SAP's S4/Hana at Sapphire Now 2015
Building on the launch of the fourth generation of its enterprise software suite earlier this year, SAP on Wednesday unveiled the cloud version of S/4Hana.
Joining the on-premises version of the in-memory data platform, which is now available for all 25 industries supported by SAP, the cloud version is designed for a variety of hybrid scenarios combining on-premises and cloud software, said Sven Denecken, a global vice president for S/4Hana.
"Every company thinks about how to manage their digital transformation, and for a while everyone said to just go to the cloud," Denecken said during a media briefing at SAP's Sapphire Now user conference in Orlando. "The reality is that it usually needs to be a hybrid combination."
In addition to functionality already available for marketing and professional services, the cloud version includes support for finance, accounting, controlling, procurement, sales, manufacturing, plant maintenance, project system and product lifecycle management, said Bernd Leukert, an SAP executive board member, during a keynote speech.
Available by subscription and planned to get quarterly updates, the cloud version of S/4Hana includes pre-configured best practices for business processes, Leukert added.
Also included will be native integration between S/4Hana and other cloud solutions from SAP, including those from SuccessFactors in human resources and Ariba in procurement as well as the Hybris marketing suite.
"We promised you a nondisruptive integration model," Leukert said. "We did this by keeping the data structure stable, and we promise to keep that data model stable."
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