Getting the best from your SAP deployments with an SAP-certified partner

As enterprises progress in their digital transformation journey, the combination of SAP and Cloud is gaining prominence, and this trend has only accelerated in the ‘new normal’ business environment. Enterprises are turning to third-party SAP service providers for end-to-end SAP solutions to make their SAP environment agile and scalable.

However, choosing the right SAP partner and time constraints to make deployments live can add to the complications. Selecting a reliable, SAP-certified service provider is key to getting started with your deployments. Backed by a robust framework and audit conducted by SAP, these certifications are based on various solutions across the SAP portfolio. Banking upon the expertise of SAP-certified partners, customers can unlock the maximum value from their SAP environment. 

Below I have outlined the key SAP certifications that customers should look out for:

• SAP Cloud and Infrastructure Operations: Dealing with infrastructure and cloud services, this certification includes a portfolio of tailored SAP offerings for customers, such as on-demand infrastructure and cloud services for related SAP products.
• SAP Hosting Operations: Service providers with SAP Hosting Operations certification have demonstrated experience and the technical expertise around SAP administration skills to offer customised hosting packages, operate and maintain SAP applications.
• SAP S/4 HANA Solutions Operations: This certification covers all processes pertaining to management of SAP S/4HANA solutions lifecycle, including maintenance, daily operations, and functional support.
• SAP Business Suite Solutions Operations: This certification focuses on every process related to the management of SAP Business Suite lifecycle; for instance, SAP ERP, including maintenance, daily operation, and functional support.
• SAP HANA Operations: Partners with SAP HANA Operations certification possess the highest level and quality of operational standards for solutions related to SAP HANA business data platform.

How do service providers get certified?
To obtain the aforementioned certifications, SAP service providers need to demonstrate their operational capabilities that include quality and knowledge management, project management and IT services management. The certificates are only issued after service providers pass SAP’s robust evaluation framework and meet SAP’s exacting standards.

After the partner expresses interest in certification and submits the application, SAP sends a quotation and upon confirmation from the partner, the certification process is initiated. Following this, SAP sends a set of questions to the partner, and a Q&A session is conducted to address any queries. Upon receiving the completed questionnaire, it is reviewed by SAP and an audit is conducted. An agreement is then prepared pertaining to the next steps and schedule.

An on-site audit against the furnished documents is conducted by SAP, based on the scope and schedule. If required under certain cases, SAP will conduct follow-up and the partner could be asked to update or submit additional documents. Once the audit report is generated, SAP communicates with the partner and outlines the potential areas of improvement, if deemed necessary. The certificate is only issued to the partner’s successful completion of this process. 

Certified service providers are given a status logo for a period of two years. To extend and maintain its validity, service providers are required to undergo the certification audit upon the expiration of the certification period.

How can SAP certifications benefit customers?

Implementation of an SAP environment is integral to the operations of every organization. As business process and operational efficiency is highly dependent on the SAP environment, receiving the highest level of service and availability across areas becomes crucial for customers – from SAP Hosting, SAP Migration Service, SAP Cloud Hosting, etc. Certifications help service providers instill trust and confidence among their customers, assuring them of the highest level of service.

Expertise

IT functions operate in a constrained environment, especially with a limited budget and lack of access to specialized skill sets. This has a negative impact on large turnkey projects such as SAP deployments, making them obsolete faster. Owing to stringent ITIL standards, along with and knowledge management, SAP-certified service providers are mandated to demonstrate and constantly upgrade their domain expertise and skillsets. This ensures that customers get access to the required expertise and know-how to keep their SAP deployments efficient at all times.

Agility
With today’s fast-changing business environment and evolution of technology, internal IT teams are often challenged with keeping the pace. As business needs continue to grow, additional investment in IT infrastructure and training and enablement for staff becomes inevitable. This also leaves an impact on the enterprise’s SAP deployments. Helping customers overcome these challenges, certified SAP service providers reduce delays and enable customers with the speed and agility to yield the maximum value from their SAP environment.

Flexibility
As highlighted in the above point, amidst an array of applications and with data at the core of everything, SAP environments require timely updates and additional investments in hardware as business needs grow. Internal IT teams often struggle to match pace with the changes. With outsourced operations such as SAP implementation, SAP Hosting, SAP Maintenance, etc, coupled with a plethora of on-demand services, enterprises get the freedom and flexibility to scale up or scale down their infrastructure in accordance with business workload demands.

Reliability
Customers can bank upon a reliable, certified SAP service provider as they are required to adhere to stringent SLA requirements and deliver the highest uptime at all times. This facilitates seamless business operations and eliminates downtimes for critical functions. This is complemented by round-the-clock support and access to experts.

Why Yotta?

As a leading, certified SAP managed service provider, Yotta is backed by five SAP certifications that include SAP Cloud and Infrastructure Operations, SAP Hosting Operations, SAP Business Suite Solutions Operations, SAP HANA Operations, and SAP S/4HANA Solutions Operations. These certifications validate Yotta’s adherence to the stringent requirements of SAP operations services.

These certifications, combined with our multi-domain experience, Uptime Institute TCCF certified, fault-tolerant Tier IV data center and single-window SAP services, enable us to offer industry-leading SAP solutions every need of today’s modern, digital enterprise – from SAP Implementation to SAP Migration Service, to complete Application Managed Services, we have got you covered.