Microsoft Azure vs SAP S4HANA on AWS comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 6, 2024

We compared Microsoft Azure and SAP S4HANA on AWS based on our user's reviews in several parameters.

Microsoft Azure is praised for its scalability, versatility, reliability, and wide range of services, with positive feedback on customer service and support. Users report a substantial return on investment with reasonable pricing. SAP S4HANA on AWS offers robust performance, seamless scalability, excellent integration capabilities, and comprehensive analytics, with exceptional customer support. The system provides competitive pricing, cost-effective setup, and favorable ROI, but users highlight the need for improvements in integration, reporting, analytics, interface, and performance.

Features: Microsoft Azure offers valuable features such as scalability, versatility, reliability, and a wide range of services. In comparison, SAP S4HANA on AWS stands out with its robust performance, seamless scalability, excellent integration capabilities, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive analytics.

Pricing and ROI: The setup cost for Microsoft Azure is considered commendable, with users mentioning the ease and simplicity of the installation process. On the other hand, SAP S4HANA on AWS offers cost-effective setup with a straightforward and user-friendly licensing process., Microsoft Azure has shown substantial ROI by providing cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved scalability. Its diverse services and tools allow for successful project implementation and management. SAP S4HANA on AWS offers favorable ROI with significant cost savings, improved operational efficiency, seamless system integration, enhanced data analysis capabilities, and improved decision-making abilities.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Azure users have identified areas that need improvement, while feedback for SAP S4HANA on AWS highlights the need for enhanced integration capabilities, reporting and analytics functionalities, a more user-friendly interface, and improved performance and stability.

Deployment and customer support: The user reviews for Microsoft Azure indicate varying timeframes for establishing a new tech solution, with some users mentioning a three-month deployment period and an additional week for setup. Other users suggest that deployment and setup may refer to the same period. On the other hand, the user feedback for SAP S4HANA on AWS also mentions different timeframes for deployment and setup, but emphasizes the importance of evaluating the context in which these terms are used., Microsoft Azure's customer service receives positive remarks for their responsiveness and expertise, with users appreciating the prompt and helpful assistance provided. SAP S4HANA on AWS also provides exceptional customer service, with reliable and efficient support that users highly appreciate.

The summary above is based on 50 interviews we conducted recently with Microsoft Azure and SAP S4HANA on AWS users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure vs. SAP S4HANA on AWS Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We find that it is easy to integrate with other Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Office.""With Microsoft Azure, we have a platform that lets us easily deploy applications to the cloud.""The most valuable feature is the virtual machine.""The solution offers very good upgrades and updates regularly.""There are many different components such as SaaS, PaaS, and API so every month they are releasing a few hundred new features.""We find Azure particularly beneficial when working with clients who are heavily invested in Microsoft solutions. It necessitates that we also leverage Azure for our solutions and services.""We use the cognitive service, virtual machines, and customer DB. Microsoft Azure is also scalable and easy to install.""The main benefit of Microsoft Azure is that it is cloud-based. We are using Microsoft Visual Studio for our code and it is tightly integrated with Microsoft Azure. Additionally, the solution is user-friendly."

More Microsoft Azure Pros →

"Provides good performance and regular release of new features.""This product is much better than most of the other products in this categaory as far as financial capabilities.""The system has the capacity to manage all these departments in a single box and they're all integrated.""They have their own instances where you can host your database.""The Fiori interface is the most valuable feature. It's one of the highlights that they offer. The in-memory of S4 is very fast.""The most valuable features of SAP S4HANA on AWS are that it's simplified and the analytical capabilities are good.""It's easy to use and user-friendly.""This solution has one of the most modern databases and it is very stable."

More SAP S4HANA on AWS Pros →

Cons
"They are a bit closed on the customization side. If they open the customization then it will be very good.""The interface for configuring the environment is not very intuitive. Certain things are at different places, and it is not easy to navigate. They should have a more transparent licensing model. Currently, Microsoft's licensing is a bit clunky, and it keeps changing depending on the type of subscription you have. Different features are included, and sometimes, it is very hard to figure out the right licensing. So, the commercial aspect of the licensing can be improved, and they can make it easier to understand all the features that are included.""Its pricing should be better. In terms of features, I am yet to explore the whole solution, and the current features seem okay.""The Azure Billing API could be so much better. It only provides billing metrics for a set duration.""An issue I encountered was around the integration of Identity. I lost some important information and I would like to see improvements with this.""I would like to see more databases on the cloud, what they call today Big Data should be there.""The solution must improve its pricing.""Price could always be better. The features come in quickly, so we're comfortable with the feature set that is available to us."

More Microsoft Azure Cons →

"Not just S4 but for SAP in general, the price is a little high because they have implemented a new licensing scheme on a number of connections. The price being too expensive is some of the feedback we get from our customers.""The GUI is age-old, the pricing is too high for hardware and older customizations are not working consistently.""I would like for them to have more integration with virtualization platforms.""Doesn't have a common development environment.""The platform's front-end user interface needs improvement compared to other applications.""Over the last three to four years, I haven't encountered significant issues with SAP S/4HANA. While occasional system bugs are normal in software, the overall experience has been positive. As a business partner, it stands out as a reliable ERP solution.""The solution needs a warehouse management feature. Right now, there's a built-in WM, but they don't have an EWM extended warehouse management built-in, in S/4HANA. It's a separate product. So if they can add that, that would be great.""The product can be very complex."

More SAP S4HANA on AWS Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Related to pricing and licensing, you have to be careful how you operate with the concept."
  • "Be careful with Azure Cool storage accounts; if you are dealing with high object counts, then it can be more economical to use Hot storage because of the high storage access costs associated with Cool."
  • "Make use of Azure pricing calculator and you will find out that Azure Is still more reasonable that the competition and do your research, when unclear speak with your MS support."
  • "It’s necessary to use third party products or to use good self-management economic tools"
  • "Keep to PaaS to gain the optimal benefits from an OPEX finance and resource perspective."
  • "Several thousand dollars and counting, we haven't needed to upgrade on premises hardware (In fact we eliminated all of the old on-premises hardware and run 100% on Azure) or pay for it's maintenance, power etc."
  • "If you are not aware of costs, pricing, etc., you can end up with a hefty bill. However, I found that the Azure price calculator is a valuable tool to use before starting to deploy VMs in Azure. This tool will give you an overview of the costs you should expect on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis."
  • "Pricing is very difficult to guesstimate. With so many a la carte options and individual pricing it can be a hassle to understand."
  • More Microsoft Azure Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Licensing fees are on an annual basis."
  • "The licensing of the product is reasonable but the cost of the hardware is exorbitant."
  • "We pay a monthly fee for the use of SAP S4HANA on AWS for approximately five years. That's the time of the contract."
  • "The price of SAP S4HANA on AWS is reasonable, given how much it costs to maintain a scratch-built system. To upgrade the support there is a fee."
  • "SAP S4HANA's pricing model should be more flexible and transparent - there's a lot of negotiation and internal factors, and some customers get better value and services for the same product."
  • "I would rate the pricing as a two and a half out of five."
  • "Compared to its competitors, SAP S4HANA on AWS is a costly solution."
  • "It's expensive. It would be good if AWS and Azure could reduce the computing cost for people who move to the public cloud."
  • More SAP S4HANA on AWS Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Julie Roy
    Leah Fainchtein Buenavida - PeerSpot reviewerLeah Fainchtein Buenavida
    Real User

    SAP S/4HANA is a system for managing relational databases. The in-memory system, as well as the columnar structure, results in retrieving the data with better performance than RDBMS systems.


    You can deploy it in AWS or in Azure. Here is a brief comparison:


    Azure dedicates specific virtual machines and bare metal servers to run SAP HANA. SAP HANA applications run on an SAP application. With Azure, you have an entire SAP application (VM) layer that includes servers, storage, and network configuration. You can deploy resources from 36 Intel with memory of 768GB to 480 Intel processors with 24TB of memory. Finally, you can combine AP and non SAP data. You can apply advanced data services, such as analytics and AI.




























    Aws

    Azure

    Supported use cases

    Production, non-production

    Production, non-production

    Supported resources

    Up to 48TB of memory

    Up to 12TB

    Licensing

    Pay per use BYOL

    subscription

    Services

    Single and multi-node architecture. Load balancing, instance provisioning.

    Load balancing, clustering, Active Directory, and the HANA database.


    SAP S/4HANA on AWS provides infrastructure services. AWS has the advantage of making SAP HANA available, cost-effective, and fault-tolerant. With AWS you can configure a single EC2 to host SAP HANA with EBS storage and your chosen operating system. Another option is to use multi-AZ to deploy primary and secondary nodes, using one for production and another for non-production.


    You have two main options: First, BYOL (Bring your own license). It supports native HANA applications, S/4HANA, Business Suite on HANA, and you can have OLAP memory up to 100 TB. Second, the express edition, which is free to use for in-memory databases, but keep in mind you’ll have to stay under 32 GB.


    Conclusions


    Which is best will depend on your use cases. Azure in my opinion offers better performance for big data and AI workloads. AWS provides more reliability and redundancy.

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity… more »
    Top Answer:One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with both… more »
    Top Answer:I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure… more »
    Top Answer:With extensive data and a sizable client base, this ensures seamless operations, responsiveness, and overall reliability, addressing our enterprise-scale needs effectively.
    Top Answer:I would rate the costliness of SAP S4HANA as a nine out of ten. I believe the cost of SAP S/4HANA can be a factor for smaller businesses. However, the robustness, integration capabilities, and the… more »
    Top Answer:I would like scalability to be improved in the future for faster performance.
    Ranking
    Views
    22,105
    Comparisons
    17,805
    Reviews
    27
    Average Words per Review
    417
    Rating
    8.3
    Views
    4,831
    Comparisons
    4,029
    Reviews
    26
    Average Words per Review
    572
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure
    SAP S/4HANA on AWS
    Learn More
    Overview

    Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform, where developers can create, deploy, and maintain their apps. This cloud application platform allows developers to concentrate on the actual applications, while it takes care of all the elements behind the apps.

    Windows Azure works across multiple frameworks and languages. It is fully scalable, localized in that it is hosted globally in many datacenters, and has widespread capabilities with elements of application development, deployment, and management.

    Azure is comprised of several different service modules, including Infrastructure; Web; Mobile; Dev & Test; Big Data; Media;Storage, Backup & Recovery; and Identity & Access Management.

    Microsoft Azure works as a:

    1. Platform as a service (PaaS)
    2. Software as a service (SaaS)
    3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

    Microsoft Azure is available:

    • On-premises
    • Hybrid
    • Multi-cloud
    • At the edge

    Compared to its competitors, Microsoft Azure:

    • Has more affordable features
    • Has easier migration for organizations already using other Microsoft tools
    • Has several educational resources available
    • Provides robust support
    • Is ideal for small and large businesses

    Microsoft Azure Features:

    • Scalability
    • Stability
    • Flexibility
    • Azure Site Recovery
    • Active Directory
    • Monitoring features
    • Cloud-based
    • Automated tasks
    • Change capability cadence
    • Showback capabilities
    • Information protection
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Excellent portal
    • Intuitive user interface
    • Remote desktop
    • Fast provisioning
    • Data security
    • Data resiliency
    • Speed of service
    • Integrated delivery pipeline
    • Disaster recovery
    • Robust templates
    • Flexible coding languages
    • Virtual systems testing

    Benefits of Microsoft Azure:

    • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Because Microsoft Azure is an IaaS, organizations can deploy as well as manage applications easily and quickly. Azure also provides you with the ability to customize the cloud software to meet your specific business needs.
    • Seamless integration: Microsoft Azure is built to seamlessly integrate with existing IT departments via hybrid databases, secure private connections, and storage solutions.
    • Cost-effective: Because Azure can harmoniously exist in your business environment with your data center, it is a very cost-effective solution.
    • Analytics support: Azure is designed with built-in support that is used to analyze data and provide key insights. Azure offers Cortana Analytics, Stream Analytics, Machine Learning, and SQL services.
    • Unique storage system: Compared to other cloud services, Microsoft Azure has more data centers and delivery points, which helps create an optimal user experience and also helps deliver content faster. In addition, Microsoft Azure makes it possible for organizations to exchange content across several virtual machines.
    • Enhanced flexibility: Azure provides extreme flexibility by allowing you to choose any level of functionality you require. It also supports many of the same technologies IT teams and developers usually depend on, making it easier for them to manage.
    • Easy implementation: Microsoft Azure is easy and quick to deploy. If necessary, you can change web apps to Azure with almost zero downtime.

    Reviews from Real Users:

    "It is a flexible solution that is straightforward to use," says the principal consultant at a computer software company.

    OmarJ., future datacenter consultant: Microsoft Azure Cloud at a tech company, adds that "The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use."

    You can build an environment in minutes. It's very good in terms of being an infrastructure as a service, and I found that really fascinating,” says an information technology consultant at a computer software company.

    "I think Azure's level of automation to achieve efficiency or agility is valuable. I also like the change capability cadence, the showback capabilities, and understanding what our costs are," says an enterprise architect at an energy/utilities company.

    Marco C., Ing. at Wolters Kluwer, says "The valuable features of Microsoft Azure are that it is cloud-based and has good storage. The storage is completely managed by Azure. We do not need to do any patching of security because it is handled by Azure which is a benefit. The solution is fully compatible with the Microsoft technology stack and is very scalable."

    "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often," says the owner of a media company.



    SAP customers of all sizes can fully realize all the benefits of the SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition on the AWS Cloud. With SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition on the AWS Cloud you can:

    • Achieve faster time to value with the AWS on-demand infrastructure
    • Rapidly provision infrastructure for SAP S/4HANA with no upfront cost or long-term commitment
    • Pay for only what you need Don't spend upfront costs purchasing hardware for what you can't forecast
    • Test and evaluate SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition with a free trial offering from SAP on AWS
    Sample Customers
    BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
    Brigade Group, DoHome, Royal FloraHolland
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization35%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company33%
    Computer Software Company27%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Import And Exporter7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise44%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise40%
    Large Enterprise46%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise67%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Azure vs. SAP S4HANA on AWS
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure vs. SAP S4HANA on AWS and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Azure is ranked 2nd in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) with 40 reviews while SAP S4HANA on AWS is ranked 6th in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) with 27 reviews. Microsoft Azure is rated 8.4, while SAP S4HANA on AWS is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Azure writes "Promotes clear, logical structures preventing impractical configurations and offers seamless integration ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP S4HANA on AWS writes "With good documentation in place, the solution offers good technical support to its users". Microsoft Azure is most compared with Oracle Cloud Platform, Google Firebase, Amazon AWS, Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Salesforce Platform, whereas SAP S4HANA on AWS is most compared with Google Cloud, SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Amazon AWS and Alibaba Cloud. See our Microsoft Azure vs. SAP S4HANA on AWS report.

    See our list of best Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) vendors.

    We monitor all Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.