SAP success metrics and cloud deployment options

[Hardik23]

The rapid evolution of businesses in the digital era has increased reliance on cloud-based solutions. 41% of businesses use cloud-based services, 33.4% aim to migrate older apps, and 32.8% migrate on-premises workloads to the cloud.

With thousands of businesses transitioning from outdated infrastructure to a high-performance digital ecosystem offered by SAP, it is imperative to understand the critical aspects of a successful SAP Cloud migration.

SAP presents numerous advantages, but realizing success in SAP cloud deployment is a formidable challenge, given the need to monitor essential Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess business growth trajectory.

With that said, let's delve into the key factors determining success in SAP cloud deployment, accompanied by relevant statistics.

Defining success metrics

As per my experience working on the cloud, I can confidently say that before deploying the SAP cloud platform environment, you need to define success metrics that serve as benchmarks for evaluating the deployment's effectiveness.

Here are a few SAP success metrics along with their detailed overview:

• Adoption rate: The adoption rate metric tracks the number of users actively using the SAP cloud deployment. An increased adoption rate means your SAP deployment is offering you high value and letting you meet your business goals successfully.


• User satisfaction: You can use feedback, survey forms, interviews, video testimonials, etc, to know to what extent your user is satisfied. The more the user is satisfied, the more profits and leads you get.


• Real-time insights: It determines the time required to gain relevant insights from SAP cloud installation. A quicker turnaround for insights indicates that the system gives users accurate and pertinent data.


• Data quality: Data quality assesses the accuracy, wholeness, and reliability of data employed in SAP cloud deployments. A high data quality indicates that the system uses reliable and credible data.

Ways to determine the value of cloud

Here are some useful ways to decide whether your cloud service provider is driving any value for your business:

1. Costs are important!

Conduct a detailed analysis of past operational costs vs. the current cloud management service expenses. While calculating, don’t forget to include the benefits of partnering with a provider, like reduced in-house workload and enhanced agility, in light of your financial outlays.

2. Consider the service level agreements (SLAs)

Does your provider manage SLA? Do you get apps as per your contract? Do they meet the necessary SLA requirements?

3. Unlocking the power of instant response!

How fast does your cloud provider respond to your issues or problems? How many tickets have you opened? How many tickets get resolved? Does your cloud provider report on problem-solving?

SAP cloud deployment options

Modern SAP deployments often involve a cloud element, and many SAP solutions are now entirely cloud-based. Here are the primary cloud deployment models supported by SAP:

1. SAP public cloud

Nowadays public cloud has attracted a lot of eyeballs in the SAP arena as many companies are gradually moving their stuff to the cloud. This shift is fueled by a 21.7% global increase in end-user spending on public cloud services, projected to reach $597.3 billion in 2023.

Public cloud providers offer infrastructure and migration services, but your organization's SAP team is responsible for migration or can choose an implementation partner.

So, start with a well-defined plan to migrate to SAP commerce cloud. Once your team understands the migration process, focus on managing the SAP solution in production. Public cloud providers ensure SLAs at the infrastructure level, necessitating strong backup, high availability, and disaster recovery planning.

2. Enterprise cloud

Enterprise cloud includes technical app management services. It works best if your existing SAP infrastructure is not so updated and you are looking to access advanced services.

By integrating enterprise cloud into your business, you can,

• Achieve better scalability for your business


• Stay innovative


• Get flexibility in responding to market changes


• Improve the quality of customer services


• Centralize your applications and data

To make the best out of SAP’s enterprise cloud, you must ensure that your business meets necessary service level agreements (SLA) and service catalogs.

3. Private cloud

A private cloud is where a single organization completely owns the cloud architecture. Unlike the public cloud, it doesn't involve resource sharing. The best thing about the private cloud is that it offers exclusive control protected by robust security measures.

In contrast to the public cloud's flexible, pay-as-you-go approach, private clouds offer a set price structure in which you pay for the complete package regardless of resource utilization. A survey found that 41% of organizations utilized Microsoft Azure, 31% used AWS services, and 28% used vSphere/vCenter.

You can monitor resource usage among user groups or tenants through a "chargeback." In the private cloud, you are not just a user but are in charge of maintaining control and prioritizing security within your digital domain.

4. Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud model seamlessly blends public and private cloud services, enabling them to interact and share data. This approach empowers organizations to harness the scalability and cost-efficiency of public cloud resources while upholding confidential data security and compliance within their private infrastructure.

Owing to the above benefits, deploying a hybrid cloud covers a constantly growing market share. The hybrid cloud market size is expected to reach $348.53 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 21.91% at the time of the forecast period.

5. Multi-cloud

Companies can use the multi-cloud model to collaborate with cloud providers, integrating private and public clouds as needed. This benefits large enterprises with distinct departments like finance or legal, separate from marketing or HR.

Apart from this, multi-cloud adoption has witnessed a tremendous boost. The global multi-cloud market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 27.5% from 2023 to 2030.

The multi-cloud model provides greater control, advanced data management, and independence from a single provider, making data migration easier if issues arise or a vendor change is desired.

To conclude

Measuring the success of SAP cloud deployment is an ongoing and multifaceted process. By defining clear objectives, establishing relevant KPIs, adopting a data-driven approach, and addressing user adoption and satisfaction, you can ensure that your SAP cloud deployment remains a valuable asset for your organization in the long term.