As part of the cooperation, customers of the Microsoft Azure platform, for example, will be given the opportunity to operate S/4 Hana solutions in the Microsoft cloud. From a technical perspective, the cooperation between SAP and Microsoft is certainly advantageous for customers.
Two major providers of substantial Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) platforms are joining forces here, giving our DSAG member companies more freedom. This gives them alternatives to SAP or Amazon Web Services - real alternatives.
Alternatives where you can easily switch from one provider to another as long as the service is standardized. However, the prerequisite is that the cooperation becomes a stable relationship.
The customer will only benefit if such a merger is implemented consistently and in the interests of both major partners. However, that remains to be seen. The fact is that SAP is relying more and more on third parties in the cloud infrastructure sector - and customers must adapt to this. On the one hand, this can be an advantage because, after all, this offering is the core business of the respective companies.
On the other hand, this also creates dependencies on another provider and customers are dependent on the cooperation lasting. After all, they are the ones who suffer if there are problems in the partnership.
In general, the German-speaking SAP user group, DSAG, advises its member companies to keep their services portable. This means that they should be careful with "specialties" from one provider that are not offered by others and are difficult to cover with alternatives. 
And basically, the same questions arise in such scenarios as with any use of cloud solutions:
- Which scenarios are suitable for use?
- Where is the data located?
- Who is responsible for troubleshooting?
The latter is particularly important in the case of availability or problems with functionality that are difficult to pin down. Users should therefore always negotiate minimum availability and clarify all license issues in advance.
Overall, it would also be interesting for users to know whether SAP and Microsoft are thinking about taking a further step towards Office or even process integration in the future.
Related articles:
- Digital change needs clarity
DE
EN
ES
