Hallelujah or Hanaluja

The latest DSAG investment survey shows a mixed but friendly picture for 2021. The willingness to invest is good among existing SAP customers despite or because of the pandemic. Hana and S/4 adoption is moderate but steady. With a few SAP innovations and a little patience, there could be a happy finish in 2030.

However, the enthusiasm for cloud computing does not want to materialize. Ex-CEOs Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott tried to convert SAP's existing customers with religious zeal and promises of a paradise in the clouds. But the good news of a cuckoo land in the clouds did not take root in their minds. Much ado about nothing - SAP's existing customers knew how to protect themselves from false promises of salvation.

The user association DSAG now shows in a recent survey that cloud computing does not trigger true enthusiasm and investment in any area. Naturally, there are SAP scenarios in which the CIO and CFO see the advantages of cloud computing - despite all the obfuscation by SAP.

Wherever maximum agility, flexibility and speed are important, SAP customers have to rely on cloud computing and, according to DSAG, most often choose Microsoft Azure, rarely AWS and almost never Google Cloud. But because 100 percent S/4 functionality is only available in the company's own data center, the "Hanaluja" is very rarely heard.

But SAP still wants to become a cloud company. Journalist and IT expert Erich Moechel writes on the website of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation that "the certification process for the Azure cloud source code has been tampered with [...] the already confusingly large threat scenario would be expanded as a result [...]". Cloud does not seem to be secure enough, despite all the efforts. Perhaps the SAP data center is not secure either, but that is where the company's own power of disposal reigns.

When the Heise publishing house in Hanover was attacked a few years ago, users reacted with lightning speed. All systems were shut down, disconnected from the network and restarted separately - try that with a cloud. If you have data center experience, a capable team and a CFO who knows how to finance it, you should think twice before trading in your on-prem licenses for cloud computing from SAP, Microsoft and others. Short-term cost advantages should not obscure the view of a long SAP life.

SAP CEO Christian Klein believes in cloud computing and is pushing his existing customers into the cloud with gentle force and unctuous words (see also cover story in this issue): The love-hate relationship with SAP APO is now being lifted into the cloud with IBP, Integrated Business Planning - whether all existing SAP customers will like this remains to be seen. In the HCM area, SAP has made a belated commitment to on-prem. For the time being, the company is pursuing a two-track strategy - in keeping with Johann Nestroy's "At ground level and on the second floor, or the vagaries of fortune. (pmf)