San Francisco, Oct 21 (IANS) Business software firm SAP on Monday announced a partnership with Microsoft to help customers run their business processes on Cloud.

The partnership, called "Embrace," is aimed at helping accelerate customer adoption of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud Platform on Microsoft Azure.

It's a go-to-market partnership - from conceptualisation to sales -- that the two companies have entered into.

"This partnership is all about reducing complexity and minimising costs for customers as they move to SAP S/4HANA in the Cloud," Jennifer Morgan, Co-Chief Executive Officer of SAP, said in a statement.

"Bringing together the power of SAP and Microsoft provides customers with the assurance of working with two industry leaders so they can confidently and efficiently transition into intelligent enterprises," she said.

Specifically, project "Embrace" on Microsoft Azure will provide customers with
a simplified move from on-premise editions of SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA for customers with integrated product and industry solutions.

"SAP's decision to select Microsoft Azure as its preferred partner deepens the relationship between our two companies in a differentiated way and signals a shared commitment to fostering the growth of the Cloud ecosystem," said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business, Microsoft.

SAP will lead with Microsoft Azure to move on-premise SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA customers to the cloud through industry-specific best practices, reference architectures and Cloud-delivered services.

However, SAP will continue with its longstanding policy of supporting choice for those customers who request alternatives based on business requirements.

--IANS gb/bc