the full benefit of the advanced capabilities they now have access to while mitigating some of the risks– such as not having the new skills required to support their SAP systems on a hyperscale Cloud platform or managing the upside of infinite capacity with the downside of infinite cost.
To help decide on whether working with an MSP is the right move to make for your company, here are 6 points to consider:
Expertise and Experience
The increasing demand for Cloud adoption has created a scarcity of experience and skill in this field. A lot of good talent has been absorbed by large tech companies which leaves the average enterprise struggling to compete for those skills. Further, the pool of SAP experts who have years of experience migrating and operating SAP in the Cloud is already small and possibly getting smaller as these seasoned professionals retire.
As Andy Jassy, former CEO of AWS, once noted, “There is no compression algorithm for experience.” This applies not only to the competition among Cloud service providers but also to the expertise required for SAP on Cloud implementations. It’s crucial to choose a partner who can offer experienced professionals with the “war stories and battle scars” gained through years of working with both SAP and Cloud technologies. Only such a partner can effectively mitigate the risks associated with such a significant and complex transition.
Cloud Observability and Management
SAP applications typically support a business’s mission-critical operations and, as such, must experience the absolute least amount of downtime. Monitoring tools are not enough anymore. They are designed to answer “known unknown” questions through preconfigured dashboards that notify you of any performance concerns that could be indicators of issues—usually in a single system.
Understanding the less familiar concept of observability, as opposed to simply relying on a monitoring strategy, is crucial for effectively managing the complexity of SAP on Cloud. By incorporating observability into these systems, you gain the ability to capture a wider range of data about your landscapes. This data allows you to ask deeper questions about the overall health of your environment, even across distributed IT systems.
With this broader dataset, you can leverage AI to uncover “unknown unknowns” or patterns in your data that may not have been previously considered. This leads to more insightful analytics, enabling teams to anticipate and prevent future issues while continuously enhancing system performance.
Scalability
It’s a fact that the Cloud massively revolutionized infrastructure services, especially how these services are consumed. Businesses can access a flexible model that allows them to consume and pay for computing resources based on actual usage, enabling scalability and cost optimization.
Scalability equals flexibility and the hyperscale Cloud providers demonstrated that you can be very flexible- at scale- by allowing Enterprises to pay for only the compute resources they need and eliminate what they don’t. Managed Service Providers should follow suit. Their services should be agile and flexible enough to respond quickly to support your business model and changing business requirements. They should be able to scale their services up or down without sacrificing quality or performance ensuring users aren’t affected by any changes in the system or in the level of support.
Strong Security and Compliance
Understanding your new Cloud environment is crucial for ensuring its security and compliance align with your specific needs. Remember though, your hyperscale Cloud provider is responsible for the overall security of the Cloud infrastructure while providing you with the necessary controls and tools to manage your security within the new Cloud environment. However, adapting to this transition might present a learning curve for your enterprise’s IT team. Failing to grasp the nuances of securing the new environment poses a tangible risk and can lead to severe consequences such as data breaches and reputational harm.
To navigate this effectively, it’s essential to comprehend what features are implicitly provided by your Cloud provider, which controls are activated by default, and which ones you’ll need to enable yourself. For instance, while you receive DDOS protection for monitoring automatically, activating encryption for S3 buckets requires manual intervention. Additionally, you will also have the flexibility to bolster your security and compliance by implementing additional measures like extra firewalls or encryption tools as needed.
An experienced SAP managed service provider can provide best practices derived from patterns developed over the years from previous experiences to optimize your security. They possess the expertise necessary to ensure your applications operate efficiently and comply with industry standards. Furthermore, they’ll help you stay on top of regular security audits and software updates, safeguarding your systems against cyber threats. They will also ensure that you won’t fall behind in performing regular security audits or software patches that leave your systems vulnerable.
Cost Control
Flexera’s 2024 State of the Cloud Report revealed that nearly half of enterprises struggle with evaluating variable Cloud expenditures and, for the second consecutive year, managing Cloud expenses has overtaken security as the primary challenge. This lack of confidence among many IT teams in controlling variable spending has led to a heightened focus on FinOps, emphasizing a need for greater accountability in Cloud expenditure.
FinOps, an operational framework and cultural practice, aims to maximize the business value of Cloud resources. The core idea is to treat compute resources as fluid assets, allocating them dynamically to areas that yield the best return on investment. Enterprises leverage FinOps to effectively manage budgets, optimize spending, and allocate resources in line with fluctuating requirements, ensuring cost efficiency in the Cloud.
In addition, efficiently managing Cloud costs often involves navigating complex provider discounts and implementing automated processes. These tasks demand specialized skills and expertise, posing challenges for many IT (and Finance) teams to fully capitalize on them. Further, enterprises face mounting pressure from the market and their boards to invest in innovation, such as AI, ML, and sustainability initiatives. Balancing cost management with innovation investment presents an additional hurdle.
An experienced SAP Managed Service Provider can assist in striking this balance and optimizing Cloud spending. They can help navigate complex discounts, implement automated cost-saving measures, and offer strategic advice on Cloud innovation investments. This empowers enterprises to enhance efficiency, agility, and competitiveness in their Cloud operations while maintaining a focus on driving innovation.
Driving Continuous Innovation
Innovation in Cloud technology– and even within SAP– is accelerating exponentially, and a top-tier Managed Service Provider must embrace innovation as a core part of its DNA– otherwise, if you engage them for your managed services, you risk getting stuck with 5 years of the same services.
The Managed Services Partner landscape is changing as more enterprises recognize the importance of innovation and turn to specialized providers for their migration and management needs.
An article on CIO.com highlighted Cloud market trends impacting IT strategy in 2024. It noted that smaller, boutique providers gained traction in 2023 by offering unique technology and flexible services, setting them apart from traditional large providers.
Enterprises should consistently ask their partners about innovation and its timing. Ideally, Managed Service Providers should proactively suggest new solutions that enhance operations, products, services, security, and cost-efficiency.
Identifying innovative professionals in this field is straightforward: they are enthusiastic about new developments, embrace change, and prioritize technology’s potential to benefit their customers.
I can confidently speak on this matter because I am one of those passionate “techies”.
In Summary
Running SAP in the Cloud offers a wealth of opportunities to improve your operations, increase your competitive advantage, and grow your business. But it’s a big change. Your entire organization will need to learn how to take advantage of the power represented by running SAP in the Cloud.
Working with an experienced SAP managed services partner will help you face the challenges of this change with confidence, even during the significant SAP Cloud skills gap we are seeing. (For more information about that topic, download our eBook, “How to Manage the Widening SAP Cloud Skills Gap“). You can also contact us to discuss how partnering with Lemongrass as an SAP managed services provider can help you reduce costs, increase agility, and enable greater innovation.
