Software company SAP accelerates public cloud migration

The Latin America head of German enterprise software company SAP sees growing interest in public cloud solutions.

“In the vast majority of the region, and perhaps the world, [our solutions] are in private clouds. But we are making a very fast investment from the point of view of change to the public cloud,” Cristina Palmaka (pictured) told BNamericas.

SAP recently announced that Mexican news content producer N+ chose its public cloud solution to start the transformation of its financial management. Silver producer Grupo Minero Bacis also acquired ERP and analytics cloud solutions to modernize its Mexican business processes.

“Some customers are still much more leveraged with their datacenters, but more and more customers are moving to the public cloud. We continue to invest in specific locations and features so that this [migration] is even faster,” said Palmaka.

Public cloud allows SAP to offer more affordable and flexible versions of ERP software, enabling the company to target small and medium-sized companies. Additionally, public cloud allows SAP to accelerate innovation and time-to-market.

The company offers its public cloud ERP solution in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Palmaka said the company is planning to extend the offer to Brazil and Argentina. “It's on the roadmap, but we don't have a specific [launch] date.”

The complexity and tax regulations in these markets slow down development, she said.

SAP does not plan to deploy its own cloud infrastructure in the region, she said.

Although the company owns datacenters, including in Brazil, it plans in line with hyperscalers.

SAP has agreements with Microsoft Azure, Google and AWS, among other providers. “It is a way to more efficiently use [capacities they] already have in the region and we focus on the part of solutions and services that are our focus and competence,” said Palmaka.

SAP achieved consecutive growth of cloud solutions revenue growth in Latin America for 32 quarters. Globally, SAP reported 22% growth in cloud revenue in constant currency.

The firm also advanced sustainability and supply chain solutions. Brazilian telecom operator Brisanet, for example, has selected several SAP solutions to manage inbound and outbound storage processes in a single system and manage field service.