Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1301554
ORGANIZATIONS THAT MOVE TO THE CLOUD OFTEN DO SO FOR SHORT-TERM COST SAVINGS but find that the much bigger payoffs come in the form of improved business agility and speed. That experience is borne out by customers who have shifted their SAP workloads to AWS, according to a recent survey conducted by IDG Research. Customers reported that the cloud delivered immediate cost savings and efficiency benefits in the form of reduced infrastructure costs, but that over time they were able to realize more transformative returns in business-critical areas such as improved efficiency, a faster pace of innovation, speedier execution, and better customer service. IDG Research contacted 100 enterprise customers who have moved one or more of their SAP applications to AWS. Respon- dents were nearly unanimous in reporting high satisfaction with the decision to migrate. Infrastructure cost savings are the primary driver of the migration decision in most cases, and cost savings continue to be significant over time. Nearly all companies surveyed say they have reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their SAP investments by moving to AWS, with an average TCO reduction of 26%. One in six customers say their savings amounted to more than 40%. That figure reflects the entirety of savings in both infrastructure and software costs. The ability to dynamically allocate resources 2 CUSTOMERS SAY RUNNING SAP WORKLOADS ON AWS YIELDS ROBUST BUSINESS BENEFITS by scaling resources up and down depending upon business need is one of the principal factors in these dramatic cost reduc- tions. Savings on environmental controls, hardware maintenance, and data center space and power consumption also factor into the equation. The survey primarily reflects the opinions of executives in midsize to large organizations. More than one-third of respon- dents work at companies with 10,000 or more employees. Three-quarters work in some aspect of information technology. The survey covered a broad range of vertical industries, with a heavy representation of companies in financial services, health- care, and manufacturing. CHANGES IN ATTITUDE Customer attitudes toward their SAP-on-AWS deployments vary depending on experience. Nearly half of the respondents have been running SAP in the cloud for two or more years, and 80% have at least one year of experience. In nearly every category, long-term customers report greater benefits than those with less SAP-on-AWS experience. In general, satisfaction with the cloud experience improves the longer the customer has been running in the cloud. Market Pulse Running SAP Solutions on AWS for 2+ Years Have Not Run ANY SAP Solutions on AWS for Longer than 2 Years Source: IDG Research 2018 FIGURE 1. Benefits Experienced as a Result of Moving SAP Workloads to AWS — By Length of Time Running SAP on AWS Improved efficiency (centralization) Cost savings Increased innovation Improved data availability/uptime Improved security Faster time to market Improved customer experience (improved reliability, consistency, etc.) More predictable costs Improved agility to react to business changes and opportunities Improved productivity 43% 34% 32% 28% 28% 23% 21% 23% 26% 26% 28% 38% 23% 17% 21% 21% 30% 13% 9% 11%