AWS re:Invent 2025 - Best Practices for moving, innovating & extending SAP Cloud ERP (COP209)

Summary of AWS re:Invent 2025 - Best Practices for moving, innovating & extending SAP Cloud ERP (COP209)

Adapting to a Rapidly Changing Business Environment

• Businesses are facing increasing disruption and the need for continuous innovation
• Technology is the key enabler, with trends like supercomputing, quantum computing, cybersecurity, and the convergence of physical and virtual worlds driving rapid change
• Customers must adapt to this accelerating pace of change to remain competitive

SAP's Journey: From On-Premises to Cloud ERP

• SAP has evolved from on-premises solutions (R/1, R/2, R/3) to the current cloud-based SAP Business Suite
• Key milestones include the introduction of in-memory computing (HANA), predictive algorithms, machine learning, and the "intelligent enterprise"
• The cloud version of SAP's solutions represents a significant leap in capabilities and disruption compared to previous on-premises versions

Challenges with On-Premises ERP Deployments

• Customers often face a 7-year lag between SAP's release of enhancements and their actual adoption due to the burden of compliance, certification, and infrastructure management
• This creates a growing "wedge" between the business's needs for agility and innovation and the IT department's ability to deliver
• Customers often accumulate technical debt by implementing departmental solutions that don't integrate well with the core ERP system

SAP's Cloud ERP Strategy: Rise and Grow

• SAP offers two main paths for customers to move to the cloud:
  1. Rise: For existing on-premises customers to migrate to the cloud
  2. Grow: For new customers to implement a greenfield cloud ERP deployment
• The migration paths involve either a brownfield (lift-and-shift) or a combination of brownfield and greenfield approaches
• Customers can choose a private cloud, public cloud, or hybrid deployment model

Key Components of SAP's Cloud ERP Solution

1. SAP Cloud ERP: The core cloud-based ERP platform
2. Business Data Cloud: Provides a semantic layer and data integration capabilities
3. Business Technology Platform (BTP): Enables integration, application development, and AI/analytics
4. Lines of Business Solutions: Industry-specific capabilities built on top of the core ERP
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Embedded throughout the solution, including the natural language interface "Duel"

Importance of a "Clean Core" Approach

• Many on-premises SAP customers have heavily customized their ERP systems, leading to technical debt and challenges in moving to the cloud
• The "clean core" approach focuses on minimizing customizations and keeping the core ERP as standard as possible
• Customers can either take a proactive approach to cleaning the core before migration or address it post-migration

SAP's Integrated Tool Chain for Cloud Transformation

• SAP provides an integrated tool chain to support the cloud transformation journey:
  • Business Process Mining (Signavio) to analyze processes, applications, and people
  • Enterprise Architecture Management (Leanix) to document the application landscape
  • Automated Testing (Tricentis) to accelerate the testing process
  • Workflow Guidance (WalkMe) to help users adapt to new processes and applications
• These tools are integrated with the Business Technology Platform (BTP) for seamless data management and application development

Driving Perpetual Innovation

• The cloud transformation is not a one-time event, but rather the start of a journey of perpetual innovation
• After the initial migration, customers can focus on:
  • Improving data quality and management
  • Extending the core ERP with custom applications on BTP
  • Automating testing and deployment processes
  • Leveraging AI and analytics to drive continuous business improvements

Key Takeaways

• Businesses must adapt to the accelerating pace of change driven by technological disruption
• SAP's cloud ERP solutions provide a path for customers to modernize their ERP systems and unlock greater agility and innovation
• A "clean core" approach and SAP's integrated tool chain are critical for a successful cloud transformation
• Perpetual innovation, enabled by the cloud platform, is essential for businesses to stay competitive in the long run