Dive Brief:

• Google is partnering with SAP to integrate Google’s cloud and machine learning capabilities with SAP enterprise applications. Bernd Leukert, SAP's executive board member in charge of products and innovation, made the announcement on stage at Google's Cloud Next conference Wednesday.

• The collaboration will allow enterprise customers to run SAP applications on Google Cloud and offer Google's suite of web-based desktop apps to users, according to an announcement. The two companies are also working on joint machine learning initiatives.The partnership is geared around digital transformation and helping customer gain "actionable insight and business outcomes" from data. 

• SAP and Google are also highlighting how integration across joint applications will allow customers to work in a more streamlined fashion. For example, Colgate-Palmolive — which moved its 28,000 employees to the G Suite in 2016 — combined Google machine learning with SAP's business process tools.

Dive Insight:

SAP is all about enterprise partnerships lately as CEO Bill McDermott looks for ways to help his old guard company look trendier. Enabling the use of SAP enterprise apps on Google will make SAP’s offerings appear more agile and useful for the digital age. 

SAP is partnering with Apple for similar reasons. Those two companies are currently partnering to leverage SAP’s HANA to create apps for iPhones and iPads.

SAP is not the only winner here. For Google, the partnership with SAP reinforces its attempts to become more business friendly and a major player in the enterprise market. Google has been pushing hard to expand its enterprise business. SAP is the number one ERP vendor, so working with them can give Google inroads into enterprises that could be difficult to secure on their own.