If you’ve completed an SAP migration on Cloud, you did so based on the benefits you expected to receive. You had probably identified benefits such as lower cost, greater flexibility, improved security, data analytics, and performance. Unfortunately, many installations aren’t producing those types of benefits. If yours is one of them, this article will help you understand what might be happening.
SAP Wasn’t Built to Run in the Cloud
As you may already know, SAP was developed by five Germans who left IBM to create a new company. The name of the company, translated into English, was System Analysis Program Development. Today the company is known as SAP. Their goal was to build software that would integrate a range of business processes and make real-time data a reality. Of course, in 1972, there was no Cloud, so the system ran on-premises using the technology of the day such as Linux.
SAP became very successful and had 40 customers after being in business for just over two years. If you’ve been using SAP for a long time, your IT team members are now experts in how to get the most from it. But, everything changes when you migrate to the Cloud.
SAP Migration on Public Cloud Doesn’t Always Produce the Results You Expect
There are several reasons why an SAP migration doesn’t work out the way you anticipated it would. Here are key issues that may produce a poor result.
Expected Benefits Aren’t Clearly Defined
Calculating your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be a challenge when you’re building a business case. It’s often the case that you don’t have full visibility into your total spending. To build your case you need to create a model that will estimate what you’re currently spending on IT– including your renewal costs.
Using a Lift and Shift Migration
Many Cloud migrations work well with a “lift and shift” migration approach, but SAP isn’t one of them. Lift and shift migration is easier and less costly than other approaches, but it’s not typically the best approach for migrating SAP. It doesn’t address the step of reconfiguring SAP to make it run in the Cloud effectively.
Failure to Create New Processes and Procedures
The procedures that you have in place when running SAP on-premises need to change when you migrate to the Cloud. For example, think of the process you used when IT needed more processing power and SAP was running on-premises.
The IT department would undoubtedly work with Finance to acquire additional hardware. Now, you’re running in the Cloud and its elasticity is considered a benefit. As you need more resources, you’ll get them, but there is a cost for that. It’s easy for a passionate IT team member to enthusiastically use more resources to solve a problem, but that action is affecting whether you save money in the Cloud.
You’ll need new processes and procedures in many areas to make sure you can take advantage of all the benefits the Cloud provides without having a negative impact.
Your IT Team Lacks in-Depth Cloud Expertise
It’s not easy to hire experienced Cloud experts. The demand is greater than the supply, and the salaries you’d need to pay to attract the experts may be outside of your budget limitations. However, without that level of expertise, you don’t have the skills you need to migrate SAP and make it run smoothly once the migration is complete.
Many companies choose to work with an experienced partner to avoid issues that can arise due to a lack of expertise. At a minimum, you need to do extensive training for your existing staff.
Your SAP Migration Plan Didn’t Address All Critical Areas
If your migration plan missed legacy systems for both SAP and non-SAP critical data, you will potentially need to spend additional time and money to complete the migration.
Lack of Company-Wide Training
SAP in the Cloud offers new advancements in data analytics. If that’s one of the benefits you want to see, it’s critical that you provide training for anyone in your company who could benefit from taking advantage of data integration and more in-depth data analytics.
You won’t get enthusiastic support organization-wide for running in the Cloud unless your employees understand how to use the new tools available to them. Further, employees may not tell you they don’t understand; training needs to be proactive.
In Conclusion
SAP runs very well in the Cloud if it is configured properly and it offers many new and exciting capabilities that will help you improve your operations and ability to innovate. You can achieve the benefits you expect, but it does take knowledgeable planning, new processes, training, and more.
For more information, download our eBook, “Doing Nothing is Not a Choice: Get More From Your SAP Platform When You Migrate and Run It in the Cloud.” You’ll learn even more about how to make sure that running SAP in the Cloud is a success for your company. And if you have questions about this topic, please feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to assist.
