When SAP announced its fourth quarter financial results last month, the focus from analysts and the media was on one particular aspect.

Never mind a fourth consecutive year of double digit growth, or a 69% increase in full revenue on its HANA platform. Everyone’s eyes turned to the mid-term outlook, and specifically this titbit: the company has revised its target of between €3bn and €3.5bn revenue in cloud, as well as its 35% operating margin target, from 2015 to 2017.

“SAP anticipates the fast-growing cloud business along with growth in support revenue will drive a higher proportion of more predictable, recurring revenue in the future,” the company explained in a statement.

The conclusion drawn from this, naturally, was one where the German business software firm was enjoying rip-roaring success from its cloud solutions, but at the expense of its on-premise sales, the company’s traditional money maker – which …