Why You Need Cloud AMS for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud
(2 minute read)
Businesses that choose a public cloud option for SAP S/4HANA open up a new level of business innovation and speed – but, along with that, they also open up new requirements in terms of skills, processes and tools. Running your SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud solution requires specialized technical expertise.
Technical consultants supporting SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud (aka ES, Essentials or Multi-Tenant) are required to have SAP certification to validate that they possess the fundamental and core knowledge required to support SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. This is often difficult to achieve with an internal IT team, and narrows the available external resources due to the certification requirement.
Why Cloud AMS is Essential
A big challenge for businesses on the SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud platform is keeping up with release management and testing on a quarterly basis. Updates performed live, without additional training for key users, can potentially have a deep impact on your operations. Cloud AMS can provide the guidance, testing and support you need to keep your operations running smoothly and stay current with the latest innovations.
While there are a number of providers that support traditional AMS for on-premises SAP S/4HANA and ECC solutions, many lack the required certifications to support the public cloud environment. NTT DATA Business Solutions is among a few AMS providers with public cloud experience and certifications to manage your SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud solution.
Release Management and Advisory Services Are Key
Many SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud customers lack the capacity to manage the cloud solution and conduct the planning and testing that needs to take place with quarterly releases. As an SAP Platinum Partner, NTT DATA Business Solutions receives release management notes two weeks prior to public release, providing the opportunity to thoroughly review the release notes, understand the impact, advise your business about the latest innovations, and develop a test plan tailored to your specific needs.
Testing is Especially Painful
With the public cloud option requiring quarterly updates, testing becomes a massive pain point for most businesses. It turns into a continuous cycle of spending half the quarter planning for a new release, and the next quarter doing the testing. This can be an unsurmountable task for most internal IT organizations.
The good news for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud is that the public cloud solution includes an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool that provides functionality for testing, so it isn’t necessary to depend on any third-party testing tool. Even better, NTT DATA Business Solutions has already built a factory model that can deliver end-to-end testing using the ALM tool.
As you can see, there are many reasons to consider using Cloud AMS to support your SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud solution. For additional details, download our solution brief.