When it comes to enabling developers to design, build, manage, and optimize business applications in a shorter amount of time and aligning critical business processes with the pace of demand over time, connections between systems are crucial.
With connections between SAP and Microsoft Power Platform, organizations can combine low-code and no-code solutions within their existing SAP and non-SAP applications to create a single source of truth and enable more efficient deployment, migration, and optimization processes.
Read on to learn more about Azure SAP integration, how it enables stronger connectivity and efficiency across your entire technical landscape, and where our team of SAP consultants can come in to help.
What is SAP on Azure?
SAP provides complex and configurable enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications that offer the real-time analytics and scalability needed to optimize critical business processes, extend SAP functionality to other areas of the technical landscape, and ensure customer success over time.
But, as more organizations rely on the Cloud to manage their applications and complete critical business activities, they require a solution to do it all. This is where SAP and Microsoft Azure integrations come in.
By combining SAP functionality with Microsoft Cloud services in a unified platform, SAP on Azure makes it easier to support migrations to the Cloud, gain immediate insights into core business operations, and work more efficiently throughout both solutions.
Azure also provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) functionality for more significant instances designed to run SAP HANA and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) options for minor instances managed in the SAP Cloud Platform, ensuring all user needs are met.
Running SAP Solutions on Microsoft Azure
Here’s a closer look at a few critical SAP solutions that run with Azure resources:
1) SAP HANA
By offering an innovative way to run SAP HANA workloads on SAP-certified virtual machines (VMs) within the Azure platform, users can handle complex transactions on a single instance and monitor analytics on a single, in-memory data copy to simplify the IT landscape and drive better outcomes.
Benefits:
- Access certified, on-demand virtual machines in the public cloud (4TB to 12TB memory)
- Scale SAP HANA capabilities to align with organizational change and ensure proper authorization
- Support persistent memory and purpose-built SAP HANA instances in one location
- Create service level agreements (SLAs) that align with both small and large instances
2) SAP S/4HANA
Integrations between Microsoft Azure and SAP S/4HANA allow organizations to cover everything from new software implementations to migrations between multiple SAP solutions, and everything in between. Built specifically for computing across in-memory databases, like SAP HANA, this connection enables users to take control of their SAP solutions and improve access to critical business data.
Benefits:
- Create accurate SLAs for all critical instances of SAP S/4HANA by running a high-availability pair in separate Azure Availability Zones
- Conduct backup processes for SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA with low-recovery time objectives
- Run SAP S/4HANA instances on certified Azure Virtual Machines
- Ensure seamless integrations between SAP Fiori-based applications and Azure ExpressRoute
3) SAP Business Suite
While SAP NetWeaver provides a solid foundation for building, deploying, customizing, and operating critical products in the SAP Business Suite, including SAP CRM, SAP ERP, SAP SCM, and more, SAP NetWeaver on Azure takes this one step further. With this integration, organizations can design, manage, and provision their most crucial business applications in one unified technical environment.
Benefits:
- Run SAP NetWeaver across various platforms, including SUSE Linux Enterprise, Windows, and more
- Reduce costs and improve agility for non-production environments by leveraging innovative data storage options and intuitive Azure VMs
- Create accurate SLAs for VMs running SAP NetWeaver or operating in the Azure Availability Zone
4) SAP Business Technology Platform
With integrations between the SAP Business Technology Platform and Microsoft Azure, developers can leverage an open Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) to design and deploy cloud applications more efficiently, manage cloud environments from a unified location, and co-locate applications with SAP ERP data on Azure.
5) SAP BW/4HANA
SAP BW/4HANA on Azure allows organizations to collect, manage, and consolidate real-time data in data warehouses built on SAP HANA, enabling more efficient data management, stronger collaboration, and improved productivity across the board.
Benefits:
- Deliver an SAP Business Warehouse configuration resilient to errors and system failures
- Leverage scalable features to support large instances and complex configurations
- Optimize SAP Business Warehouse and analytics landscapes for better productivity
- Run SAP BW/4HANA on SUSE Linux Enterprise, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Azure Virtual Machines
6) SAP Business One
Connections between SAP Business One and Microsoft Azure offers a comprehensive ERP application that captures all critical business data in one location, making it easier for small businesses to control every aspect of their workforce in the same place.
Benefits:
- Run SAP Business One directly on Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines
- Improve business agility with an on-demand Azure VM infrastructure
- Shut down VMs more efficiently with built-in automation capabilities
- Reduce total cost of ownership for non-production systems
7) SAP HEC
The SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) combines the Azure cloud infrastructure and SAP S/4HANA managed services to improve the efficiency of S/4HANA operations in a managed cloud.
By leveraging both SAP HANA and Azure resources, SAP HEC users can create applications that combine the power of product expertise and application management in one place and leverage enterprise-grade sales and support functionality to drive better outcomes.
8) SAP Hybris
SAP Hybris provides an on-demand virtual machine infrastructure that enables organizations to improve business agility, create new VMs more efficiently, and reduce non-production system costs.
Benefits:
- Gain real-time insights into total supply chain control with predictive analytics and intelligent tools
- Enable stronger business continuity through disaster recovery services, like Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery
- Create industry-leading SLAs that align with VMs in specific availability sets
- Run SAP Hybris Commerce Platform on various platforms, like Oracle databases, SQL server, Windows Server, SAP NetWeaver-certified VMs, and more
9) SAP Cloud Platform
The SAP Cloud Platform operates as a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), allowing users to connect their on-premise and cloud-based resources in one location and making it easier to design, build, deploy, and extend SAP applications with open protocols.
Benefits:
- Accelerate application development with Azure Storage and Azure Event Hubs
- Layer SAP solutions on Azure resources to improve connectivity and collaboration
- Balance and distribute applications that rely on SAP ERP data sources
Understanding the Azure Center for SAP Solutions
The Azure Center for SAP solutions is an end-to-end solution that enables companies to leverage business intelligence tools and improved connectivity to design, deploy, and run any SAP solution as a seamless workload in Azure.
With a more robust foundation for innovation and intuitive management capabilities for Azure-based SAP systems, developers can deploy single-server, distributed, and distributed with high availability (HA) systems and ensure critical business processes align with best practices.
Whenever the Azure Center is used to create new SAP applications, a virtual instance for SAP solutions (VIS) resource is created as a virtual representation of SAP on the Azure platform.
Each VIS resource comprises:
- A database instance
- SAP system, referred to by the SAP System Identifier (SID)
- One or multiple SAP Application Server instances
- ABAP Central Service (ASCS) instance
Top 5 Advantages of SAP on Azure
Here’s a closer look at the main advantages of running SAP workloads on the Azure platform:
Scalability and Flexibility:
Azure provides a highly scalable and flexible infrastructure, allowing you to easily adapt your SAP environment to changing business needs. You can scale up or down based on demand, ensuring your SAP applications perform optimally without overprovisioning.
High Availability and Reliability:
SAP Azure integration offers robust availability features, such as failover clusters, redundancy, and data replication, which can enhance the reliability of your SAP systems, ensure minimal downtime, and improve business continuity.
Cost Optimization:
Azure provides various cost management tools and options, such as Azure Cost Management and Pricing Calculator, to help you optimize your SAP-related expenses.You can also leverage reserved instances and pay-as-you-go pricing to align costs with your usage.
Security and Compliance:
Azure offers a wide range of security features and compliance certifications, making it suitable for hosting sensitive SAP data and applications. Azure Security Center, Active Directory, and Sentinel solutions can help you secure your SAP environment and monitor for threats.
Integration and Hybrid Capabilities:
Azure provides extensive integration capabilities to connect your SAP systems with other Azure services and resources, as well as on-premises infrastructure. This facilitates a hybrid cloud approach, allowing you to migrate and integrate your SAP workloads as needed gradually.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help migrating SAP applications to the Microsoft Cloud, additional support deploying new enterprise applications for the first time, or just an extra hand monitoring connections between systems over time, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level, US-based SAP consultant team has the knowledge, skills, and experience to handle all your most critical project needs and lead you to continued success long after your initial implementation.
Getting Started with Our Team
Interested in learning how integrations between SAP workloads and the Microsoft Azure platform can improve connectivity, collaboration, and control over your entire technical landscape? Ready to get started on a project with our team of expert SAP consultants?
Contact us today for more information!
