SAP Discontinues Cloud Services In Russia, But Less Impact As Cloud Computing Is Not Widely Used

JAKARTA - German business software giant SAP on Thursday, March 14, said it would close its cloud operations in Russia. They are now pulling further away from the country after stopping sales of the software in Russia earlier this month.

"Russia's ongoing unjustified war is a display of heartbreaking brutality and a violation of the basic principles of freedom we share with Ukraine," the company said on its website.

They added that the move would not prevent all customers in Russia from using its products. This is because some organizations have installed software that they may be able to maintain on their own.

The recall marks a change of direction as SAP's Chief Executive, Christian Klein, last week in an interview with the media defended SAP's decision to continue providing services to several industries in Russia. For example, the energy, healthcare, and trade industries have not been directly impacted by Western sanctions.

The move follows calls made by Ukraine earlier this month for cloud computing and software giants including Microsoft and SAP to bypass Russia to stop the Moscow invasion.

IDC analyst Philip Carter said that Russian companies are largely reluctant to fully rely on cloud services for their information technology. This certainly has the potential to limit the hit from SAP's move against the country.

SAP added last Thursday that it is providing its technology to multi-national organizations for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

Separately, German telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom said on Twitter that it was closing its activities in Russia. This activity is mostly a software development center in Saint Petersburg which is now being discontinued.