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 Jim Loiacono and Kelly Smith presented for HPE SAP GreenLake at Cloud Field Day 23 |
This Presentation date is June 5, 2025 at 8:00 - 9:30 am.
Presenters: Jim Loiacono, Kelly Smith, Randall Grogan
Presenters:
Jim Loiacono
Jim leads the HPE SAP Private Cloud Sales efforts on a worldwide basis. Jim leads global sales but takes pride in assisting customers with matching customer data andAI strategy with SAP cloud, data, and AI strategy. Jim has over 30 years experience selling, demonstrating, and consulting upon various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software products including selling and demonstrating software both for and with SAP. As a U.S.A. Certified Public Accountant and ERP expert, Jim has an enhanced interest in the total cost of ownership and financial outcomes regarding ERP, artificial intelligence, and data management.
Kelly Smith
Kelly is Vice President of Sales at SAP. She leads a team across the south, driving SAP cloud strategy across SAP’s large enterprise customer base. Kelly has been in a sales capacity for over 10 years, 6 with SAP in various capacities from line of business and industry sales learning, advising, and partnering with internal and external SAP stakeholders creating a cloud strategy that meets business requirements with the innovative business suite of SAP.
Randall Grogan
Randall Grogan serves as the Senior Director of SAP & Financial Applications at Energy Transfer, a leading U.S. energy infrastructure company. In this role, he oversees the integration and optimization of SAP systems to enhance financial operations and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
SAP Legacy SAP ERP Customers Are Nearly Out of Time – HPE GreenLake SAP
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It’s been a decade since S/4HANA was released, but less than half of the existing SAP ERP customers have upgraded, facing looming support deadlines. This presentation from HPE at Cloud Field Day 23 highlights the challenges and the novel solutions for those hesitant to make the move. HPE, along with SAP, is offering a more flexible approach, recognizing that a “one size fits all” approach isn’t suitable for all businesses. The presentation highlights that business disruption is a significant factor in customers delaying upgrades, underscoring the need to consider what is important to all stakeholders involved.
The session presents SAP’s cloud ERP offerings, including a “Customer Data Center” option built on HPE GreenLake. This provides a hybrid cloud environment, allowing customers to choose between public and private cloud deployments, and importantly, the flexibility to retain their existing data centers. HPE’s focus is to make the transition to SAP’s cloud offerings smoother, making it easier for customers to move forward. This approach addresses concerns about data sovereignty and control over upgrades. The conversation also highlights the need for integration and the various challenges that it encompasses when migrating to the new systems.
Ultimately, the presentation highlights the importance of the private cloud option, particularly for large enterprises with complex legacy systems. It highlights the need for more flexibility for all stakeholders. The session concludes that the “Customer Data Center” option, with HPE hardware and services, can provide the security, control, and flexibility that many customers require, while ensuring they can continue to receive the necessary support. The presentation emphasized that there are various options available to meet each customer’s needs, making this a comprehensive plan.
Personnel: Jim Loiacono
The evolution of SAP Cloud ERP – HPE GreenLake SAP
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The presentation by HPE at Cloud Field Day 23, led by Kelly Smith from SAP, centered around the evolution of SAP Cloud ERP. The session primarily focused on SAP Cloud ERP, the RISE with SAP methodology, and the SAP Flywheel Effect Strategy. It also covered private cloud ERP transition options.
Smith began by discussing the history of SAP, highlighting its transformation from mainframe-based systems to the current cloud ERP offerings. The core of the presentation revolved around SAP’s Cloud ERP, which offers a private cloud deployment model, often referred to as RISE. This model encompasses the software, hyperscaler resources, or HPE’s GreenLake, and technical managed support under a single commercial agreement. This setup shifts the responsibility for day-to-day operations, including upgrades and security, to SAP, enabling customers to focus on their core business strategies. The presentation emphasized SAP’s commitment to security, highlighting dedicated security teams and workshops, as well as SAP’s handling of responsibilities.
The discussion also addressed integrations, the flywheel effect, and future AI integration, particularly the Business Technology Platform (BTP) for integrations. The presentation touched upon the infrastructure as a service, highlighting the advantages of dedicated hardware and the importance of managing data, particularly for acquisitions and changes in business scale. The presentation addressed the need for additional capacity and SAP’s ability to accommodate it through change requests. Finally, the presentation highlighted the importance of cybersecurity and the role that SAP’s security teams play. SAP will manage software upgrades, with customers having input, but support is discontinued if upgrades fall too far behind.
Personnel: Kelly Smith
Modern Cloud – SAP Cloud ERP, Customer Data Center CDC with HPE GreenLake SAP
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HPE’s presentation at Cloud Field Day focused on the shift from declining on-premise and public cloud SAP deployments to increasing hybrid and private cloud solutions. Customers are seeking to mitigate risk, maintain control, and address the complex application dependencies inherent in SAP environments. HPE highlights its SAP Cloud ERP, Customer Data Center (CDC) offering as a true “Modern Cloud” solution, recognizing that customers require choices. The presentation highlights that predictable latency is crucial for integrations, making dedicated CDC solutions, with dedicated network paths and firewalls, a compelling option over hyperscale cloud offerings, where resources are shared.
The presentation emphasizes the importance of choice and flexibility when transitioning to cloud ERP. HPE’s approach caters to various customer needs, offering options such as “lift and shift” and “tailored” methods, which enable customers to transition to cloud ERP without requiring an immediate data center migration. HPE’s strategy is designed to make the transition to cloud ERP as seamless as possible by acknowledging that moving from an existing ERP system to a new one, even with the same vendor, presents a significant project.
A key takeaway from the presentation revolves around the shift to subscription-based models. While it’s the direction most software companies are moving, HPE acknowledges the resistance many customers, like Energy Transfer, have to moving away from perpetual licensing. Jim Loiacono and Kelly Smith highlighted the ability to support those who want to “stay the course” or begin their SAP HANA journey with a lift-and-shift approach, understanding the need to address customers’ concerns about risk and the desire for maximum flexibility.
Personnel: Jim Loiacono, Kelly Smith
Customer Discussion – SAP Cloud ERP Customers Prefer CDC with HPE GreenLake SAP
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HPE presented a customer discussion at Cloud Field Day focused on the adoption of SAP Cloud ERP (formerly RISE) with the CDC option, specifically highlighting the preferences of Energy Transfer, a major midstream pipeline company. The company chose the CDC option over the hyperscale cloud for several reasons, including the existing data center infrastructure, which offered lower latency and better control over cybersecurity. Energy Transfer’s decision was also influenced by the need to integrate with dependent applications, such as those used for hydrocarbon management.
The presentation emphasized that the chosen solution provides Energy Transfer with a cost-neutral transition. The presentation included a discussion of AI capabilities and the benefits of accessing innovation through the SAP Cloud ERP roadmap. The customer shared that they were early adopters of SAP S/4HANA. They have a strong commitment to AI capabilities that will come with cloud ERP. This decision makes it easier to adopt those AI capabilities in the future.
Finally, the presentation emphasized the importance of a robust governance model and the availability of flexible options for customers considering SAP Cloud ERP, including sandbox environments and customized implementation approaches. The discussion also addressed the shared responsibility model employed by the CDC and its approach to managing risks, including cybersecurity threats such as ransomware. Ultimately, HPE’s presentation highlighted the value of a hybrid approach to SAP solutions, enabling customers like Energy Transfer to tailor their deployments according to their specific needs and priorities.
Personnel: Jim Loiacono, Randall Grogan