In this blog, I have explained difference between sap s4hana private cloud and public cloud. This question which is often asked in interview is "Do you have experience in sap private cloud or public cloud?"
Let us first understand what is On-Premise sap s4hana
Till 2014 sap was offering only On-premise version wherein sap will give perpetual license to client company and client company will take care of server (hardware). SAP only gives software license, client company will download the software and install on their on server. Client company has spend money on server, maintenance, training etc.
Hence implementing SAP needed huge capital investment. This was a deterrant for small companies which could not commit huge capital for sap implementation project.
SAP wants to bring even small companies to its platform. Hence, sap s4hana cloud came as solution.
What is sap s4hana cloud? How it's different from sap On-Premise?
To reduce entry barries (hige capital invenstment), SAP offered cloud solution. It means sap will take care of server, client company only needs to buy license as subscription model i.e. pay as per use. SAP ensure 99.9999% uptime for server and keep it most upto date. Client company just need to pay for what they use.
This cloud solution eliminates entry barrier for small companies as a result sap cloud solution has grown tremendously outpacing its closest competitior Orale.
SAP S4HANA Private cloud vs Public cloud
SAP s4hana private cloud refers to dedicated server. When sap takes care of server and server is dedicated for one perticular client company then it's called sap private cloud. In this case, company has full control over server and can make updated and changer as per their requirement. SAP private cloud is very close to sap on-premise in terms of control over server. It's just that server resides with SAP and sap will take care of it. Client company does not need to bother about server (hardware).
SAP s4hana public cloud refer to shared sap server. SAP managers server but server is being used by multiple client company. As a result of this, client company will have less control over server. Client company will be allowed to make only limited changes and software upgrades are dictated by sap. Since it's shared server hence cost of public cloud is less as compared to private cloud. In public cloud, approach is to keep minmum customization and use maximum standard processes provided by sap. For customization companies will need to use SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform).
Now sap is agreesively working on embedding AI into its sap cloud solution. From career's perspective, AI in sap will have impact on number of sap jobs.
Conclusion
Currently all versions of sap are beig used in market, some client company are using S4HANA on-premise while many have migrated to SAP on cloud. Big companies perfer to have control over cost hence they choose sap s4hana private cloud. Whereas small companies where cost is a big factor chooses sap s4hana public cloud.
From career perspective, it makes sense to learn SAP private cloud first. Becuase if you have knowlede of private cloud then you can work on public cloud as well, it's only a matter of exposure. Candidates mostly do certification on sap s4hana private cloud. Sap private cloud currently has more number of job openings becuase private cloud's share is 70% and public cloud market share is 30%.
