SAP in the cloud: Seeing is believing

Yesterday, SAP Netherlands organized an event together with Acorel which was named “Seeing is believing”. We had numerous SAP customers visiting the SAP office in the Netherlands, where the location was transformed to a setting in which different SAP Partners hosted round tables to discuss the Cloud solutions from SAP.

SAP is transforming to a cloud organization and many customers would like to understand how cloud solutions can help their business. Acorel was invited to host the round table for SAP Cloud for Customer, the solution in the area of Sales, Service and Marketing processes. In many previous blogs we gave insight in the capabilities of this solution. Choosing for SAP Cloud for Customer is not only a choice for the best-in-class CRM solution, but also enables your organization to benefit from a real cloud offering. During the round table sessions many customers mentioned their reasons for choosing a cloud solution. I would like to share some of these with you:

• Simplification of Architecture
• Abandon infrastructure
• Strategic focus on value-add by IT
• Fast roll-out and user ramp-up
• Better TCO

As you can see, implementing and using a cloud solution is not ‘another’ IT-solution, but is actually transforming an IT-department. From delivering a system, hardware and infrastructure to adding value to your business and organization. And to have your IT-department focus on their capabilities of understanding your business and delivering added value. Furthermore cloud solutions bring new capabilities and innovations in a fast pace (SAP Cloud for Customer delivers a new release update every 3 months), this enables your organization to use a more agile approach in adopting new functionality. Moreover we see that cloud solutions also enable faster roll-outs and in general lead to a better Total Cost of Ownership.
One thing I noticed yesterday in conversations with customers is that all organisations (without exception) are in some way open-minded for cloud solutions. Some organisations would like to bring all their IT-solutions to the cloud as soon as possible, where others say they consider specific individual HR, CRM or sourcing processes to be supported by cloud solutions.

“Seeing is believing” was definitely confirmed by all participants. SAP is transforming to a cloud organization and its customers are exploring their chances of bringing this added-value to their companies. What is your next step in the transition to the cloud?