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SAP has partnered with IBM to offer its finance and data management tools on the latter’s Cloud for Financial Services platform. The announcement came on Wednesday as part of an ongoing effort to get industries to move to the hybrid cloud.

IBM’s Cloud for Financial Services became generally available in April and to cater to financial services requirements that include regulations and privacy while accounting for workloads running in different architectures.

The cloud already has partnered with more than 100 ISVs, FinTechs, and SaaS providers that include Lumina, VMware, Adobe, Infosys, and Avaya.

Expanding a partnership

With SAP on IBM Cloud for Financial Services, financial institutions, and their partners will be able to use SAP’s Intelligent suite, including SAP S/4HANA tools and data management tools such as SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise and SAP IQ software.

The two companies have an existing partnership that has already helped many companies digitize operations using hybrid cloud environments.

Wednesday’s announcement is an expansion of that relationship to serve the financial services market. Since the industry tends to be stringent in compliance, security, and resilience, it makes sense for SAP and IBM to take on the challenge.

A logical next step

Bob Cummings, the head of the SAP Financial Services Sector, said that the rapid transition of regulated industries to the cloud necessitates the addressing of technological and operational challenges that may arise.

He added that combining IBM Cloud and SAP’s capabilities will help bankers and insurers the world over pick up the pace and scale-up on a global level.

Hybrid cloud is a critical part of IBM’s growth plans. In 2020, IBM’s total revenue rose 20%, with hybrid cloud programs bringing in a significant portion of that growth through Red Hat.