Dear partners, let's work together!

As part of Embrace, Microsoft has now been officially named as the preferred hyperscaler. A clear directional decision, as a result of which SAP will migrate further ERP and S/4 Hana customers as well as more of its own SAP systems to the Azure Cloud. In particular, the development and support teams of both companies will work even more closely together and optimize the provision of mission-critical business applications in the cloud.

The goal of the expanded cloud partnership and the cooperation with the system integrators is to offer companies comprehensive packages with uniform reference architectures and roadmaps as well as best practices that pave their way to the cloud easily and quickly.

This includes future rollouts as well as the migration of previous Hana Enterprise Cloud customers to use the hyperscaler infrastructure. At the same time, SAP's offering continues to support those customers who want alternatives based on their business requirements and offers appropriate choices.

So much for the understanding of Embrace from the manufacturer's point of view. But how do customers and implementation partners get involved?

Options become guides

To simplify customers' journey with S/4 to the cloud, it is not just the account teams from Microsoft and SAP that are working together. Industry-related roadmaps and reference architectures are also developed, which are then implemented together with experienced partners from the joint network. These partner companies with their technology and industry expertise are thus an essential part of the Embrace ecosystem.

The benefits of the Embrace initiative are therefore obvious. The clear collaboration between SAP and Microsoft, who bring experience from their own operations and use cases for various industries, now turns options into guides. Both for the companies and for the partners. Together, functioning customer solutions are created within the framework of Embrace, which are based on the services and products of both companies.

The partner brings its technological capabilities for SAP and Azure in conjunction with its industry expertise to the customer's projects. Both Microsoft and SAP provide support and form a powerful alliance. The customer benefits from a future-proof solution based on the specifications and experience of three coordinated partners.

This has already been successfully implemented in some customer projects. And yet, from time to time, we encounter hesitations within Embrace projects. Be it that the S/4 project as a whole has been postponed, or be it that use cases are still to be based on the Business Suite.

An appeal to you

Therefore, our appeal at this point: Dear companies, use the rules of the game and architecture blueprints. But also demand a clearly defined approach from your partners, from SAP, and from us at Microsoft. Insist on a project plan that defines a common direction that takes customer requirements into account.

Dear partners, let's all talk together about your customer projects. You have the consultants, the know-how and the details about the customer's requirements. A partner does not become an Embrace partner because he is "appointed" to it, but in most cases he already is because of his expertise. At least if all the mentioned knowledge and skills are in the portfolio. If not, we should talk to each other and consider what still needs to be done to become fit for the future.