Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure Strategies for SAP Modernization and Migration
Complexity associated with code customization and legacy integration emerge as key issues to address as technology executives determine how existing investments in SAP can best be rolled into today’s hybrid cloud enterprise infrastructures.
By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned in the pandemic, most enterprises will accelerate their shift to cloud-centric digital infrastructure and application services.
As a result, new and existing investments in critical enterprise applications -- including SAP -- are being analyzed to see how they can be deployed across this heterogeneous infrastructure environment.
Complexity associated with code customization and legacy integration emerge as key issues to address as technology executives determine how existing investments in SAP can best be rolled into today’s hybrid cloud enterprise infrastructures.
According to analysts at IDC, the cloud in all its permutations is having a major impact on the disposition of core enterprise applications. By the end of 2021, based on lessons learned in the pandemic, most enterprises will accelerate their shift to cloud-centric digital infrastructure and application services. The lion’s share of organizations are expected to deploy hybrid cloud infrastructures to acquire hyperspeed, the ability to grow in hyperscale, and become hyper-connected organizations.
As a result, new and existing investments in critical enterprise applications -- including SAP -- are being analyzed to see how they can be deployed across this heterogeneous infrastructure environment.
BizTechReports recently caught up with Ajay Pasuvul of HCL and Jim Klein of AWS, senior technology leaders from around the country gathered to explore the issues and options associated with SAP modernization and migration across hybrid cloud infrastructures. Here is what they had to say:
The priorities driving strategic decisions to move SAP operations to cloud environments, most highlighted the opportunity to rationalize the growing complexity of today’s infrastructures. Executives are exploring how we can simplify our investments in SAP -- and other ERP applications -- scattered across a range of legacy on-prem environments while keeping the digital code clean. SAP sprawl, it was observed, often emerges through mergers and acquisitions in the private sector. This has elevated the imperative of establishing an integrated hybrid-cloud strategy for getting the most value of SAP data while streamlining its management.
A key barrier to establishing an effective hybrid multi-cloud SAP strategy revolves around the extensive amount of code customization that often characterized legacy implementations. Addressing code that has been customized and keeping the digital code clean through cloud migration or modernization is a major challenge.
Addressing the custom code challenge can often -- but not always -- be addressed through lift-and-shift strategies that relocate on-premises SAP instances onto a cloud-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) environment. However, executives often state that if such a move is improperly conceived and designed, it can result in more expensive operations that do not perform as well as they do on-prem.
Most participants agreed that strategies for moving SAP to hybrid cloud environments should focus on harvesting new functionality, insights, and automation. This is difficult to accomplish by just lifting and shifting. A thoughtful approach to redesigning SAP deployments for cloud and hyper-converged infrastructures, participants agreed, should tap into unprecedented opportunities to optimize emerging technologies -- like AI/ML and advanced automation -- across the enterprise. As Jim, from AWS noted: “By leveraging SAP in the cloud, you can really drive automation. That's where organizations can really start to get the scale and new benefits from SAP. “
Several organizations have also noted how the effective deployment of SAP resources across hybrid cloud infrastructures can expand the community of interest that can leverage insights and analysis from this critical enterprise application. Ajay, from HCL, noted that moving SAP to cloud -- and cloud-like -- environments should be performed with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) mentality. “When we look at SAP as a product that delivers value to customers (including internal stakeholders), it enhances the positive impact for more stakeholders. Concepts like Net Promoter Score (NPS) should be considered as a key driver that encourages more people to effectively engage with their SAP resources.”
From a deployment of services perspective, he added, it is important to ensure that the movement of SAP to the cloud embraces a continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment (CICD) mindset. “This is a paradigm shift, which is going to enhance the value of SAP for more people in the enterprise.”
For more information on BizTechReport podcast interviews, please contact Melissa Fisher at MFisher@BizTechReports.com.