Software firm SAP has announced a new three-year deal with Microsoft designed to help more large businesses shift their business processes to the public cloud.
Dubbed project "Embrace", the partnership aims to accelerate customer adoption of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud Platform on Microsoft Azure.
Customers will have access to "holistic bundles" that provide them with united reference architectures, road maps and market-approved journeys to help with the transition away from their existing on-premise setups. The deal will also see Microsoft re-sell components of SAP Cloud Platform alongside Azure.
"This partnership is all about reducing complexity and minimizing costs for customers as they move to SAP S/4HANA in the cloud," commented Jennifer Morgan, co-chief executive officer of SAP, in a statement.
"Bringing together the power of SAP and Microsoft provides customers with the assurance of working with two industry leaders so they can confidently and efficiently transition into intelligent enterprises."
Project "Embrace" will also provide customers with a combined support model for Azure and Cloud Platform to help ease migration and improve overall communication, while the jointly-developed road maps to the digital enterprise will offer recommended solutions and reference architectures for customers.
"SAP's decision to select Microsoft Azure as its preferred partner deepens the relationship between our two companies in a differentiated way and signals a shared commitment to fostering the growth of the cloud ecosystem," said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft.
"Today's news also reflects our commitment to a customer-first mindset and supporting their cloud transformation, which continues to drive how we at Microsoft approach everything from partnerships to product innovation. It takes co-selling to a whole new level."
