Last month, the UK and Ireland SAP User Group published the results of a study of their members which concluded that the majority saw Cloud Computing as a sound direction in which to head, but had little clue as to how SAP would get them there.
Given SAP’s commitment to Cloud in both the form of its Business ByDesign ERP offering and the additions to its range of on demand vertical applications, this would seem to be something of a major communications issue for the vendor as well as reflecting concerns among its customers.
Alan Bowling, chairman of the user group, explains:
“ Where the majority of SAP’s longest-serving customers are is sat on on premise applications. Sacrificing on premise to go to Cloud is not an easy journey to make. You’ve got all your assets and to exit from those assets overnight is not an easy challenge, especially if you have an accountant sitting on your shoulder.”
Licensing has always been a contentious issue for SAP customers and the Cloud makes that all the more so, adds Bowling:
“ In times of austerity we have to prioritise licence management. We need simplicity. It has felt as though complexity in licensing has increased. Virtualisation and Cloud Computing have added to this but, as the hybrid [on premise and on demand] approach becomes a reality, licensing could become a nightmare. Licensing concerns could be one reason why people don’t understand how to integrate on demand. People aren’t buying new licences because they have so many already. Flexibility on the volume of licences needs to improve. Make it easier. Make it simpler. Make it something that aids adoption and the use of SAP products and doesn’t deter potential customers. ”
In fact, Bowling argues that SAP’s Cloud story is a strong one, just not a very well told one to date:
“SAP has majored on the hybrid Cloud idea and people just haven’t picked up on how good that is. They haven’t really pushed that very well with their existing customers. It’s part of a wider communications thing that we are discussing with them at the moment. There are two types of customer – newcomers and older ones. The analogy I draw is that if I’m going to buy a BMW, I’ll look at all the glossy brochures and say ‘I’ll have that one’. If I already have a BMW, then I’m more interested in how many miles to the gallon I can get out of it! SAP hasn’t differentiated its communications to get that split. ”
In the end, Bowling argues that Cloud is only part of the SAP strategy and that offerings such as Hana in the analytics field are equally exciting:
“In some areas, Cloud matters. It allows you do innovation rapidly and allow you to do small scale stuff, not just large scale. My core activity is selling things , not IT so it’s good for that. But it will take time before Cloud is bigger with some organisations who will still be nervous about putting everything out in the Cloud. A large proportion of SAP’s customer base is in the public sector and they are not going to put everything out in the public Cloud. ”
tags for SAP needs to tell its Cloud story better, argues User Group
