SAP Cloud Platform
Anyone looking for SAP solutions of any kind from 2017 at the latest will inevitably come across a correspondingly propagated cloud solution. SAP's strategic direction is absolutely clear at this point, and innovations and investments take place for the absolute most part here. What all the services developed in this course (there are no longer any products in the cloud) have in common is their technical basis, the SAP Cloud Platform. Here, too, it is not a classic product, but a service (PaaS - Platform as a Service), so only licenses are sold, which then (depending on the package) gain access to different services.
CALEO is well aware of reservations and uncertainties regarding this direction. However, we believe that the great flexibility of the SAP Cloud Platform allows everyone to find a suitable compromise between control over their own data / IT and benefiting from the great possibilities of the cloud.
General
The fine-grained division into a wide variety of services at all levels allows customers to control the scope of their cloud usage very precisely. The availability of the appropriate services must be checked at the time, but there are already many interfaces available here (especially to corresponding SAP On Premise installations) and more and more are becoming available very quickly.
Which parts of an IT landscape are sensibly replaced or expanded by a cloud solution depends on the individual case. A cloud alternative can be used almost independently instead of each of the components shown in the exemplary architecture.
Everything is conceivable, from a very narrow cloud scenario in which, for example, only reporting is mapped by using the SAP Analytics Cloud (as an alternative to a standalone BI platform) to a complete cloud architecture.
Recommendation
As a first step into the cloud without significantly relinquishing control over your own IT, the use of the SAP Fiori Cloud Service or the Cloud Portal Service as a central, cross-system entry point for your users is a good idea.
Your advantage
Game types
The SAP Cloud Platform offers different types of play at the outset. First, let's mention the (rather technical) distinction between SAP Neo and Cloud Foundry. This is a very elementary difference, namely the runtime environment, which serves as a substructure for everything else. SAP Neo is a proprietary development of SAP, Cloud Foundry is an open source development that is also used by many other providers such as Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform. However, due to the high level of interoperability and benefiting from external developments, the direction at this point is clearly towards Cloud Foundry.
The second type of game is the distinction between private and public cloud. The difference here is that the software is identical and up to date for all public cloud customers. An influence e.g. on maintenance windows you do not have. In a private cloud model, SAP acts similar to a classic provider for IT infrastructure and the customer has certain influence on updates and, in some cases, software adaptations.
Recommendation
If there are no valid reasons against it (such as internal limitations when using OpenSource components), the use of the Cloud Foundry runtime environment is recommended.
For cost reasons, we recommend a private cloud model only for extensive use of cloud services, especially in the platform area in order to influence maintenance times. For the most part, the risk does not justify the cost when using front-end services alone.
Summary
Despite widespread reservations about cloud solutions for enterprise software, it is worth considering possible services from the SAP Cloud Platform. The central management of the infrastructure, the use of open source software and the rapid establishment of a community enable SAP to achieve development speeds in this area that are unthinkable with on-premise solutions. This in turn results in an already very large and very rapidly growing range of solutions that can be used flexibly at short notice and supplemented by in-house developments.
Our offer
We support you in finding the right cloud strategy for you. Here, we do not focus on maximum utilization of the possibilities, but rather on sensible integration into your existing architecture and attach importance to holistic solutions.
The SAP Cloud Platform naturally offers fewer options for influence and customization than a classic on-premise landscape. Depending on where the interface is pulled into the cloud,
Due to the low level of influence and