- SAP Managed Tags
The Business Value of SAP HANA Cloud, sponsored by SAP and conducted by IDC in 2025, explores the business value of SAP HANA Cloud for organizations modernizing their database environments. The research, based on customer interviews, calculates that companies using SAP HANA Cloud achieved significant benefits, including a high three-year ROI of 352% and an average annual benefit of $13.7 million. These gains stem from improved IT operational efficiency, enhanced agility in database deployment and development, optimized end-user productivity through better data insights, and ultimately, stronger business results. The study highlights specific areas of improvement, such as reduced costs, increased team productivity across various departments, and significant performance enhancements like faster queries and reduced downtime.
Read the full IDC study The Business Value of SAP HANA Cloud.
Then, leverage the executive summary and snapshot to create a business case for your cloud database management system modernization initiative!
Here is what you will learn:
What are the primary benefits organizations can expect from adopting SAP HANA Cloud, according to the IDC study?
The IDC study highlights significant business value achieved by organizations using SAP HANA Cloud. Key benefits include an average annual benefit of $820,000 per database, a 352% three-year return on investment, a 35% reduction in total cost of ownership over three years, and a 10.3-month payback period. Operationally, organizations experienced increased IT productivity, faster database deployments (38% quicker), reduced unplanned downtime (71% reduction), faster query speeds (31% faster), and improved efficiency across IT infrastructure management (33%), DBA (30%), and security teams (19%). Furthermore, analytics (25%) and development teams (30%) saw productivity gains, leading to the development of significantly more features and applications annually (154% more).
What were the key drivers behind the interviewed organizations' decisions to choose SAP HANA Cloud?
The organizations interviewed by IDC selected SAP HANA Cloud for several crucial reasons. A primary driver was the need for enhanced scalability to handle growing data volumes and support business growth. Integration capabilities with existing SAP and other systems were also a significant factor, simplifying data management and reducing complexity. Furthermore, the cloud-based nature of SAP HANA Cloud offered advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness, reduced operational overhead through automated maintenance, improved stability and support, and enhanced security and compliance features. The ability to achieve real-time insights and advance digital transformation were also important considerations.
How did SAP HANA Cloud impact the productivity of IT-related teams within the interviewed organizations?
SAP HANA Cloud had a substantial positive impact on the productivity of various IT teams. IT infrastructure management teams saw a 33% efficiency boost, requiring fewer full-time employees to manage their database environments. Helpdesk teams experienced a 35% reduction in annual tickets and a 57% reduction in average resolution time, leading to a significant decrease in the FTEs needed for support. DBA teams became 30% more efficient due to automation of tasks like backups and scaling, as well as improved tooling. Security teams also benefited from built-in security functionalities, achieving a 19% efficiency gain. These productivity improvements translated into significant annual cost savings for the organizations.
What tangible performance improvements in database operations did the study participants experience after implementing SAP HANA Cloud?
The study participants reported notable enhancements in database performance after adopting SAP HANA Cloud. They experienced 31% faster query speeds and a 29% improvement in response times. Database backups were also 27% quicker. Critically, unplanned database downtime was reduced by 71%, and the time to resolve outages decreased by 73%. These improvements not only enhanced operational reliability but also significantly reduced the impact of downtime on end-user productivity and potential revenue loss.
How did SAP HANA Cloud contribute to advancements in analytics and application development for the interviewed companies?
SAP HANA Cloud provided a robust platform for advancing analytics and application development. Analytics teams benefited from greater data accessibility, better searchability, real-time data access from a single source, and the ability to process multiple data types. This resulted in a 25% productivity boost and the ability to leverage significantly more data sources and larger data volumes. Application development teams experienced a 30% increase in productivity due to seamless integrations, reusable code and libraries, and sandboxed environments, leading to a 154% increase in the number of features and applications developed annually, including more complex AI/ML-powered applications.
What business enablement benefits did organizations realize by using SAP HANA Cloud?
The adoption of SAP HANA Cloud led to significant business enablement benefits. End users gained increased access to high-quality data and analytics, resulting in an 18% productivity gain. The platform facilitated better data-backed decision-making, more accurate and timely business forecasting, and improved customer insights. This contributed to an average of $39.27 million in additional annual gross revenue per organization. The ability to quickly generate business-critical insights and support sales efforts were also highlighted as key advantages.
What is the overall return on investment (ROI) and payback period that the interviewed organizations experienced with SAP HANA Cloud?
The IDC study calculated a compelling average three-year return on investment (ROI) of 352% for the organizations using SAP HANA Cloud. This significant ROI is attributed to a combination of cost savings from increased efficiencies, reduced operational costs, and business growth enabled by improved analytics and application development. The average payback period for the initial investment in SAP HANA Cloud was found to be a relatively short 10.3 months, demonstrating the rapid realization of its value.
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