Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob describes SAP’s “red-hot” S/4HANA Cloud product and the significance it plays in the cloud ERP market.
Highlights
00:12 — In the Cloud Wars News article coming later today, Bob shares the stories of six customers that have been dazzled by SAP’s S/4HANA product. In this episode, he focuses on why the cloud ERP market is growing exceptionally fast, and what it means for customers.
00:48 — The S/4HANA system grew 90% in 2022. In Q1 of this year, it grew 77%. Despite these growth rates, there are still 22,000 customers using the on-premises version of the product. SAP hopes to be able to convert these customers.
01:27 — One of the reasons SAP has been so successful is because of its RISE program, which is largely targeted at on-prem customers. “It’s almost a guide, the core business transformation, as a service into the future; a roadmap for how it’s going to work from a business perspective, not a technology perspective. It’s been hugely successful,” explains Bob. In fact, CEO Christian Klein said RISE has been one of the most strategically vital product launches the company has ever had.
02:19 — A new program, GROW, is aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that have not utilized SAP technology before, and targets customers to help them gain the advantages of the S/4HANA Cloud.
02:27 — There is also intense pressure on SAP to out-compete Oracle, which offers its Fusion Cloud ERP applications. This is why it’s important for SAP to convert the 20,000 on-prem customers, rather than losing them to Oracle.
02:54 — The “stickiness” effect of cloud ERP has been extraordinary, notes Bob. “So the significance here for SAP can’t be overstated.”
03:55 — Stay tuned for the full-length Cloud Wars News article from Bob, which dives deeper into six customer success stories who are leveraging the S/4HANA Cloud.
