SAP partner: Stretching exercises included

We have also long been part of the SAP PartnerEdge program, which offers thematically designated cooperation opportunities - from consulting (Consulting > Service) and license sales (Sell) to the development of solutions (Build). Build partners, like us, can develop their own solutions (intellectual properties) and present them via various sales channels such as Validated Partner Use Cases (VPUC) or sell them to end customers via the SAP Store.

Provided you have successfully plowed a path through the jungle of contracts and understanding. We are still plowing. And that also has to do with the specific structure of our partnership and the SAP partnership in general.

At best, this increases sales for partners like us. For end customers, the SAP partner program has the advantage that they can use ready-made solutions as a service (SaaS) or as part of existing end customer licenses (BYOL). And SAP retains a "partner fee", a variable share of the partners' revenues, which also covers the consumption of SAP BTP Services. Sounds like a win-win-win situation - at least in theory.

Strategy versus reality

In fact, SAP's (future) strategic direction is essential, if not existential, for end customers and partners. And this is definitely moving in the direction of the cloud. The desire for the active use and integration of SAP Cloud Services is also clearly expressed to us partners.

That sounds promising and promising at first. However, if you have been operating a perfectly functioning application as an implementation partner for 25 years, which is primarily used by hospitals in the on-premises world, you are faced with a real challenge. Clean core, simplification items or the integration of SAP cloud products such as Ariba are just a few examples of topics for which concrete solutions are needed - practical, scalable, understandable.

Clear message required

Apart from that, our customers demand a clear statement on how we envisage further development - especially in the on-premises world. For example, in the healthcare sector, where S/4 Hana on-prem or Rise projects are currently increasingly on the agenda.

This balancing act between the comprehensible requirements of our customers, the strategic orientation of SAP and our own role as a company, service provider and SAP partner sometimes leads us to the limits of our own elasticity.

Cloud versus on-prem

SAP's Compatibility Scope Matrix should be mentioned here as an example. Some end customers are not aware that they will no longer be allowed to use certain processes in certain situations from January 1, 2026. As the status quo of our customers is very different, both in terms of resources and technology - SAP BTP/SAP Cloud has not yet arrived everywhere - we as a software provider have to think and act flexibly. 

Particularly in the case of system landscapes that have grown over many years, a hasty migration to the cloud is not only technically risky, but also often not justifiable from a business perspective. And it is always necessary to weigh up whether and when a cloud-oriented approach, which requires an SAP cloud architecture, is expedient and makes sense for the specific customer. Or what alternatives are possible. And achievable without overstretching.

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