Launch of joint SAP/IBM offering set for Q2

An announcement Tuesday by IBM and SAP detailing the upcoming release of an offering designed to move SAP S/4HANA workloads from IBM Power Systems on-premises to the cloud within 90 days has been described by an industry analyst as seeming “like a sales and marketing play more than anything.”

Scott Bickley, advisory practice lead at Info-Tech Research, said a press release  outlining the pending launch of RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server, scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, “touts 10,000 customers over 50 years running SAP on IBM. That provides no real information about how many customers currently run SAP on IBM, and SAP has 437,000 customers, so even if all 10,000 are running SAP on IBM, that is ~2%, which is not material.”

What it does, he said, is provide “another option for SAP customers who want to move to the cloud and run S/4HANA to utilize the IBM Power Virtual Server.”

The release goes on to say that, through the new offering, customers can “more rapidly transform on-premises SAP ERP systems on cloud, modernize business processes and become more agile.”

The two companies, it states, “along with an ecosystem of partners” that will include IBM Consulting, “intend to work together to help IBM customers transform through RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server with combined solutions, capabilities, and joint go-to-market efforts.”

‘Unique advantage’ says IBM

According to a product advisory from IBM, RISE with SAP “brings together outcome-driven services, Cloud ERP with SAP S/4HANA, and additional platforms to rethink the enterprise operating model. IBM Power Virtual Server offers a unique advantage to the enterprise that run SAP landscape on IBM Power Servers: It is designed for a faster and non-disruptive move to RISE with SAP.”

IBM is well acquainted with S4/HANA, having launched a massive internal ERP modernization initiative starting in 2021.

It stated that the project had “touched more than 150,000 users across 175 countries in 18 months. During this time, it resulted in a 30% reduction in infrastructure costs and related operations by rationalizing overall server and data footprint and increasing process automation. IBM Consulting led this transformation work end-to-end, providing the technical services, implementation and application management services expertise required to help securely move and run these complex solutions.”

A ‘practical option:’ analyst

When asked for his reaction to the pending offering, Robert Kramer, VP and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said that in presentations to enterprise CIOs and senior IT executives he has “talked a lot about modernization and the importance of change and data management. Transitioning systems isn’t easy, and change adds complexity. Still, modernizing is crucial for businesses with ERP systems to stay competitive. You can’t afford not to change while others move forward.”

The new RISE with SAP on IBM Power Virtual Server offering, he said, “seems like a practical option for companies already using SAP on IBM. It provides a clear path to the cloud, promising to transition SAP S/4HANA workloads in just 90 days, with potential cost savings of 30% based on IBM’s own experience.”

It does, added Kramer, also “include extended support options, helping businesses prepare for the end of SAP support. The familiarity of SAP and IBM Power systems makes the shift less daunting, though adoption will depend on factors such as the company’s current SAP setup, budget, and readiness for cloud migration. Change management and data quality will be key areas to address during the transition.”

Bickley said the reference to IBM Consulting as a potential systems integration (SI) partner, “further allows IBM to embed themselves in the SAP partner network as an infrastructure provider. The reality is that IBM’s cloud business never quite took off, so this is really chasing the ‘tag ends.’  Most of this business will flow to Azure or AWS, with the leftovers dropping to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and now IBM.”