This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new details and updated terminology. A new SAP on Microsoft Azure video also has been added below.
Microsoft expected that it would save money and time when it made its “SAP on Microsoft Azure” commitment, but it wasn’t sure how much.
Three and a half years after moving its 50-terabyte SAP workload to Microsoft Azure, the savings from running 600 virtual machines worth of work on Microsoft Azure are stacking up.
Infrastructure operational costs have dropped by 20 to 25 percent. Thanks to not relying on on-premises hardware and waterfall-based engineering practices, deploying upgrades and other changes now happen in hours and days instead of weeks and months.
The net result is increased efficiency of the SAP applications that Microsoft uses to run its finance, human resources, global supply chain, and other core business processes, says Hans Reutter, who managed the Microsoft Digital team that did the migration work.
For a transcript, please view the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmGzAmqXNqQ, select the “More actions” button (three dots icon) below the video, and then select “Show transcript.”
Saving money and operating more efficiently became the goal as soon as the SAP on Microsoft Azure migration was complete.
By bringing system and landscape build times from weeks and months down to hours and days, IT has become an enabler and strategic partner.
-Hans Reutter, group engineering manager, Microsoft Digital
“Traditionally, people bought hardware and paid for it as a capital expense,” says Reutter, a group engineering manager in Microsoft Digital. “The mindset of paying for everything you own and use, drives a different discussion. Now, you have this push to be lean and optimized.”
[Learn how Microsoft uses telemetry and monitoring on its SAP on Microsoft Azure workload. Here’s how Microsoft is examining SAP transactions with Microsoft Azure Anomaly Detector. Find out how Microsoft is optimizing SAP for Microsoft Azure.]
Immediately after the lift-and-shift and right-sizing of the SAP workload, the company had an average cost savings of 11 percent. Since then, Microsoft has optimized its systems by scaling up or down depending on usage or turning them off when not in use. These changes led to an average cost savings of 20 to 25 percent. Many Fortune 500 customers have seen a 15 percent cost savings without exhausting additional savings opportunities.
“By bringing system and landscape build times from weeks and months down to hours and days, IT has become an enabler and strategic partner,” Reutter says.
Beyond the financial benefits, no longer relying on on-premises hardware had led to faster development, shorter SAP release cycles, and scalability that meets business usage.
“The teams can now react faster to business opportunities and quickly deploy proofs of concept and minimum viable products,” says Elke Bregler, an SAP platform architect in Microsoft Digital.
These changes have also come with skillset and cultural changes.
When SAP ran on-premises instead of on Microsoft Azure, the budget for hardware operations was owned by the infrastructure team. Now, the Platform Engineering team in Microsoft Digital owns the budget, and engineers have ownership of and accountability for their decisions, strategies, and processes.
“If you talk to any engineer, one of the first things they mention is, ‘I’m accountable for the cost and usage of my system,’” Bregler says.
Reutter notes that Microsoft Digital has learned a few things in the process of moving SAP to Microsoft Azure. In particular, the platform engineering team found that running its SAP workload on Microsoft Azure takes advantage of the platform’s automation and scripting capabilities, which lowers error rates. The engineering team also began to use Microsoft Azure telemetry tools to capture data from all endpoints, which creates a comprehensive view of business process workflows.
If I had to configure the infrastructure myself, I’d have to create everything from scratch. With Azure, I just need to choose and configure the capabilities I need.
-Elke Bregler, SAP platform architect, Microsoft Digital
“Azure has great capabilities, but you can’t take full advantage of them until you automate them,” Reutter says.
With SAP on Microsoft Azure, the engineering team can also take advantage of machine learning and AI services on Azure Monitor, Azure Data Explorer, and Microsoft Power BI. These capabilities are available out of the box with Microsoft Azure, so teams can focus on developing rich insights instead of setting up the infrastructure.
“If I had to configure the infrastructure myself, I’d have to create everything from scratch,” Bregler says. “With Azure, I just need to choose and configure the capabilities I need.”
The engineering team knows that cloud optimization is a moving target.
“People need to have a growth mindset and stay up to date on the latest features, whether there is a new machine learning capability or Azure offering,” Bregler says. “There’s always something new that we can take advantage of.”
Learn how Microsoft uses telemetry and monitoring on its SAP on Microsoft Azure workload.
Here’s how Microsoft is examining SAP transactions with Microsoft Azure Anomaly Detector.
Find out how Microsoft is optimizing SAP for Microsoft Azure.
