SAP Sovereign Cloud Capabilities Arrive in ANZ

⇨ SAP's sovereign cloud capabilities are now available in Australia and New Zealand for government and regulated industries, offering secure data storage and compliance within the country.

⇨ The investment in SAP's sovereign cloud aims to strengthen cybersecurity for customers operating in highly regulated environments by providing protected-level data processing.

⇨ The service is currently available for specific SAP solutions and has led to the creation of new specialist roles to support its availability in ANZ. Toll Group is among the first organisations to benefit from these capabilities.

SAP sovereign cloud capabilities arrive in ANZ Government and highly regulated industries in Australia can now access hardened, secure facilities as part of the recently announced general availability of SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities in ANZ.

Sovereign cloud capabilities from SAP provide managed services and cloud solutions to Australian and New Zealand customers within the sovereign borders of Australia. With data residing in Australia, compliance requirements and risk mitigation becomes more straightforward.

The announced investment in SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities recognises the growing need for hardened platforms that will strengthen the cybersecurity of customers who operate in highly regulated environments. The new service can store and process protected-level workloads, ensuring both business-critical and personal data are not transferred outside Australia without explicit customer consent.

SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities are currently available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, SAP SuccessFactors, and SAP Analytics Cloud solutions as well as SAP Business Technology Platform. Additionally, up to 70 new full-time specialist roles have been created to support general availability of SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities in ANZ.

The announcement follows the news that SAP’s newest innovations would only be available with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition or SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition delivered by GROW with SAP or RISE with SAP. As reported by SAPinsider, this means organisations with “existing perpetual licenses to deploy either in their data centers, or in a cloud-native manner using an IaaS environment hosted by a hyperscaler, should be aware that they will be unable to leverage the new AI and sustainability capabilities that are introduced in the future. While this does not restrict organisations from using the existing contextual AI capabilities that exist in many SAP solutions, it will curtail their ability to use generative AI, which can integrate with the data layer created in a single SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP BTP environment.”

Global logistics company and Australian-based subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings, Toll Group, is among one of the first organisations in ANZ to access SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities. According to Perry Singh, President of Government and Defence, Toll Group, the decision for SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities came as an extension of Toll Group’s existing SAP S/4HANA environment and one that mirrored the environment of its largest government clients. Singh also noted that the cybersecurity capabilities also provided the assurances needed to navigate an increasingly challenging cyber threat landscape.

SAP’s sovereign cloud capabilities are currently available in North America (delivered via SAP NS2) and now in Australia for Australian and New Zealand government entities and highly regulated industries.