Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. The guest host of today’s episode is Janet Schijns. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.
This episode is sponsored by Acceleration Economy’s “Cloud Wars Top 10 Course,” which explains how Bob Evans builds and updates the Cloud Wars Top 10 ranking, as well as how C-suite executives use the list to inform strategic cloud purchase decisions. The course is available today.
In this Cloud Wars Minute, Janet elaborates on the partnership between SAP and Bain.
Highlights
00:40 — Software giant SAP is partnering with management consulting firm Bain to embark on a “mind-blowing” cloud ERP transformation. Janet has questions about this project on behalf of the partners ecosystem.
01:09 — Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is critical because it provides end-user customers with a powerful tool to streamline and optimize their business processes. With ERP systems, end users can efficiently manage various aspects of their operations, including inventory and finance, human resources, sales, and customer relationship management.
02:02 — However, often ERP systems are seen internally as clunky or difficult to work within. Why? Because processes weren’t modernized prior to being automated. That’s where the SAP-Bain partnership has so much promise.
02:45 — Janet is curious about how this partnership will be brought to market. SAP and Bain joining forces to revolutionize ERP with a cloud-based overhaul is great news. But SAP already distributes many of its cloud solution projects for enterprises through or with partners other than Bain.
03:37 — The channel will want to know how to get involved in these deals. Does the partnership take service revenue away from traditional partners? Or is there a way for them to offer their clients the new Bain and SAP services? Press releases don’t really speak to that. How will this partnership ensure a seamless collaboration with channel partners?
04:27 — The key to success with this new SAP and Bain partnership may be how well they harness their existing sales and services partner strategy in their go-to-market plan. Leave the partners out, and you can see lower adoption. Engage the partners in a way that is profitable and good for everyone’s business, and you should see higher adoption.
