However, this argument is probably based on a false premise, because a decision to introduce S/4HANA is not driven purely by the business case but was triggered by the support stop announced by SAP. So, in this respect, the implementation of S/4HANA is an infrastructure investment that is not aimed at immediate financial benefits. Instead, it must be tackled sooner or later.
Two lines of thought to be considered:
First: The introduction of S/4HANA offers companies the opportunity to clean up organically grown structures and processes and to carry out further clean-up work. This includes in particular:
- Standardizing processes
- Identifying systems to be decommissioned
- Identifying structural measures, such as the bundling of services, processes and employees
- Implementing measures that improve the agility and scalability of the project organization
This enables the creation of effective governance structures to ensure improved data quality – key for a successful digitalization. However, this work takes time, which argues in favor of an early introduction. At the same time, it helps to sharpen the focus of the transformation.
Secondly, a system with standardized processes, as a uniform "digital backbone", provides the long-term basis for a digital business transformation. Once developed, applications can be rolled out later across all local units.
These two arguments are good reasons to start looking into the topic now. The decisive factor here is to approach the transformation correctly and with foresight. After all, if mistakes are made during the introduction, these can have an impact on many operational processes later on.
This blog article is the second one out of a series featuring multiple topics around SAP S/4HANA. The first blog focused on the right timing for switching to S/4HANA.