Google Docs and Sheets getting native integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Abner Li | May 4 2022 - 9:00 am PT

At today’s virtual Workspace Summit, Google announced an expanded partnership with enterprise software giant SAP that sees Docs and Sheets integrate with S/4HANA Cloud.

These native integrations will allow customers to connect core SAP software designed for running all mission-critical processes in the cloud, with the collaborative capabilities of Google Docs and Google Sheets to innovate how work gets done across the enterprise.

SAP’s S/4HANA Cloud is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Integration with Google Docs and Sheets is meant to boost collaboration by allowing easy data import/export between SAP software and those two Workspace apps for “instant access to real-time editing and simultaneous collaborative engagements.” Other touted benefits include:

The confidence of having a clean data source due to the one-step integration, which enables version control and removes layers of potential translation when sharing application data and documents.
The efficiency of ready integration, enabling users to adopt the solution quickly.

The first “solution area” planned is finance with others on the way:

For example, imagine a finance specialist working on SAP S/4HANA Cloud to manage financial records general journal entries in a safe, reliable, and compliant manner. The employee will be able to access Google Docs and Google Sheets to edit documents collaboratively, as part of their standard business processes, knowing that SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides a clean data source with version control and process reliability.

This integration has been a “common request from many joint customers,” and the “initial set of features is planned to be included as a standard functionality in SAP S/4HANA Cloud later this year.”

“The move to hybrid work signals enterprises can no longer rely on legacy tool sets that can create silos and barriers to collaboration,” said Javier Soltero, vice president and general manager, Google Workspace. “With the expansion of our partnership with SAP, these new in-depth integrations will enable employees working in complex datasets within SAP 4/HANA to tap into the real-time collaboration capabilities of Google Workspace, enabling teams to simultaneously access SAP data and more efficiently drive projects forward.”