New offering designed to migrate SAP S/4HANA workloads from on-premises IBM Power Systems to the cloud in 90 days
IBM achieved 30% reduction in infrastructure and related operations costs over 18 months in RISE with SAP modernization project supporting 150,000 ERP users
On January 7, 2025 the IBM (NYSE: IBM) and SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced the upcoming release of RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server, designed to provide a faster and easier path for IBM Power clients to accelerate their ERP transformation. Together, IBM and SAP aim to help organizations more seamlessly transition and modernize their on-premises ERP environments to the cloud and support AI-driven business processes.
RISE with SAP is a guided journey that offers outcome-driven services, cloud ERP, and platforms to help organizations reimagine their operating model. With SAP’s new hyperscaler offering on IBM Cloud, RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server will help clients reduce risk and improve the time to migrate SAP S/4HANA from on-premises IBM Power Systems to the cloud within 90 days.
“RISE with SAP has emerged as a business priority for companies across industries as they migrate to SAP S/4HANA Cloud,” said Anurag Agrawal, founder and global chief analyst at TechAisle. “The new offering from IBM and SAP aims to be an option for companies looking to migrate their mission-critical ERP workloads securely, quickly and with minimal disruption.”
Cloud migration enabled by industry-leading SAP certified infrastructure
When using the IBM Power Virtual Server, a cloud-based version of the mission-critical IBM Power server platform used for on-premises ERP, enables clients to more quickly transform on-premises SAP ERP systems to the cloud, modernize business processes and become more agile. Known for their high security, scalability and reliability, IBM Power servers rank first in availability among SAP-certified infrastructures2, offering fewer outages and easier migration, backed by the highly resilient and secure IBM Cloud platform.
“IBM has worked closely with SAP to provide a fast and seamless migration path for clients who rely on the IBM Power platform for their SAP workloads and applications,” said Rob Thomas, senior vice president, software and chief commercial officer, IBM. “This new capability helps reduce the complexity of migrating to the cloud and accelerates the impact and benefits we’ve experienced firsthand in our own modernization journey using RISE with SAP.”
IBM Completes Global SAP S/4HANA Cloud Modernization Using RISE with SAP
IBM has deep experience with SAP S/4HANA Cloud modernization projects and managed services. In one of the largest and most complex SAP S/4HANA Cloud modernization projects of any SAP client to date, IBM recently migrated its quote-to-bill and record-to-inform processes to RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server.
The IBM project reached more than 150,000 users in 175 countries in 18 months. During that time, it resulted in a 30% reduction in infrastructure and related operations costs, reduced server usage and data footprint, and increased process automation. IBM Consulting led this end-to-end transformation effort, providing the technical services, implementation, and application management services expertise needed to help move and securely run these complex solutions.
“SAP is helping organizations be their best selves through cloud-based enterprise applications integrated with the power of SAP Business AI,” said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “This announcement is another milestone in SAP’s long-term partnership with IBM, providing our joint customers with a clear path to the cloud designed for faster time to value, greater flexibility and continuous innovation.”
IBM Consulting and Partner Ecosystem to Accelerate Transformation
Customers will also be able to accelerate transformation with SAP S/4HANA Cloud while working with IBM Consulting or any other SAP-validated RISE partner. To give clients choice, IBM is also in the process of working with other global systems integrators and services partners to architect, implement and migrate RISE with SAP projects.
The two companies, along with an ecosystem of partners, intend to work together to help IBM clients transform through RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server with combined solutions, capabilities and joint go-to-market efforts. RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server clients and IBM business partners will also have access to a new IBM Transformation Suite for SAP Applications to help you start your migration to SAP S/4HANA and RISE with SAP. It will include a suite of best-of-breed software and services for assessing current environments, migrating data, and automating testing.
More than 10,000 SAP clients over 50 years have used IBM to deliver and run SAP on IBM systems. IBM is a strategic full-lifecycle partner of SAP, providing end-to-end consulting and technology solutions for SAP clients, including hybrid cloud, automation, and generative AI with watsonx.
RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server is planned to be generally available in Q2 2025, along with a investment program IBM's custom design. Clients can learn more on here to start planning your transformation using assessment and migration services from IBM Consulting and other IBM and SAP business partners.
Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
About IBM
IBM (NYSE: IBM) is a leading global provider of hybrid cloud and AI, as well as consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs, and gain competitive advantage in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to quickly, efficiently, and securely achieve their digital transformations. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions, and consulting provide open and flexible options for our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s historic commitment to trust, transparency, accountability, inclusion, and service. Visit IBM IBM website for more information.
About SAP
As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE: SAP) is at the nexus of business and technology. For more than 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring their best to life, uniting business-critical operations across finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit SAP website.
This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially. Additional information about these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the risk factors section of SAP’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
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1 Estimate based on IBM internal modeling of customer integration into an SAP landscape when migrating from SAP S/4HANA on Power on-premises to Power Virtual Server, assuming the right level of customer collaboration around integration and network testing.
2 Based on the ITIC 2023 Global Hardware, Global Server Reliability Report and in the list of all SAP HANA hardware certified and supported by SAP.
3 Based on IBM's findings on worldwide migration to SAP S/4HANA and RISE with SAP.
Source: IBM
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