SAP & Accenture Unveil ADVANCE to Boost Cloud-First Transformation

SAP SE SAP recently teamed up with Accenture ACN to introduce ADVANCE, a state-of-the-art offering developed jointly to help companies with annual revenues of up to $5 billion rapidly transition to the cloud. Designed as a purpose-built suite of solutions, ADVANCE empowers high-growth organizations to become more connected by leveraging preconfigured, ready-to-consume packages. These solutions are tailored by industry and function, allowing businesses to move at speed, implementing cloud transformations in as little as six to 12 months.

SAP has had a long-standing partnership of more than four decades with ACN. Through this recent initiative, the joined forces have created preconfigured cloud pathways targeting mid-sized enterprises and high-growth companies. ADVANCE leverages the SAP Business Suite, integrating business applications, data and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven capabilities, while tapping into Accenture’s implementation and operational prowess. The outcome is a set of modular, ready-to-consume solutions that streamline finance, procurement, supply chain and workforce management processes.

To ensure the success of ADVANCE, Accenture will be creating a dedicated practice staffed with SAP-certified SaaS professionals. These experts will work closely with SAP’s product specialists to deliver a smooth service experience, from contracting through continuous innovation.

While the preconfigured packages are core to ADVANCE, the partnership also offers additional SAP Business Suite solutions and Accenture services, including change readiness, business process management, cybersecurity, AI agents and more.

What Does ADVANCE Offer?

ADVANCE packages are streamlined, reducing system and process complexity. By incorporating preconfigured industry processes and best practices, companies can quickly enhance workflows and lower operational costs. 

ADVANCE brings robust encryption, access controls and centralized data management to ensure that companies maintain high standards of data integrity and regulatory compliance, while winning the trust of stakeholders and customers.

A key aspect of ADVANCE is its emphasis on speed and agility. The offering includes industry-tailored accelerators, helping clients achieve tangible business outcomes within a few months of implementation. With transparent pricing and right-sized solutions, companies can manage their budgets efficiently while seeing a rapid return on investment.

As markets and customer demands continuously evolve, businesses need to adapt in real time. By integrating AI agents, predictive analytics and real-time data processing, ADVANCE helps companies stay agile and constantly innovate. This next-gen solution empowers better decision-making, supports proactive customer engagement and enables businesses to quickly respond to changes.

Cloud Momentum Powers SAP’s Top-Line Prospects

SAP is gaining healthy traction in the cloud business, especially the Cloud ERP Suite and the rising adoption of its Rise with SAP and Grow with SAP solutions. 

In the last reported quarter, cloud revenues were €4.99 billion, up 27% year over year, powered by a solid 34% growth in Cloud ERP Suite revenues, reaching €4.25 billion. The suite accounted for 85% of total cloud revenues, highlighting its growing significance as a core driver of the company’s overall cloud growth.

SAP's growing focus on Business AI, which is poised to play a pivotal role in driving revenue growth through 2027, bodes well. SAP will offer flexible licensing options that let customers seamlessly upgrade and transition to its latest cloud solutions across the entire SAP business suite, eliminating the burden of extra negotiations. Going forward, it plans to expand Wise with SAP, including the full business transformation toolkits like Linac, Signavio and Walkman. 

Despite global uncertainty, SAP has reaffirmed its growth outlook and remains confident in its trajectory. For the year, management continues to anticipate cloud revenues in the range of €21.6-€21.9 billion, suggesting an increase of 26-28% at cc on a year-over-year basis from €17.14 billion at cc in 2024. Cloud and software revenues are expected in the band of €33.1-€33.6 billion, with an increase of 11-13% at cc on a year-over-year basis from €29.83 billion at cc in 2024.

SAP’s Zacks Rank & Stock Price Performance

SAP currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have soared 54.3% in the past year compared with the industry's growth of 9.6%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR and InterDigital, Inc. IDCC. JNPR presently sports a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy), while IDCC carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Juniper is leveraging the 400-gig cycle to capture hyperscale switching opportunities inside the data center. The company is set to capitalize on the increasing demand for data center virtualization, cloud computing and mobile traffic packet/optical convergence. Juniper also introduced new features within the AI-driven enterprise portfolio that enable customers to simplify the rollout of their campus wired and wireless networks while bringing greater insight to network operators. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 4.88%.

IDCC is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company engages in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It has a long-term growth expectation of 15%.

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