In the era of AI-driven business transformation, SAP customers face a pivotal decision: how to modernize their ERP systems without compromising control, compliance, or cost efficiency. Enter the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition – Customer Data Center (CDC) option, an innovative model that’s rapidly gaining traction among enterprises seeking the best of both worlds: cloud innovation with on-premises control.
The AI Revolution: A Catalyst for Change
AI is now a business imperative. From predictive analytics to intelligent automation, AI is transforming the way enterprises operate. But to fully harness AI, organizations need modern, flexible, and integrated ERP systems. That’s where SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition comes in.
Yet, many enterprises are wary of moving all their mission-critical workloads to hyperscalers. Why? Because data sovereignty, compliance, and vendor lock-in risks are real and growing.
Cost Savings: Cloud Economics Without the Cloud Risks
One of the biggest myths in enterprise IT is that the public cloud is always cheaper. Many companies are repatriating workloads due to spiraling cloud costs. According to Andreessen Horowitz, companies can save up to 50% by moving workloads back on-premises.
The SAP RISE CDC model offers Operational Expenditure-based (OPEX-based) cloud economics, but in your own data center. With RISE on
Dell Technologies APEX, customers get as-a-service delivery with predictable costs and no surprise egress fees.
Efficiency Gains & AI-Ready Infrastructure
SAP’s RISE CDC option is optimized for AI workloads. With SAP-certified configurations and edge-to-cloud platforms, enterprises can deploy AI models closer to their data, reducing training times and improving inference performance.
Dell APEX delivers a modern cloud experience on-premises, enabling enterprises to run AI workloads closer to their data. This reduces latency, accelerates model training, and ensures real-time insights, critical for industries like manufacturing, finance, and healthcare.
Additionally, enterprises that run SAP in their own data center may gain tighter integration with legacy systems, manufacturing equipment, or sensitive databases that can’t be moved to the cloud. It also means lower latency, which is critical for real-time decision-making in industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.
What This Means for SAPinsiders
AI-readiness now depends on proximity to data. For industries where latency, regulatory risk, or data gravity are critical, keeping AI-enabled ERP workloads close to the data source is perhaps essential. This helps mitigate risks under the U.S. CLOUD Act, which allows U.S. authorities to access data stored by American cloud providers, even if it is hosted abroad. SAPinsiders evaluating their AI strategy should consider infrastructure that supports both operational control and real-time AI performance, hallmarks of the CDC deployment model.
Hybrid cloud models are becoming the new default for SAP modernization. As AI accelerates the need for ERP transformation, more enterprises are reevaluating where and how they run mission-critical SAP workloads. The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition – Customer Data Center (CDC) model offers a compelling alternative for those seeking cloud benefits without surrendering control or compliance.
Cost transparency and predictability are driving the repatriation of workloads. SAP customers concerned about cloud overspending are increasingly pulling workloads back from the public cloud. Dropbox famously saved $75 million over two years by moving out of AWS. 37signals (makers of Basecamp) reported cutting cloud costs by 60% after repatriating workloads. Enterprises are adopting models like RISE with SAP on Dell APEX. These models offer OPEX flexibility and avoid hidden costs, such as egress fees, making them especially attractive to budget-conscious CIOs and CFOs.
