The Role of SAP Alliances in the US Cloud Market
By
Niall Cook

How do you choose the right provider when every promise sounds compelling?

The US cloud market is exploding, and SAP’s alliances with the big three hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud) are at the heart of enterprise transformation. But what exactly makes these partnerships so indispensable?

How do you choose the right provider when every promise sounds compelling? And once you’re live, how do you measure not just uptime, but true business impact?

SAP’s hyperscaler alliances matter now more than ever, and I’ll explore their unique strengths, and  discover what this means for businesses before, during, and after migration.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I talked about the S/4HANA migration in a previous article.

SAP’s Cloud Strategy

Enterprise ERP is Shifting

When SAP launched RISE with SAP in January 2021, it signalled a fundamental reorientation toward cloud‑native delivery. Today, SAP’s cloud revenue exceeds €21 billion, growing at roughly 25% per year, and the second quarter cloud backlog sits at €18.5 billion. This is a clear indicator that customers are betting on cloud solutions for core ERP workloads.

Why Focus on Hyperscaler Alliances?

There are three main reasons.

Firstly, you can scale on demand. Traditional on-premises HANA deployments required months of capacity planning, while hyperscalers bring near-infinite scale at the click of a button.

Secondly, there’s a global presence. US enterprises operate across multiple regions and subsidiaries. The global availability of hyperscaler zones ensures consistent performance and compliance.

Lastly, there’s rapid innovation. Integration with native platform services (AI, data lakes, IoT) means SAP customers can innovate faster than ever.

The Hyperscaler Triad: AWS, Azure & Google Cloud

There is a real push for SAP S/4HANA, and hyperscalers are being increasingly looked at to get there. And when it comes to powering SAP workloads in the cloud, three names rise above the rest: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Each brings a distinct blend of infrastructure scale, native services and innovation pipelines. And yet they share a common goal, to unlock SAP’s full potential at enterprise scale. Which one works for your company depends on your particular goals.

AWS & SAP

HANA Performance

AWS was first to certify bare‑metal EC2 instances optimised for SAP HANA, delivering sub‑millisecond latency even at multi‑terabyte scale. For mission‑critical workloads (think central finance ledgers and global supply chain planning), this performance is non‑negotiable.

Network Architecture

With 11 regions and 29 availability zones across the US, AWS enables active‑active setups that can withstand whole‑region failures. For an enterprise under constant regulatory scrutiny, that translates directly into risk mitigation.

Innovation Pipeline

Projects like the AWS Nitro System extend security without sacrificing speed, while Lambda‑driven event notifications tied to SAP Business Events open new possibilities for real‑time process automation.

Microsoft Azure & SAP

Deep Productivity Integration

Azure’s unrivalled integration with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 is more than just buzz. It streamlines workflows. Imagine sales orders captured in SAP Sales Cloud automatically generating Teams notifications and updating Excel‑driven FP&A models.

Hybrid & Multi‑Edge Consistency

Azure Arc brings a single control plane to on‑prem, multi‑cloud, and edge. Manufacturers deploying identical SAP landscapes on factory‑floor edge devices benefit from local processing and centralised management, reducing latency for quality‑control applications to sub‑100 ms.

Co‑Innovation Labs

Microsoft and SAP’s joint engineering centres have delivered pre‑built connectors, accelerators, and reference architectures, shortening project timelines by up to 30% in large‑scale rollouts.

Google Cloud & SAP

Data & AI leadership

Google Cloud’s expertise in big data and AI powers next‑generation SAP analytics. With BigQuery and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, enterprises can run petabyte‑scale queries in seconds, fuelling real‑time insights for marketing, finance, and supply chain.

Open-Source Collaboration

Together, SAP and Google have contributed to Kyma, enabling cloud‑native extensions running on Kubernetes. This open approach future‑proofs custom development and avoids vendor lock‑in.

Sustainability at Scale

Google Cloud’s carbon‑neutral operations and high‑efficiency data centres dovetail with SAP’s Emissions Management solution, helping customers track and reduce their overall carbon footprint across the value chain.

Cross‑Industry Impact

While every industry has its nuances, these themes emerge consistently:

  • Manufacturing
  • Financial services
  • Retail & CPG
  • Healthcare & life sciences

In manufacturing, real‑time shop‑floor analytics on Azure coupled with edge‑connected IoT sensors can cut unplanned downtime by up to 25%. Predictive maintenance use cases, powered by SAP Asset Intelligence Network and Azure IoT Edge, drive savings of 10–15% in maintenance costs.

In the financial services, within highly regulated environments, AWS’s FedRAMP High regions and dedicated network partitions enable global banks to run treasury, risk, and core banking modules with sub‑second transaction times and end‑to‑end encryption.

For retail and CPG, Google Cloud–backed SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) uses AI‑driven demand forecasting to improve forecast accuracy by as much as 35%. This drives inventory reductions of 10–12% while boosting in‑stock rates.

And for healthcare and life sciences, multi‑cloud data fabrics let businesses enforce strict access policies around patient data (HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11) while running SAP Health modules. This ensures both compliance and agility for telehealth and clinical trial management.

Key Decision Factors for US Enterprises

When you’re at the crossroads of choosing a hyperscaler, I recommend a structured evaluation across four pillars. You’ll naturally want to consider cost, but it’s worth also looking at how it performs, compliance and what support you’ll receive.

1. Cost & TCO

  • Model reserved vs. on‑demand pricing for SAP HANA, factoring in network egress, storage tiers, and managed‑service fees
  • Look beyond list prices. Expect additional costs for premium services like bare‑metal, dedicated interconnect, or advanced security features

2. Performance & Scale

  • Benchmark HANA scale‑up tests (4 TB, 16 TB) across EC2 X1 instances, Azure M‑series, and Google C2D
  • Measure cross‑AZ latency and DR failover times. Every millisecond matters for real‑time business processes

3. Compliance & Data Residency

  • Evaluate FedRAMP (High vs. Moderate), HIPAA eligibility, FINRA requirements, and any state‑level mandates (e.g., CCPA)
  • Check provider roadmaps for additional certifications if you serve public sector or medical markets

4. Ecosystem & Support

  • Assess the depth of SAP‑certified Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in each ecosystem
  • Factor co‑innovation programmes, training resources, and the availability of global solution architects

Security & Compliance

While I’ve already pointed out the decision factor of compliance above, I want to now reinforce it with the element of security. When making use of hyperscalers, this needs to be the foundation of your success.

AWS and Google Cloud hold FedRAMP High authorisations across multiple US regions; Azure currently offers FedRAMP Moderate with High pending in select zones.

All three providers support HIPAA‑eligible services, but remember that shared responsibility means your own governance processes must be rock solid.

Similarly, AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, and Google Cloud KMS each offer BYOK and HSM‑backed models. Differences in multi‑region replication can impact your disaster‑recovery plans and regulatory audits.

Zero‑trust architectures built on hyperscaler IAM (i.e., AWS IAM, Azure AD, Google Cloud IAM) should be paired with tools like SAP Identity Authentication Service.

Use Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform modules with built‑in CIS benchmarks) and managed compliance services (AWS Audit Manager, Azure Policy, Google Cloud Security Command Centre) to continuously validate configurations.

If you need to, make use of SAP Cloud ALM’s built‑in compliance checks for SAP‑specific controls.

Emerging Trends

I’ve recently noticed an increase in the portability of dynamic workloads. Kubernetes‑based SAP landscapes and the SAP Cloud ALM will let you shift workloads between AWS, Azure, and Google in response to cost, performance, or risk signals, which is helpful for raising the potential to true multi‑cloud optimisation.

There’s also been some commitments to a greener cloud process. Hyperscalers are battling to deliver 24/7 carbon‑neutral operations. SAP’s Emissions Management application, combined with provider‑specific sustainability dashboards, will enable enterprises to quantify and reduce their Scope 2 and 3 emissions.

If it isn’t yet on your radar, as 5G networks roll out, expect SAP’s edge offerings (powered by Azure Private 5G Core and AWS Wavelength) to support real‑time telco billing, autonomous logistics, and AR‑enabled field service scenarios.

SAP’s alliances with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are absolutely central to how US enterprises innovate, scale, and secure their digital core. By asking the right questions around cost, performance, compliance, and ecosystem support, and learning from the successes of others, you can turn these partnerships into a sustainable competitive advantage.

If you’re ready to drill into your own SAP cloud strategy, I’m here to help you transform uncertainty into actionable insights and even more tangible ROI. Get in touch to learn more.