Grow with SAP expands cloud ERP access for SMBs on AWS
The new offering is designed to provide companies with an easier way to implement S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition. While aimed at SMBs, it could prove useful to enterprises.
SAP is aiming at a bigger slice of the cloud ERP market for SMBs with the new Grow with SAP on AWS.
The offering, which was unveiled at this week's AWS Re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, is the first time S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition will be available on the AWS infrastructure, according to SAP.
Launched in March 2023, Grow with SAP provides software and services designed to encourage midmarket companies to implement S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition by making migration and management easier and less costly.
The standard Grow with SAP package, available as a subscription from SAP, includes the core ERP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. It also includes SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) for development and integration, preconfigured industry best practices, embedded AI and automated processes, accelerated deployment services, learning resources and access to the SAP Build low code/no code application development platform.
Grow with SAP on AWS will offer customers the ability to access AI models through the SAP AI Core generative AI platform and SAP BTP. It will also be available directly through the Amazon Bedrock generative AI hosting service, which includes models from AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Mistral AI, Stability AI and Amazon.
Under the Grow with SAP model, S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is run and managed by SAP on its cloud infrastructure environment. Grow with SAP on AWS is the first instance where customers can choose to run S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition on their own hyperscaler infrastructure, according to Jan Gilg, president and chief product officer for cloud ERP at SAP.
"We are actively going with Grow with SAP as the underlying part of S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition for new customers and are looking for channels where we can increase demand generation or get access to groups that would be a good fit for the offering," Gilg said.
While primarily aimed at the midmarket, Grow with SAP on AWS can help companies of any size implement and run S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, he said.
Grow with SAP on AWS is available in the AWS Marketplace, where customers can get more information about the offering and are then routed to SAP partners to complete the sales, Gilg said. If AWS customers decide to buy, they can use AWS cloud credits toward the purchase.
"S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition is not something that you can just buy online and then activate because it is fairly complex," he said. "Typically, it requires demos and pre-sales explanations, and customers want to try things out, so it requires a sales cycle, which is what our partners do with the customers."
Having Grow with SAP on AWS in the AWS Marketplace makes it easier for customers to obtain, but it also allows them to take advantage of the connections between SAP and AWS tools such as the new Amazon Nova foundation models, Gilg said.
Grow with SAP on AWS is available now, and the first customer implementations are expected to roll out in early 2025, according to Gilg.
Is it enough?
Grow with SAP on AWS is positive news for SAP customers, particularly those who are already AWS users, according to Jon Reed, an analyst at enterprise analysis forum Diginomica. It shows that SAP is working to move the S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition into more of a standardized environment that can run with cloud providers, he said.
One aspect Reed noted about Grow with SAP on AWS is that, while aimed at SMBs, SAP is signaling that it will enable customers of all sizes to deploy the public cloud edition.
SAP is now encouraging larger companies to take a closer look at the public cloud version, which is sensible, as running on AWS shows companies that this can scale just like other AWS services.
Jon ReedAnalyst, Diginomica
"In the past, SAP has talked about S/4HANA Public Cloud Edition as more of a subsidiary play or for smaller and midmarket companies," he said. "SAP is now encouraging larger companies to take a closer look at the public cloud version, which is sensible, as running on AWS shows companies that this can scale just like other AWS services."
Moving customers to S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition also enables SAP to deliver AI services, including the generative AI copilot Joule, according to Reed.
"It's a lot easier to deliver AI services to customers that are on the same data model without heavy customization," he said. "That's a notable selling point of the public cloud -- they get access to AI services easier and faster."
Grow with SAP on AWS isn't offering enough of a competitive differentiation for customers to suddenly invest, said Predrag Jakovljevic, principal industry analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers.
The product offers a public cloud version of S/4HANA on AWS infrastructure, which is not likely to tempt companies to consider S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition over midmarket cloud ERP competitors like Oracle NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics 365, Jakovljevic said.
The ability to access AWS AI tools such as Amazon Nova is similarly unpersuasive, he said.
Jakovljevic added, "You can get AI and LLMs from any other hyperscaler too, like Azure and Google Cloud Platform, so I'm not sure how this is differentiating."
Jim O'Donnell is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial who covers ERP and other enterprise applications.
