When choosing a HANA cloud provider, it is important to ensure that key business leaders understand what SAP HANA is — and, more importantly, how HANA permeates the current SAP application software and server environment.
HANA is SAP's in-memory repository and is used by many of the vendor's newest applications, such as SAP S/4HANA Finance (formerly known as Simple Finance) and SAP S/4HANA's new flagship ERP package. Things start to look more interesting when it comes to delivery options. A business can run S/4HANA in the cloud, on-site in their own datacenter, and even in a hybrid scenario. In the meantime, there are even more solutions for HANA in the cloud, most notably the SAP HANA Cloud Platform (HCP). This software solution from HANA is a technology platform that allows companies to extend or modify SAP applications and build new applications. SAP business partners also use it to offer industry-specific add-on apps.
HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC), on the other hand, is a proprietary cloud that is provided as a managed service. It was designed to make running SAP software based on HANA easier. All of this becomes even more accessible, as it turns out, because third-party vendors will provide some of these HANA cloud components. HANA is minimally used as a general-purpose database management system, meaning that most people looking for cloud solutions do so because they want to run unique cloud-based SAP applications, which basically means they're speaking to SAP first.
It is advised that potential HANA cloud users look at the full range of services available from cloud providers as customers who use a broader range of services continue to gain greater value.
| One has to approach the process of selecting the cloud not only to satisfy their immediate needs, but also to meet their potential future needs. |
The amount of information SAP provides around its cloud offerings backed with an expert's solution to your requirement is usually a viable way to determine the extent of usefulness. Some consumers who want the pre-built, ready-to-go cloud, but can't really give up their leverage over uptime or their own updates need a better public cloud solution. They should decide on what is essential for their company before organizations choose a HANA Cloud Provider - between speed and elasticity - cloud solution versus control.
The overhead of managing multiple vendors shouldn't be a challenge because when you purchase from a one-stop shop, your bargaining and buying power may be better. For instance, if you're a big SAP client, you might have more leverage going straight to the source. However, there are some efforts associated with handling all providers if you have to handle your SAP licenses separately from your cloud provider. You might need to look for certifications. It is important to go with a certified provider for an emerging technology such as HANA. Some Cloud providers will offer HANA as a managed service, as a hosted service, as a network managed cloud and through private clouds.
SAP supports the use of qualified hardware by third party vendors to run HANA. So while a third party may not be expressly qualified to offer HANA via the cloud, they can run HANA on certified hardware at least.
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