San Francisco, Oct 19 (IANS): Microsoft on Wednesday announced that software and technology firm SAP will make its "SuccessFactors" Cloud-based human capital management (HCM) service available on Microsoft's Azure over the next five years.

This is SAP's first move to supplement its own infrastructure and operate SAP Cloud solutions in a third-party public cloud, Microsoft said in a statement.

"The combination of SAP's market-leading, innovative HCM solutions with Microsoft's intelligent Cloud will equip companies around the world to help maximise the potential and skills of their most valuable asset, their people," said Judson Althoff, executive vice president, Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft. 

SAP bought SuccessFactors for $3.5 billion in 2011.

Azure provides enterprise-grade security, an open developer platform and advanced data services that organisations can use to innovate and grow. 

With nearly 90 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers, the Microsoft Cloud is offered in more worldwide data centre regions than any other major Cloud provider.

"We've seen exponential growth in the past two years, with 42 million users now benefiting from our market-leading solutions. In selecting Azure, we will be able to expand our reach even further," said Mike Ettling, president of SAP SuccessFactors.