Business software group SAP reached a three-year deal with Microsoft to help its large enterprise customers move their business processes into the cloud.
The partnership, called Embrace, will help clients to run operations hosted at remote servers supported by SAP’s S/4HANA database, new co-chief executive officer Jennifer Morgan said.
“We bundled SAP’s cloud platform services to support customers around the extension, integration, and orchestration of SAP systems,” Morgan told reporters, adding the product would be sold through Microsoft’s distribution channels.
The deal — which helped SAP double new cloud bookings in the third quarter — addresses a complaint from many customers that it is too hard to shift from SAP’s traditional on-premise model to remotely hosted services.
The partnership strengthens SAP’s existing relationship with Microsoft and its Azure cloud division, although the Walldorf-based company also works with Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the cloud.
