Which Is the Best Cloud for Hana?

SAP plans to migrate ERP users to SAP S/4 Hana, SAP Hana, and SAP BW/4Hana by 2027. This migration poses strategic and technological challenges for many companies. Cloud solutions are the way of the future, but which one is best for SAP Hana?

The answer depends on the use case, budget and requirements. Companies in Switzerland benefit from proximity to local providers and their understanding of national requirements. International providers offer scalability and innovation. SAP itself offers different cloud services to meet different needs.

Market leaders and their strengths

The largest public clouds dominate SAP applications. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leader, followed by Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. The IBM Power Cloud is also a major player in the SAP environment, especially for companies with complex IT infrastructures and demanding SAP workloads. Swiss provider UMB uses the IBM Power10 platform to run SAP on the UMB Cloud.

AWS is an innovative pioneer in the cloud market, offering specialized SAP instances and a wide range of services. These include machine learning and analytics tools that can be easily combined with SAP solutions. AWS operates data centers in Europe, but has no locations in Switzerland.

Microsoft Azure provides virtual machines and Hana Large Instances. This combination allows you to manage SAP Hana workloads whether they are running in the cloud or on-prem. Azure offers extensive certifications for SAP workloads and seamless integration with Office 365 and other Microsoft products. Organizations that already rely on Microsoft ecosystems benefit from this compatibility. Azure also has local data centers in Switzerland, which facilitates data protection and compliance.

The Google Cloud offers innovative features such as automatic infrastructure optimization. It is a leader in AI and big data technologies, which is particularly interesting for data-intensive SAP workloads. Google's private fiber network provides a secure foundation for SAP.

The IBM Power Cloud provides a secure and highly available environment for data and applications. One-third of SAP S/4 Hana users rely on IBM Power Systems. The IBM Power Systems platform has been used for SAP Hana solutions for about ten years and demand continues to grow. IBM touts 99.999 percent reliability and four times the resiliency of other systems. In addition, IBM is integrating AI and automation into its cloud offerings to reduce operating costs and streamline processes.

Top solution from Switzerland

The UMB Cloud uses the IBM Power10 platform to run SAP Basis. Customers benefit from this uncomplicated solution: experts take over the SAP Basis operation with clearly calculable costs. The UMB Cloud offers perfect scalability so that resources can be expanded or reduced as required. The servers grow with the company's workload. The system is extremely secure and has significantly fewer outages than comparable systems. The UMB SAP Hana IBM Power Cloud is operated in Switzerland under Swiss law.

Companies can rely on a stable legal environment and protection under strict Swiss data protection laws. Choosing the right cloud solution depends on individual business goals and requirements. Careful evaluation of options is critical to finding the best balance between performance, scalability and compliance.

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