Bloor InBrief - SAP HANA Cloud
An evaluation for SAP HANA Cloud by Bloor Research. Download the Document©Bloor 2025JSON, text, spatial, and vector, as well as property
and knowledge graph data for graph traversal.
It can also handle real-time streaming data,
such as in industrial use cases for equipment
monitoring using sensors.
What does it do?
The SAP HANA Cloud database supports multi-
model capabilities to process, store, and analyze
a range of datatypes and models, with tiered data
storage. The product has data integration, built-in machine
learning libraries, and uses Joule, SAP’s AI copilot, for workflow
automation. It has substantial analytical capabilities, including
predictive modelling, text analysis, machine learning, and
spatial processing. The product supports high availability and
disaster recovery and has extensive security features including
www.sap.com
Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16, 69190 Walldorf, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)6227 / 7-47474
SAP HANA Cloud
The company
SAP is an enterprise software company that was founded in
1972 and is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. It is a publicly
quoted company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, selling
enterprise application software, with packaged solutions for
26 industries. SAP has over 109,000 employees in over 157
countries and in 2024 its revenues grew 10% to over €34 billion
($37 billion), with over 440,000 corporate customers in over 180
countries. Customers include Ford, Coca-Cola, Shell, Nestle and
Sony. Around 85% of the Fortune 500 use SAP.
What is it?
SAP HANA Cloud is a fully managed, cloud-native
database-as-a-service introduced in general
release in 2020. While traditional databases
store data on hard disk, SAP HANA Cloud
uses memory as primary storage, which gives
faster access to data versus the slower access
speeds of disk-based storage. However, its use
of memory as primary storage enables real-time
processing with lower latency, while still of course
supporting batch processing where required. The
database supports data federation as well as data replication
with cloud and on-premise systems. SAP HANA Cloud
supports both analytical and transaction-oriented workloads,
is massively parallel, and although primarily a columnar
database; it is also multi-model. This means that it can support
structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data such as
Figure 1 – SAP HANA Cloud empowers organizations to build and deploy Intelligent applications at scale
Andy Hayler – Practice Leader, Data as an Asset
C
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SCA
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C U T I O N
This Mutable
Quadrant is derived
from 13 high level
metrics, the more
the image covers
a section the
better. Execution
metrics relate
to the company,
Technology to the
product, Creativity
to both technical
and business
innovation and
Scale covers the
potential business
and market impact.
“
SAP HANA Cloud
allowed us to complete
the digitalization of
our environment in an
efficient and cost-conscious
manner.
”
Eric Zenner, VP of Process and
Technology, Greenskies
Clean Focus
and knowledge graph data for graph traversal.
It can also handle real-time streaming data,
such as in industrial use cases for equipment
monitoring using sensors.
What does it do?
The SAP HANA Cloud database supports multi-
model capabilities to process, store, and analyze
a range of datatypes and models, with tiered data
storage. The product has data integration, built-in machine
learning libraries, and uses Joule, SAP’s AI copilot, for workflow
automation. It has substantial analytical capabilities, including
predictive modelling, text analysis, machine learning, and
spatial processing. The product supports high availability and
disaster recovery and has extensive security features including
www.sap.com
Dietmar-Hopp-Allee 16, 69190 Walldorf, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)6227 / 7-47474
SAP HANA Cloud
The company
SAP is an enterprise software company that was founded in
1972 and is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. It is a publicly
quoted company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, selling
enterprise application software, with packaged solutions for
26 industries. SAP has over 109,000 employees in over 157
countries and in 2024 its revenues grew 10% to over €34 billion
($37 billion), with over 440,000 corporate customers in over 180
countries. Customers include Ford, Coca-Cola, Shell, Nestle and
Sony. Around 85% of the Fortune 500 use SAP.
What is it?
SAP HANA Cloud is a fully managed, cloud-native
database-as-a-service introduced in general
release in 2020. While traditional databases
store data on hard disk, SAP HANA Cloud
uses memory as primary storage, which gives
faster access to data versus the slower access
speeds of disk-based storage. However, its use
of memory as primary storage enables real-time
processing with lower latency, while still of course
supporting batch processing where required. The
database supports data federation as well as data replication
with cloud and on-premise systems. SAP HANA Cloud
supports both analytical and transaction-oriented workloads,
is massively parallel, and although primarily a columnar
database; it is also multi-model. This means that it can support
structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data such as
Figure 1 – SAP HANA Cloud empowers organizations to build and deploy Intelligent applications at scale
Andy Hayler – Practice Leader, Data as an Asset
C
R
E
A
T
I
V
I
T
Y
SCA
L
E
T
E
C
H
N
O
L
O
G
Y
E
X
E
C U T I O N
This Mutable
Quadrant is derived
from 13 high level
metrics, the more
the image covers
a section the
better. Execution
metrics relate
to the company,
Technology to the
product, Creativity
to both technical
and business
innovation and
Scale covers the
potential business
and market impact.
“
SAP HANA Cloud
allowed us to complete
the digitalization of
our environment in an
efficient and cost-conscious
manner.
”
Eric Zenner, VP of Process and
Technology, Greenskies
Clean Focus
©Bloor 2025real-time data anonymization. Since SAP HANA Cloud is the
foundation of many of SAP’s applications and services, it has
native integration and access to SAP application data.
How does it work?
The product has AI large language model (LLM) augmentation
through functionality that can create in-database text
embeddings and supports vectors (needed by LLMs) via a
built-in vector engine. Data tiering support means that in-
memory can be augmented with columnar disk-based storage,
so you can put lower priority data on (cheaper) disk, such as
for the purposes of a data lake. SAP HANA Cloud can use SQL,
SPARQL, SQLScript, GraphScript, vector storage, and similarity
search functions, so has a very broad datatype support.
Why should you care?
Running the core operational and analytical systems of an
enterprise is a mission-critical affair that requires a reliable
underlying database. As data volumes increase in volume,
the performance of key systems can become stretched,
especially for complex analytic workloads. While scalability
can be purchased in these days of cloud computing (at a price)
by utilising more processing, ensuring good performance for
business users can still be a challenge. SAP HANA Cloud’s in-
memory approach means that very demanding workloads can
be addressed. In publicly available customer case studies, there
is a consistent message of significantly improved response
time, more queries able to be run in a given period, and a major
reduction in unplanned downtime.
The bottom line
SAP HANA Cloud is an industrial-strength database whose
in-memory approach provides very quick response times for
demanding workloads, whether analytical or operational. Its
multi-model approach means that it supports a very wide
range of data types including documents and vectors, which is
increasingly important to enterprises as they look to implement
AI applications. The extra cost of using memory compared
to disk that is involved may well be offset by other factors by
customers, such as quicker response time and less unplanned
downtime. It is a natural choice for SAP customers and is a
highly functional in-memory database in its own right.
Figure 2 – Data tiering optimizes storage and access
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESEARCH CLICK HERE
foundation of many of SAP’s applications and services, it has
native integration and access to SAP application data.
How does it work?
The product has AI large language model (LLM) augmentation
through functionality that can create in-database text
embeddings and supports vectors (needed by LLMs) via a
built-in vector engine. Data tiering support means that in-
memory can be augmented with columnar disk-based storage,
so you can put lower priority data on (cheaper) disk, such as
for the purposes of a data lake. SAP HANA Cloud can use SQL,
SPARQL, SQLScript, GraphScript, vector storage, and similarity
search functions, so has a very broad datatype support.
Why should you care?
Running the core operational and analytical systems of an
enterprise is a mission-critical affair that requires a reliable
underlying database. As data volumes increase in volume,
the performance of key systems can become stretched,
especially for complex analytic workloads. While scalability
can be purchased in these days of cloud computing (at a price)
by utilising more processing, ensuring good performance for
business users can still be a challenge. SAP HANA Cloud’s in-
memory approach means that very demanding workloads can
be addressed. In publicly available customer case studies, there
is a consistent message of significantly improved response
time, more queries able to be run in a given period, and a major
reduction in unplanned downtime.
The bottom line
SAP HANA Cloud is an industrial-strength database whose
in-memory approach provides very quick response times for
demanding workloads, whether analytical or operational. Its
multi-model approach means that it supports a very wide
range of data types including documents and vectors, which is
increasingly important to enterprises as they look to implement
AI applications. The extra cost of using memory compared
to disk that is involved may well be offset by other factors by
customers, such as quicker response time and less unplanned
downtime. It is a natural choice for SAP customers and is a
highly functional in-memory database in its own right.
Figure 2 – Data tiering optimizes storage and access
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESEARCH CLICK HERE