Choosing the right software to run your enterprise is one of the most important decisions you will make for your business, but if you don’t get the implementation of that software right, it doesn’t matter how well you approached the decision-making process or how strong the solution is. When you make a significant software investment, you need to ensure you implement and maintain it correctly.

However, with business landscapes that extend across an ever-widening scope of systems, achieving a successful implementation is a resource-intensive task for even the most experienced organization. While third-party implementation providers offer an attractive option by offloading expense and risk, how do you find the right provider for your unique needs?

Fortunately for SAP customers, helping customers successfully implement their software is a priority for SAP. To this end, SAP combines two of its most valuable assets — its technology and its partner ecosystem — to create a resource that helps customers achieve the most effective and efficient implementations of their SAP software: the Run SAP partner program.

Running Right with Run SAP

The Run SAP partner program certifies SAP services partners in the use of SAP Solution Manager to implement the Run SAP methodology, which focuses on the optimal implementation and ongoing management of end-to-end solution operations, enabling partners to help customers successfully implement and maintain the right SAP software for their needs.

Certified Run SAP partners undergo extensive training via SAP Expert Guided Instruction tutorials as well as access to the Enterprise Support Academy, which offers everything from an industry best practices library to classroom educational training courses. Certification is perpetual, taking place every six months to ensure that the partner remains current with SAP features and functionality, and resulting in a close, collaborative working relationship between the partner and SAP that centers on using methodologies and standards to help customers achieve optimal outcomes.

In the past, SAP services partners were certified globally or regionally on an individual consultant basis, making it difficult to govern certification and track certified consultants’ areas of expertise. With the Run SAP partner program, certifications are now tied to customer outcomes. Partners become certified in a particular operational area (such as business processes, application lifecycle management [ALM], or system monitoring); an industry-specific area (where domain expertise such as banking, insurance, or transport is key); or a best practices area (such as the ability to cut custom code or to modify standard code as little as possible), making it easy for customers to find the right fit for their needs.

More than 50 SAP partners are members of the Run SAP partner program. In this special report, two of these partners — Deloitte and HP Enterprise Services — share their experiences with helping customers get the most from their SAP software, including how to use SAP Solution Manager to improve ALM processes and to ensure a smooth migration to SAP S/4HANA.

Learn More

With the Run SAP partner program, customers can rest assured that they are in capable hands and partners gain a collaborative relationship with SAP, while keeping customer success at the center of it all. Customers can view a directory of certified partners at https://sapsupport.info/support-offerings/run-sap-partners. SAP partners can learn more about becoming a certified Run SAP partner at https://partneredge.sap.com/en/partnership/manage/op_resource/run-sap-pp.html or by emailing SAPAGSRunSAPpartner@sap.com.