Novis’ experiences with SAP solutions on AWS

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In view of the constant changes occurring in the technologies available on AWS as well as in cost reductions, we are convinced that migration to public clouds is inexorable. Novis currently has more than twenty customers in productive operation on AWS.

We have migrated more than 60 SAP® instances from traditional datacenters, from the Novis cloud, and from HEC to the AWS public cloud, and have implemented many others from scratch, directly on AWS, for SAP ERP, SAP BW, SAP S/4HANA, SAP PO, BO, DS, SPP, and SolMan systems.

It is our belief that any company currently evaluating hosting services for its SAP solution – whether it is an existing one or to be implemented – should consider a public cloud as first choice. Cloud infrastructure costs are diminishing, flexibility is unmatched, and there are numerous successful experiences. We want to share with you part of our journey on AWS to help you visualize its potential.

In 2015 we began exploring different public clouds, with the objective of operating our client’s SAP solutions on that infrastructure.

Since then, we have had multiple experiences with the following types of projects:

1) Project environments on AWS for SAP S/4HANA solution deployments

We have been implementing SAP S/4HANA solutions with project environments on AWS since 2016 with good results. This is an excellent alternative to have them available in a very short time, and thus be able to start the implementation project without delays.

2) SAP ERP to AWS migration

Undertaking this process with Novis, provides three levels of advantage to the client:

• The advantages of AWS Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in itself, chiefly elasticity, agility, pay-per-use, and lower total costs.
• The advantages of an IaaS service that has been encapsulated and standardized by Novis for SAP systems, where the integration of SAP systems with AWS is already resolved and is transparent to the client. Of immediate use, it requires no special training, and the client maintains a single service provider, responsible for the comprehensive service and its compliance with SLAs.
• The advantages of the same SAP AMS Novis Service, now based on the AWS cloud, as it is a results-oriented service. Designed with a comprehensive service model, from the IaaS infrastructure to the SAP systems, it has all operational aspects between SAP and AWS resolved (e.g., monitoring, backups, SAP uploads and downloads, etc.). Furthermore, as a result of economies of scale, we can offer lower total costs.

See more details in client cases such as Vecchiola, NSAgro, Hortifrut and CasaIdeas.

3) Using other AWS services in production

In 2016 we already began using other services offered by AWS, in addition to infrastructure as a service (IaaS). For example, we replaced one of our clients’ DNS Server with the AWS Route53 service. This is a public DNS service that has a ridiculous cost compared to that of an own dedicated server.

4) Non-SAP applications migration to AWS

We have extensive experience, since 2016, when we migrated and put into production the first non-SAP application for one of our clients. In many cases it is more convenient to migrate to AWS, along with the SAP solution, those non-SAP systems that are closely related to it.  Our SAP AMS service also considers the possibility of including non-SAP systems.

For more details, see the NSAgro M&V client case.

5) Consolidating service operations on AWS

In 2017, our systems operations on AWS became consolidated. During that year we carried out proof of concept tests for the migration of four of our client’s systems to AWS, and we effectively concluded those migrations for all of them.

Among these, we migrated and put into production:

• A client with a SAP ERP solution on a traditional platform (Windows/SQLServer). See the Vecchiola case.
• A client with a SAP ERP solution that required migration to HANA database at the same time. We also migrated all their non-SAP systems to AWS. See the NSAgro M&V client case.
• A client with SAP ERP and SAP BW. See the Kidzania case.
• A client with a complex SAP Retail solution, with SAP ERP, SAP CAR, SAP PO, and SAP BO.

Since then, we have continued to migrate customers and deploy new installations of SAP solutions on AWS. Among these:

• We have migrated other clients with SAP ERP solutions on traditional platforms (Windows/SQLServer). See the Taylor Companies case, in the shipping and logistics industry.
• A client with a heterogeneous migration of S/4HANA, from a Power/Linux platform.
• We migrated two clients with SAP ERP and SAP BW on HANA. See the Hortifrut and Saam cases.
• We migrated a University with S/4HANA and PO. See the University of Concepción case.
• We implemented a new SAP landscape in a project to deploy S/4HANA, PO, SSO, and MII for a large food producing and marketing company.

We are permanently working with this kind of projects and helping all types of businesses in evaluating the best solution. As a result, today we have extensive experience in AWS for a variety of systems and platforms: SAP Business Suite, SAP S/4HANA, as well as with other systems on Windows and Linux, with Oracle, SQLServer, DB2, HANA and SAP ASE databases.

6) AI and Analytics Solutions on AWS

For the past two years we have implemented analytical and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for our SAP customers using the native tools offered by AWS, at considerably lower costs than traditional SAP solutions. With this, it is possible to extract data from SAP systems, process it in the cloud with advanced technologies, and obtain results that are integrated back into the SAP systems.

7)Automating SAP operations on AWS

We have formed a specialized team to develop automated operations tools in the cloud, which has already implemented various functionalities in AWS, automating the deployment of systems, alerts management, the execution of HA and DR procedures, etc.

With these automated procedures the client obtains faster responses, the occurrence of incidents is reduced, and operational errors are minimized. All these capabilities constitute our unique NovisCloud Manager product.

Novis has qualified and certified AWS teams

In our efforts to adopt AWS technologies, we have developed an ongoing training and certification plan for our technical consultants. We currently have a team of SAP technical consultants (Basis/Netweaver) and infrastructure certified consultants and are accredited as an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner.

8) SAP competencies on AWS certification

After an arduous year-long project, we have certified our SAP skills on AWS. Novis is the only AWS partner to have obtained this certification in Chile and one of the few in Latin America.

This certification attests that our architecture, security, and operational implementation practices are fully compliant with the AWS Well Architected Framework (WAF). From the clients’ point of view, this certification ensures that their SAP systems will be well implemented and operated correctly, with security standards far superior to those of any local datacenter.

Lessons learned

After more than seven years working with AWS, we have acquired solid experience in delivering services for SAP customers in Chile, Mexico and throughout Latin America. In this year 2022 we continue to expand our reach to all Latin American countries, since this technology makes it possible.

While interacting with our client base, we see that all, without exception, are considering the public cloud infrastructure alternative. Especially those SAP customers who are planning a migration to SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA. As a rule, these systems require large infrastructure, and with traditional solutions it is usually unfeasible to setup temporary environments for sandboxes, projects, training, or other short-term needs. In AWS, on the other hand, it is possible to deploy temporary SAP HANA or SAP S/4HANA environments, copies of productive environments, or other SAP environments in a few hours, with an on-demand pricing, only for the actual period used.

Critical systems such as SAP require very specific knowledge, experience, well-defined architectures, and good practices in place. Novis adds value to the AWS infrastructure through its AWS-based SAP AMS service, continuing to support the entire lifecycle of its clients’ SAP solutions, now on an advanced technology framework.

We invite all SAP clients to discuss their projects with us. We will be glad to be able to advise you. Contact us.

Feedback/discussion with the author: Glen Canessa, Pre-Sales Manager at Novis

Related articles:

• Novis services for SAP operation in the Cloud
• CasaIdeas migrates its SAP Solutions to AWS as part of its digital transformation roadmap
  
• Hortifrut successfully migrates its SAP ERP to AWS with Novis
  
• Novis migrates holding Vecchiola’s SAP systems to AWS
  
• Holding NSAgro evaluates its frist year with SAP HANA on AWS
  
• KidZania migrates SAP ERP and SAP BI to AWS