European software group SAP (NASDAQ:SQ) has reached a three-year deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to help its large enterprise customers move their business processes to the cloud.
The partnership, called "Embrace", will help clients to run operations hosted at remote servers supported by SAP’s flagship S/4HANA database. The news came as SAP released its third-quarter results, which were in line with preliminary figures released on October 11.
The partnership expands SAP’s already close relationship with Microsoft and its Azure cloud division, although the German-based company also works with Google and Amazon Web Services in the cloud.
In the third quarter, SAP reported a 10% increase in revenue and a 15% rise in operating profit, after adjusting one-off items and currencies, helping it to achieve an expansion of 1.7% in its operating margins. The company reiterated its forecast for the year and through 2023. SAP is due to update investors on strategy at a capital markets’ day in New York on November 12.
