The rise of cloud technology has significantly transformed the business landscape, and today, SAP Commerce Cloud stands as an advantageous solution for organizations aiming for progress and competitiveness. With documented benefits over on-premise solutions like cost reduction, quicker development times, enhanced performance, scalability, and agility, it's evident why cloud computing is thriving. The shift from capital expenditures to operational expenditures, driven by cloud adoption, has been a game-changer for many businesses.
SAP Commerce Cloud, with its enterprise-level infrastructure, allows businesses to embark on new initiatives and react swiftly to competition. It equips them with the power to target new markets, manage peak loads automatically, and continuously test and implement new ideas.
One remarkable feature of SAP Commerce Cloud is its provision of monthly updates, exclusive to its cloud offering. These updates ensure businesses are equipped with the latest e-commerce innovations, reducing the disruption and risks of larger, infrequent system upgrades.
Furthermore, it offers a secure, compliant, and standardized operational environment. Businesses can rest assured their data is safe and the system aligns with regulatory requirements. With the lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and operationalized costs, businesses find greater financial flexibility.
In conclusion, starting your journey with SAP Commerce Cloud opens up new possibilities, allowing you to stay at the forefront of your industry, continually innovate, and maintain a competitive edge.
SAP Commerce Cloud is a platform-as-a-service cloud offering. It's of utmost importance to leverage SAP's recommended practices whenever possible. A migration to the cloud may require changes to your development processes, support procedures, and operations. We recommend reviewing and understanding our product capabilities, service level agreements, and service descriptions before initiating a cloud migration project.
The most relevant documents to consider in scoping a migration project are available in the SAP trust center at SAP Trust Center:
If you are new to cloud transitions, or possibly undertaking this for the first time, devising a cloud strategy will be crucial to your success. Furthermore, you should partition the activities into phases to enhance flexibility and allow time for your business to assimilate changes.
Change can be challenging to manage well: different departments may have distinct requirements, and the familiarity with their current processes and hardware might serve as an impediment to change. It's natural for teams to be cautious.
However, the cloud encourages change and fosters opportunities - I encourage you to embrace it!
As part of the business planning process you should:
It's vital that you create a comprehensive picture of your current state: conduct an extensive assessment of infrastructure, architecture, policies, performance, hosted applications and their compatibility, application functionality, integrations, business processes, security requirements, and disaster recovery strategies. Identify and evaluate any specific application standards, legal requirements, risks, and dependencies. Document the significant costs associated with maintaining your on-premise infrastructure, including hardware, data centers, and support teams.
Outline the potential risks, challenges, and mitigation strategies to facilitate comparison. For more detailed information, please refer to Assessments are vital to a successful Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
As part of your move to the cloud, you could aim to reduce latency and enable quicker response times for your customers. Assess your environments, hosting, and latency considerations in light of your roadmap for potential expansion to new locations and/or the inclusion of additional environments.
View the data center locations where the selected SAP cloud services are currently operated.
Every business is different and have their own Cloud strategy. The approaches below have their own merits and risks and benefit different scenarios: SAP have dedicated Migration experts to support you at every stage of your move.
Investigate the necessity of retaining existing features while refactoring others to leverage dedicated cloud functionality and optimize workloads. Decide what to alter - this might involve eliminating or refactoring existing functionality, adopting out-of-the-box cloud functionality to reduce costs, or retaining existing features as-is.
Refactoring also presents an opportunity to introduce new features and best-of-breed services. This is an opportune moment to evaluate whether any of your existing applications can be segmented into microservices, to harness the elasticity, scalability, and availability of SAP Commerce Cloud.
One of the swiftest methods to transition is to lift all your on-premise applications and rehost them on SAP Commerce Cloud. This approach ensures that your business processes, investments, workloads, and architecture remain the same.
It's often viewed more favorably by businesses with an immediate need to change hosts or reduce their Total Cost of Ownership. However, you may find your existing architecture does not fully leverage the efficiencies and optimizations offered by the cloud.
A migration to SAP Commerce Cloud requires an upgrade for several key reasons. Firstly, the cloud version of the software is regularly updated, ensuring access to the latest features and improvements. Maintaining an up-to-date version is crucial for compatibility with the cloud environment. Secondly, SAP's on-premise version of Commerce Cloud is scheduled to go out of mainstream maintenance, necessitating an upgrade for continued support. Additionally, upgrading to the latest version often results in performance improvements, enhanced security, and access to new functionalities that can drive business growth. The upgrade process also provides an opportunity to review and potentially streamline or modernize business processes, helping your organization to fully leverage the benefits of the cloud environment. The cumulative benefits of these factors make the upgrade an essential part of a successful migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
Please check if your version is compatible. We strongly recommend going live with a version that will be in mainstream maintenance for at least the following 6 months after go-live. This will give you enough flexibility to stabilise operations/day-to-day activities and at the same time adopt monthly update cycles onwards.
In order to provide you with the best chances of success, SAP provides a full offering of services that will benefit your migration project.
You can see the latest available services for SAP Commerce Cloud on the SAP Store and directly purchase them there.
SAP have been involved in hundreds of migrations, and have dedicated Migration experts to help you plan, solution and support your move to cloud.
Assess your existing SAP Commerce to validate your solution readiness and identify potential challenges of migrating to SAP Commerce Cloud in the Public Cloud.
For more details check out Assessments are vital to a successful Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
Perform a database-to-database migration from your existing on premise of SAP Commerce to your SAP Commerce Cloud on Public Infrastructure database, and a direct media copy from your existing media folders to the Media Blob Storage of SAP Commerce Cloud. The transport can be done either using a self-service toolkit or via SAP services. More details regarding this package you can review the Info sheet.
The service provides a custom-tailored package to support your migration project from the beginning to the end, including cutover support, if needed.
Please contact your SAP representative for more information about this service.
This article has provided resources to help you understand how to embark on a migration to the new SAP Commerce Cloud. You should now be acquainted with the overall approach for migrating your commerce solution, the steps you can undertake independently (or with a partner), as well as those steps that necessitate SAP's involvement. While the article aims to address many customer queries, there will always be specific scenarios that may require additional clarification. If this is the case or if you are interested in initiating a migration, please consult with your Account Executive, Customer Success Partner, or reach out to sapcx-services@sap.com.
SAP Commerce Cloud, with its enterprise-level infrastructure, allows businesses to embark on new initiatives and react swiftly to competition. It equips them with the power to target new markets, manage peak loads automatically, and continuously test and implement new ideas.
One remarkable feature of SAP Commerce Cloud is its provision of monthly updates, exclusive to its cloud offering. These updates ensure businesses are equipped with the latest e-commerce innovations, reducing the disruption and risks of larger, infrequent system upgrades.
Furthermore, it offers a secure, compliant, and standardized operational environment. Businesses can rest assured their data is safe and the system aligns with regulatory requirements. With the lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and operationalized costs, businesses find greater financial flexibility.
In conclusion, starting your journey with SAP Commerce Cloud opens up new possibilities, allowing you to stay at the forefront of your industry, continually innovate, and maintain a competitive edge.
Get Your Organization Ready to Run SAP Commerce Cloud
SAP Commerce Cloud is a platform-as-a-service cloud offering. It's of utmost importance to leverage SAP's recommended practices whenever possible. A migration to the cloud may require changes to your development processes, support procedures, and operations. We recommend reviewing and understanding our product capabilities, service level agreements, and service descriptions before initiating a cloud migration project.
The most relevant documents to consider in scoping a migration project are available in the SAP trust center at SAP Trust Center:
- SAP Commerce Cloud Services Details
- General Terms and Conditions for Cloud Services
- incl. the latest SAP Commerce Cloud, composable edition and SAP Commerce Cloud, premier edition Supplement
- Service Level Agreement for SAP Cloud Services
- Support Policy for SAP Cloud Services
If you are new to cloud transitions, or possibly undertaking this for the first time, devising a cloud strategy will be crucial to your success. Furthermore, you should partition the activities into phases to enhance flexibility and allow time for your business to assimilate changes.
Change can be challenging to manage well: different departments may have distinct requirements, and the familiarity with their current processes and hardware might serve as an impediment to change. It's natural for teams to be cautious.
However, the cloud encourages change and fosters opportunities - I encourage you to embrace it!
Fundamentals
Business requirements
As part of the business planning process you should:
- Define the short and long term goals.
- Plan out your optimal user journeys (must-haves, should-haves, like-to-haves, etc...).
- Focus on the priorities, dependencies, training requirements, workflows, and current requirements to existing challenges.
- Define the end-state with regards to:
- All-cloud solution vs hybrid architecture: detail where the workload sits, which infrastructure takes the load.
- New lines of business, processes, developments and functionality.
What exists today
It's vital that you create a comprehensive picture of your current state: conduct an extensive assessment of infrastructure, architecture, policies, performance, hosted applications and their compatibility, application functionality, integrations, business processes, security requirements, and disaster recovery strategies. Identify and evaluate any specific application standards, legal requirements, risks, and dependencies. Document the significant costs associated with maintaining your on-premise infrastructure, including hardware, data centers, and support teams.
Outline the potential risks, challenges, and mitigation strategies to facilitate comparison. For more detailed information, please refer to Assessments are vital to a successful Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
Location and availability
As part of your move to the cloud, you could aim to reduce latency and enable quicker response times for your customers. Assess your environments, hosting, and latency considerations in light of your roadmap for potential expansion to new locations and/or the inclusion of additional environments.
View the data center locations where the selected SAP cloud services are currently operated.
Executing the right strategy
Every business is different and have their own Cloud strategy. The approaches below have their own merits and risks and benefit different scenarios: SAP have dedicated Migration experts to support you at every stage of your move.
Transformation Project
Investigate the necessity of retaining existing features while refactoring others to leverage dedicated cloud functionality and optimize workloads. Decide what to alter - this might involve eliminating or refactoring existing functionality, adopting out-of-the-box cloud functionality to reduce costs, or retaining existing features as-is.
Refactoring also presents an opportunity to introduce new features and best-of-breed services. This is an opportune moment to evaluate whether any of your existing applications can be segmented into microservices, to harness the elasticity, scalability, and availability of SAP Commerce Cloud.
Like-for-like MOVE
One of the swiftest methods to transition is to lift all your on-premise applications and rehost them on SAP Commerce Cloud. This approach ensures that your business processes, investments, workloads, and architecture remain the same.
It's often viewed more favorably by businesses with an immediate need to change hosts or reduce their Total Cost of Ownership. However, you may find your existing architecture does not fully leverage the efficiencies and optimizations offered by the cloud.
Compatibility
A migration to SAP Commerce Cloud requires an upgrade for several key reasons. Firstly, the cloud version of the software is regularly updated, ensuring access to the latest features and improvements. Maintaining an up-to-date version is crucial for compatibility with the cloud environment. Secondly, SAP's on-premise version of Commerce Cloud is scheduled to go out of mainstream maintenance, necessitating an upgrade for continued support. Additionally, upgrading to the latest version often results in performance improvements, enhanced security, and access to new functionalities that can drive business growth. The upgrade process also provides an opportunity to review and potentially streamline or modernize business processes, helping your organization to fully leverage the benefits of the cloud environment. The cumulative benefits of these factors make the upgrade an essential part of a successful migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
Please check if your version is compatible. We strongly recommend going live with a version that will be in mainstream maintenance for at least the following 6 months after go-live. This will give you enough flexibility to stabilise operations/day-to-day activities and at the same time adopt monthly update cycles onwards.
Support on SAP Commerce Cloud
In order to provide you with the best chances of success, SAP provides a full offering of services that will benefit your migration project.
SAP Store
You can see the latest available services for SAP Commerce Cloud on the SAP Store and directly purchase them there.
Migration-specific Service Offering
SAP have been involved in hundreds of migrations, and have dedicated Migration experts to help you plan, solution and support your move to cloud.
Assessment
Assess your existing SAP Commerce to validate your solution readiness and identify potential challenges of migrating to SAP Commerce Cloud in the Public Cloud.
For more details check out Assessments are vital to a successful Migration to SAP Commerce Cloud.
Data and Media Migration Service
Perform a database-to-database migration from your existing on premise of SAP Commerce to your SAP Commerce Cloud on Public Infrastructure database, and a direct media copy from your existing media folders to the Media Blob Storage of SAP Commerce Cloud. The transport can be done either using a self-service toolkit or via SAP services. More details regarding this package you can review the Info sheet.
Migration Guidance Service
The service provides a custom-tailored package to support your migration project from the beginning to the end, including cutover support, if needed.
Please contact your SAP representative for more information about this service.
Conclusion
This article has provided resources to help you understand how to embark on a migration to the new SAP Commerce Cloud. You should now be acquainted with the overall approach for migrating your commerce solution, the steps you can undertake independently (or with a partner), as well as those steps that necessitate SAP's involvement. While the article aims to address many customer queries, there will always be specific scenarios that may require additional clarification. If this is the case or if you are interested in initiating a migration, please consult with your Account Executive, Customer Success Partner, or reach out to sapcx-services@sap.com.
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