German Enterprises Look to Deploy SAP’s S/4HANA in the Cloud

ISG Provider Lens™ report finds some companies in Germany hesitating to upgrade to S/4HANA because of the complexity of the transition

FRANKFURT, Aug. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enterprises in Germany are slowly adopting SAP’s S/4HANA database, with many companies looking for cloud-based infrastructure from service providers to support the intelligent ERP system, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ SAP HANA and Leonardo Ecosystem Partners Report for Germany sees a rapid expansion of cloud-based infrastructure for SAP HANA in the country. Service providers are offering public cloud services for HANA, and most upcoming HANA projects in the country include the option of a cloud-based operating model.

“SAP itself is pushing the cloud trend through a clear commitment to a ‘cloud-first’ strategy and its corresponding offerings, including the HANA Enterprise Cloud,” said Andrea Spiegelhoff, partner, ISG DACH.

In many cases, German enterprises upgrading their SAP product lines are looking for service providers that support hybrid or multi-cloud environments, the report adds.

The use of the public cloud, however, requires a much higher degree of standardization than many SAP installations have required in the past, the report says. Many service providers are using test beds and sandboxes to migrate their customers to new SAP products, with many customers reluctant to make a switch on their current production systems. In many cases, an upgrade to S/4HANA has increased performance requirements, including new automation functions.

Some German companies have hesitated to upgrade to S/4HANA because of the potential impact on not only individual applications but also on their entire system landscape, the report says.

As a result, many German mid-market companies are transitioning to new SAP products using a greenfield approach, instead of a complex upgrade, the report says. In some cases, other companies with complex SAP installations are also adopting a greenfield approach instead of going through a step-by-step upgrade.

In addition, the report sees German companies often struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation at SAP. With SAP offering continuous updates, service providers also need to keep up with the latest developments and proactively assess the SAP product roadmap.

Finally, the report sees the COVID-19 pandemic having a limited impact on current SAP projects in Germany. Many service providers are using remote workers to carry out projects, and they have generally been able to keep up with ongoing projects.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ SAP HANA and Leonardo Ecosystem Partners Report for Germany evaluates the capabilities of 39 providers across six quadrants: SAP S/4 HANA System Transformation – Large Accounts, SAP S/4 HANA System Transformation – Midmarket, Managed Application Services for SAP ERP, Managed Platform Services for SAP HANA, BW/4 on HANA and BW on HANA Services, and SAP Cloud Platform and SAP Leonardo Services.

The report names Atos, Capgemini and T-Systems as leaders in five quadrants and DXC Technology, Infosys and NTT DATA as leaders in four. Accenture and Fujitsu are named leaders in three quadrants, and Camelot ITLab, Scheer and TCS are named leaders in two. All for One Group, CANCOM, CubeServ, Devoteam | Alegri, IBM, Innovabee, SNP, Syntax and Wipro are all named leaders in one quadrant.

A customized version of the report is available from T-Systems.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ SAP HANA and Leonardo Ecosystem Partners Report for Germany is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe and Latin America, as well as in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

The series is a complement to the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, which offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

Starting this year, each ISG Provider Lens™ study will include a Global Summary to help enterprise subscribers better understand provider capabilities across all geographic markets covered by that study. All ISG Provider Lens™ reports also will now include an Enterprise Context feature to help executives quickly identify key insights related to their roles and responsibilities.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.