SAP Cloud Platform Review

SAP’s cloud portfolio is one of the pillars of the SAP Business Technology Platform.

With over 100,000 employees, Walldorf, Germany-based SAP reported revenue of EUR $27.34 billion in 2020, with cloud revenue totaling EUR $8.09 billion, an 18% year-over-year increase.

SAP has over 100 cloud offerings. See below to learn about some of SAP’s key cloud products and where the company stands in the cloud market:

SAP Cloud Portfolio

SAP Asset Manager

SAP Asset Manager is an Android and iOS app that provides real-time monitoring of assets.

• Insights available both online and offline
• Makes for cost-efficient deployment
• Context-rich data visualization 

SAP Cloud ALM

SAP’s application life cycle management (ALM) is a cloud-based solution for cloud-centric customers. It’s for customers that strictly, or predominantly, use cloud systems, but allows for hybrid solutions.

• Ensures business and product continuity long-term
• Provides proactive detection methods
• Root-cause analysis
• Accelerated problem solving

SAP Cloud Applications Studio

SAP’s Application Studio is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution for cloud-based software development.

• Includes an integrated kit to adapt and enhance existing and new extensions for SAP’s cloud solutions
• Allows for wide range of system configurations
• Customize and optimize solutions
• Keeps data secure and available online

SAP takes a preventative maintenance approach, predicting issues in security and accessibility before they occur.

SAP Cloud Appliance Library

The cloud appliance library (CAL) by SAP is an online repository of preconfigured business solutions.

• Ready to use
• Can be directly deployed into your cloud account 
• Expandable storage
• Seamless integration with various cloud providers

The deployment process is fully automated and allows you to share tasks and access with multiple users in the same organization. 

SAP Cloud Identity Access Governance

SAP’s Cloud Identity Access Governance (IAG) works with both on-premises and cloud-based applications. Its main function is for users to create access requests to applications and data sets and for the admin to easily manage access privileges.

SAP Commerce Cloud

SAP’s Commerce Cloud is an enterprise commerce solution.

• Simplifies online selling and buying processes
• Highly flexible and scalable

It enables admins to react to changes in your customer base as well as customer needs by building trust and loyalty.

SAP Industry Cloud

SAP’s Industry Cloud is made specifically for enterprises to enhance their capabilities

• Enables access to vertical solutions
• Open business platform
• Includes integrated API framework
• Compatible with SAP’s applications and solutions

The solutions are flexible enough to respond to changes in business requirements and enable innovation and automation.

SAP Partnerships

SAP’s partnership program grants access to its portfolio of cloud solutions that are customizable, depending on your company’s needs and resources. 

SAP offers several types of partnership programs, with access to their experts available in silver, gold, and platinum tiers.

The partnership includes working on the various aspects a business needs to function online, from sales solutions to consulting.

SAP Cloud Use Case

One of SAP’s clients is Vodafone, the telecommunications company that operates in over 30 countries and connects more than 300 million people. 

Vodafone solved its limited ability to generate key business insights and poor access to insights from its legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications by opting for end-to-end cloud technologies, according to SAP.

Vodafone was able to establish real-time intelligence collection and analysis for their enterprise using SAP’s cloud-based ERP product, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, resulting in higher efficiency, with over 70% of core business operations automated.

“Our partnership with SAP is almost like a family, beyond a partner-supplier relationship,” says Ignacio Garcia, CIO corporate system at Vodafone Group. 

“We work together to create a world-class operation for Vodafone and plan to continue working like this for many more years to serve our customers.”

SAP Cloud User Reviews

User reviews of SAP’s cloud solutions on third-party websites are overwhelmingly positive:

Gartner: 4.1 out of 5

Capterra: 4.4 out of 5

TrustRadius: 8.4 out of 10

Most users agree that SAP’s cloud solutions have an easy-to-use user interface, and they provide multiple resources for seamless data integration. 

A couple downsides users mention are affordability, particularly for startups, and less-than-ideal third-party compatibility and integration.

Industry Recognition

SAP was recognized as the Customer’s Choice winner in the Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises category in 2020 at Gartner Peer Insights. 

The following year, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, their cloud-based ERP product, was named a leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for Cloud Core Financial Management Suites for Midsize, Large and Global Enterprises.” 

SAP Cloud in the Market

SAP reports having a cloud user base of about 231 million users, as of July 2021.

The company expects their cloud revenue to increase from EUR $8.09 billion in 2020 to EUR $9.3-$9.5 billion in 2021, with “ambition” to reach over EUR $22 billion in 2025.

By comparison, the cloud market leader, AWS, reported USD $45.37 billion in revenue in 2020.