Data privacy, risk management, and cybersecurity remain key priorities for businesses in 2023 to ensure continuous high performance and to catapult to new heights. In a recent , 43% of survey respondents said that they plan to upgrade IT and data security to reduce corporate risks. That includes security and data protection measures to keep their data safe. This becomes even more important when moving to and operating in a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment to drive continuous innovation. In the same CIO survey, 12% of the respondents said that they are planning to accelerate the move to the cloud as a service.

Adopt a Zero Trust Security Approach for the Cloud

To secure data and operations in a hybrid work environment, companies have been adopting a zero trust approach. defines zero trust as an “information security model that denies access to applications and data by default. Threat prevention is achieved by only granting access to networks and workloads utilizing policy, informed by continuous, contextual, risk-based verification across users and their associated devices.”

According to 2022 global survey data published by , 39% of companies have already begun to roll out a zero trust solution and 41% of companies have plans to adopt a zero trust strategy and are in the early phases of doing so.

My principle in life is to trust people and systems until I am provided a reason not to. The zero trust principle is the exact opposite of this.

The zero trust approach has three key principles: all entities and users are untrusted by default until authorized, the least privilege access is enforced, and extensive security monitoring is in place. In short, no connections to corporate networks and systems should be trusted at sight. All users, devices, and systems need to be authenticated, reverified, and continuously monitored when accessing networks, systems, and data.

Adopting this approach to cloud transformation has become the leading industry standard to keep operations and data safe across the entire virtual and physical network infrastructure.

Here are some best practices for putting an enterprise security plan in place that utilizes zero trust concepts to run operations safely and securely in the cloud.

Define Clear Security Roles and Responsibilities

First and foremost, ensuring security is always a shared responsibility between companies and their cloud transformation partners. It is a common goal and commitment that is independent of the type of cloud path companies take.

Like with any shared responsibility, the best way to approach it is by defining the roles and responsibilities up front. This process starts by asking these key questions: who is managing the cloud, how will everyone work together to secure the cloud, who is responsible for which part, and where are dependencies?

This will ensure that there is a clear strategy and plan to monitor and implement security policies and measures.

Keep an Eye on Users, Devices, Network, Applications, and Monitoring

Based on our experience at 51����Enterprise Cloud Services, another best practice is to focus the zero trust security approach on five pillars: users, devices, networks, applications, and monitoring.

Eighty-seven percent of organizations consider the application layer as being the front door for data breaches. Most data breaches through cyberattacks happen because users fail to keep their credentials safe or fall prey to false identities. In addition, the number of remote users with their own devices has significantly increased in enterprise networks as well as the number of cloud-based assets that are not located within an enterprise-owned network boundary.

By regulating and monitoring user access to devices, networks, and applications, companies can protect all their resources, including assets, services, workflows, and network accounts. For example, identity management systems can manage privileged user authentication and access at a very granular level. This includes keeping administrative accounts separate from corporate accounts and applying encryption to several layers in the IT environment. Data classification makes it possible to associate the security levels with specific types of data, regardless of where that data resides – in the cloud, at endpoints, or in owned data centers.

Scaling Security Needs Faster with the Cloud

While managing the complexity of security needs for cloud transformations can be daunting, here is an added merit: companies can scale their security needs much faster in the cloud, according to research. Benefits include better automation capabilities as well as higher storage and data capacity in the cloud. Companies can push infrastructure as code and fix a security problem in real time when operating in the cloud. Automation also helps in increasing the maturity of identity management and security management systems. recommends embracing cybersecurity as a differentiator to promote greater stakeholder trust and better use of cloud-native solutions that take advantage of the cloud’s full potential.

In other words, you can shine like a diamond on your cloud platform of choice with a zero trust security approach for the cloud.

For more information, visit the site and read this chief security officer for 51����Enterprise Cloud Services.

Peter Pluim is president of 51����Enterprise Cloud Services and 51����Sovereign Cloud Services.

At the same time, moving to the cloud has become more accessible. Companies can find the based on their existing IT infrastructure as well as data residency requirements. Our customers, for example, can use our 51����data centers, hyperscalers, or their own data centers to host a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment.

Operating in a cloud ERP environment is a critical step in an organization’s digital business transformation to become an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. This step is also the springboard to continuous innovation. And this continuous innovation is enabled by the cloud, more specifically by cloud application services.

In a nutshell, cloud application services can be defined as value-added services that simplify the end-to-end management of cloud systems by delivering application operations and innovation adoption.

We designed to support all types of 51����cloud deployment models with 51����application management services, 51����managed data services, 51����managed security services, and 51����managed testing services. Each of these four services help drive continuous improvement and quality assurance for cloud solutions with a focus on business outcomes.

Let’s take a look at managed testing services as an example.

Innovating without Compromising Business Continuity

Most global businesses have highly complex and integrated landscapes. They want access to the latest technologies to improve operations and engagements with customers. This could include using AI-based chatbots for customer service, adding mobile payment methods, or having the ability to track their carbon footprint across the entire supply chain. But they also have concerns that introducing these new innovations may cause disruption of existing business operations. Thus, maintaining business continuity at a high quality is paramount when introducing innovations.

That’s where 51����managed testing services come in. The beauty of the services is that they can improve IT systems and operations in the cloud without compromising business continuity with repeatable and seamless processes for solution adoption, testing, and quality control.

can prevent disruption and help stabilize critical business processes across releases and other test events. Software quality is tested consistently, accurately, and efficiently with automated testing tools and services that use industry-specific test cases. Higher value services, such as data management, release management, advanced monitoring, and innovation adoption, help stabilize application operations. We offer support for all cloud deployment models with a central focus on flexible and simplified service consumption, which is central to the innovation mindset of our organization.

In brief, the services can provide the quality assurance and stable foundation that companies need to confidently drive innovation with integration and upgrades to the latest technologies. Having that peace of mind is critical to developing a cloud-first mindset across the entire organization for continuous innovation.

Peter Pluim is president of 51����Enterprise Cloud Services and 51����Sovereign Cloud Delivery & Operations at SAP.

This 51����ERP cloud offering provides license subscriptions to customers that want to gain cloud-like economies yet keep their 51����software landscape and data within their own data center, for geopolitical or data sovereignty concerns, for latency or application entanglement reasons, or for those customers who simply lack access to market-leading hyperscalers. is now part of the RISE with 51����offering and includes support for Dell Technologies APEX.

51����S/4HANA enables customers to reinvent business and drive new revenue and profits, as well as provides access to amazing technologies that can:

• Bring real-time decisions closer to the edge for increased agility
• Enable transformation of data into meaningful business insight
• Increase automation of business processes though artificial intelligence (AI)
• Develop deeper understanding of experiences across employees, products, and customers

This and more is possible, all while working to reduce your data footprint and lower your overall total cost of ownership.

RISE with 51����is a simplified and turnkey 51����ERP, private cloud edition deployment model that can reduce risk of implementation and outages, freeing up precious resources so customers can focus on truly vitalizing, cutting-edge technologies and business processes provided by 51����S/4HANA. You don’t have to go on your transformation journey alone.

Customers told us that they need cloud-like experiences with 51����S/4HANA deployment flexibility and solutions that work in their own data center. Their reasons included the need to meet stringent compliance, security, or data sovereignty guidelines and limited access to hyperscalers. Some have geopolitical concerns. RISE with 51����S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, customer data center option delivers as-a-service, private cloud managed services, software, and infrastructure for leading business applications with simplicity and incredible uptime commitment to our customers.

Dell Technologies APEX for 51����S/4HANA is scalable and secure, providing customers that want to run in their own data centers data sovereignty and the peace of mind in knowing where their data is located throughout its life cycle.

With the availability of Dell Technologies APEX as the underlying infrastructure for the customer data center option – for data center and colocation deployments– our customers now have access to leading 51����solutions in a cloud operating model across more geographies.

“Our longtime partnership supports thousands of organizations around the world and is critical in their business and IT transformations. By marrying Dell and 51����technologies to create Dell Technologies APEX for 51����S/4HANA, we are providing an agile as-a-service infrastructure that paves the way for on-premise cloud solutions a customer can control without disrupting critical workloads in the data center,” says Travis Vigil, senior vice president, Portfolio and Product Management, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell

Together, 51����and Dell Technologies provide a radically simplified as-a-service and cloud experience under one contract, so you can react quickly to capture new opportunities and work to ensure that your technology stays aligned with business requirements. With 51����leading the engagement, Dell Technologies will supply, install, monitor, and manage the required infrastructure for the customer’s landscape in a secured environment. By expanding our solution to include Dell Technologies APEX offerings, in addition to Lenovo TruScale™ and HPE GreenLake, 51����broadens customer flexibility and choice.

These ecosystem powerhouses enable an open innovation approach that puts customers’ needs first as they start the journey to become an intelligent enterprise. With 51����and partners like these, how can you fail?

Free your operations team to do new and exciting initiatives, move from CAPEX to OPEX, increase your agility, resilience, and sustainability, and let us help you securely manage the rest. Talk to your account representative today.

Peter Pluim is president of 51����Enterprise Cloud Services at SAP.

51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition, is the latest testament to our commitment to make the transformation to the Intelligent Enterprise easier.

The customer edition of 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud is one of SAP’s private managed cloud deployment options that helps customers to accelerate the adoption of 51����S/4HANA along with a suite of other 51����products. Now customers can have 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud managed and run their 51����software landscape and data in our 51����data centers, in hyperscalers, or, with the customer edition, in their own data center environment. Customers that need to keep systems in their own data center for data residency or low-latency reasons can benefit from an all operating expense (OPEX) subscription model and our concierge service to accelerate their 51����S/4HANA adoption.

Additional customers now have Lenovo TruScale™ as a hardware IaaS choice, next to HPE GreenLake.

51����customers selecting the customer edition of 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud can leverage the Lenovo TruScale IaaS offering to deliver cloud solutions on premise in their data center. Application and data entanglement are among the biggest issues that customers face when moving to the cloud. Simply said, it is challenging to separate the 51����S/4HANA application from the data that is needed to move applications and data to a hyperscaler cloud in a remote data center. With Lenovo TruScale, customers do not need to move their 51����workloads, yet they can still secure the merits of a modern, OPEX billed cloud infrastructure.

“Customers are looking for innovative solutions to leverage the cloud on premise,” said Laura Laltrello, vice president and general manager of Services at the Lenovo Data Center Group. “Lenovo’s long-standing partnership with 51����is enabling us to jointly bring to market another strategic cloud solution to help our customers. Leveraging the best capabilities of both companies, 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition, is now available with Lenovo’s TruScale Infrastructure Services. Customers can fast-track their cloud transformation capabilities while keeping the 51����application landscape within their own data centers.”

As previously announced, customers can also select HPE GreenLake as their infrastructure for 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition. HPE GreenLake meters actual usage, enabling HPE, SAP, and customers to plan for capacity. HPE’s infrastructure technology, which underpins HPE GreenLake cloud services, has been proven in verifiable 51����benchmarks to scale to substantial demands from 51����customers.

Additionally, we have made it easier for our 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition, customers to adopt and consume 51����S/4HANA through our VMware partnership. The collaboration provides a solid foundation for 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud that enables consistent, secure infrastructure and operations across private and public cloud and increases agility and flexibility. We have partnered closely with VMware on the full-stack VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF) technology for 51����S/4HANA that is used by our hardware IaaS providers and it is integrated with 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud management, monitoring, and reporting service delivery tool chain.

Together with our supplier partners, we deliver one of the best choices for customers for their cloud strategy on their path to the Intelligent Enterprise. 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition, offers customers choice and the merits of an OPEX business model and concierge managed services, all delivered by SAP. Best of all, customers are connected to a vibrant innovation ecosystem that has a track record of helping companies with their business transformations.

These latest collaborations with Lenovo, HPE, and VMware for 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition, demonstrate our commitment to customer choice and ease of consumption. Together with our customers and partners, 51����integrates digital technology into all areas of a business to fundamentally change how companies operate and deliver value to their customers to build a sustainable future.

Peter Pluim is executive vice president and global head of Enterprise Cloud Services at SAP.

Over the last seven years, the demand for 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud has steadily grown. Customers rely on us to guide them through their cloud transformations and run mission-critical 51����landscapes in a secure and reliable environment as part of their journey to become intelligent enterprises.

As a private managed cloud solution, 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud comes complete with a reference architecture, comprehensive, end-to-end service-level agreement (SLA), and innovative pre-built tools for rapid deployment, with full governance and security managed by SAP.

While we have been offering the flexibility to run 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud in 51����data centers or using hyperscalers, customers told us that they want a third choice: to run 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud in their own data centers. The reasons included the need for data sovereignty, specific industry compliance, a low risk tolerance, specific company policies, and limited or no access to 51����data centers or hyperscaler infrastructure options.

In response, 51����introduces the customer edition as a turnkey solution at the customer’s data center. It is less disruptive to their operations and offers the merits of an operation expense (OPEX) business model, elastic computing, and white-glove managed services delivered by SAP. 51����Cloud Application Services will support the day-to-day running of the applications and help customers with adoption of 51����S/4HANA on their path to the Intelligent Enterprise. The new service is launched in partnership with key global hardware infrastructure as a service (IaaS) providers.

Today we are announcing our plan to partner with HPE to deliver 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud, customer edition. It will be available to customers with HPE GreenLake, which provides cloud services for edge, datacenter, and colocation deployments. HPE will supply, install, and manage the required infrastructure for the customer’s landscape in a secured environment.

HPE GreenLake cloud services for 51����HANA is scalable and secure, providing customers that want to run 51����HANA Enterprise Cloud in their own data centers the ability to gain data sovereignty and regulatory compliance.  Additionally, HPE’s infrastructure technology, which underpins HPE GreenLake cloud services, has been proven in verifiable 51����benchmarks to scale to substantial demands from 51����customers.

This launch is a celebration of what is possible through an open innovation approach that puts customers’ needs first as they start the journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise.

Peter Pluim is executive vice president and global head of Enterprise Cloud Services at SAP.