The disruptive and complex nature of change comes quickly, often, and unexpectedly. Before implementing the latest technology, businesses can keep up by defining a strategy that takes them where they want to go – sustainably, intelligently, and cost-efficiently.
Increasingly, businesses are finding that long-held strategies cannot deliver the capabilities necessary to stay competitive. It is no longer enough to implement technology that connects functional business processes and consolidates data into a single source. Data needs to become insight and, in return, feed process automation and innovation.
However, before diving into making decisions about technology like the next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite SAP S/4HANA, businesses should go even further by considering critical realities such as:
- Current business performance – in terms of competition, market dynamics, and fiscal health
- Existing workforce skills, readiness, and commitment to accepting and adopting technology-based change
- Expected outcomes that are achieved by directly using the new technology
- How implementation brings a business closer to its ultimate strategic vision
SAP has learned directly from its customers the value of deliberate planning. Transitioning into an intelligent enterprise is undoubtedly no exception. This meaningful experience for customers is one of the reasons why SAP is developing and investing in the SAP S/4HANA Movement program.
Three Roads to the Right Growth Platform
Since businesses initiate transformation projects for different reasons, efficient support services should consider those unique perspectives. The first step in defining the path to the Intelligent Enterprise is aligning business needs and expectations with one of the three scenarios recognized by SAP S/4HANA Movement:
- New enterprise core:Protect the existing ERP investment by embracing functional and technical upgrades with minimal disruption to the business. With an industrialized approach, customers can simplify business and IT operations and establish platforms for innovation and growth. Innovation and business capability extensions remain objectives for future transformation phases.
- Extended enterprise core:Improve the efficiency of existing processes or automate them to meet the latest line-of-business or industry needs. This value-focused option allows for the development and establishment of new business process capabilities with selected innovations that extend from the intelligent core to the edge of every transaction.
- Intelligent enterprise transformation: Enable individualized, end-to-end business change to reshape the entire industry. To evolve business processes and introduce new business models that run on experiential and operational data, customers must strive to consume the latest IT trends by implementing relevant solutions from SAP and partners.
Set the Right Foundation for the SAP S/4HANA Journey
In order to define business needs and expectations, and set the foundation for all further steps, customers first need to explore SAP S/4HANA and its versatile value proposition for various industries and lines of business. For this purpose, the following proven services are currently available to customers:
- Move in Motion: This design thinking event encourages customers of similar company sizes to engage in open and transparent cross-industry discussions about the meaning of digital transformation and its impact on their businesses. These conversations occur with the support of SAP experts and selected partners.
- SAP S/4HANA card game: Available for different industries and lines of business, the card game enables participants to create tangible takeaways for their businesses such as innovation road maps, value maps, maturity charts, and value calculators.
- SAP S/4HANA Simulation by Baton Simulations: This computer game-based service allows participants to discover and experience the power of real-time enterprise collaboration in a fun environment. In groups of 10 to 25 people, players form collaborative teams and compete against one another by managing a virtual company with SAP S/4HANA and seeing the immediate results of their decisions.
SAP customers can further their understanding of the value of SAP S/4HANA with additional assets that include:
- SAP S/4HANA business value advisor: This tool measures the potential value and impact of SAP S/4HANA for selected business areas that are most important to individual customers. After choosing the right industry and line of business, customers can access a list of relevant, fact-based, proven benefits as well as assets – such as business transformation studies. This list can help customers further evaluate benefits and potential savings.
- Innovation discovery for SAP products: Customers can now explore software innovations by industry, line of business, and technology while they discern new features that they may not have known existed. Furthermore, they can learn about planned innovations from SAP and access information on innovations specifically related to SAP S/4HANA – all with an intuitive interface.
- Industry-specific value discovery assets: White papers and other thought leadership and product-focused content are accessible through the SAP S/4HANA product area of sap.com. With this information, businesses can learn how SAP S/4HANA supports individual industries and eases the optimization, extension, and transformation of their operations.
The SAP S/4HANA Movement program considers the needs of all customer segments, including those of small and midsize businesses. The following services are available for growing companies:
- 10 Steps 2 SAP S/4HANA: This program coaches customers through an end-to-end conversion process to SAP S/4HANA with 10 live sessions and work packages to complete in a real-life environment provided by SAP.
- 5 Steps 2 SAP Fiori Workshops: This program of five live, virtual, hands-on sessions assists customers as they unlock the full potential of SAP S/4HANA by deploying existing SAP Fiori apps.
- A diverse range of services, tools, and assets allows SAP customers to assess SAP S/4HANA on their terms.
Freedom to Experiment and Innovate
By defining their strategies through the SAP S/4HANA Movement program, customers can be sure of how their transition into an intelligent enterprise with SAP S/4HANA will impact their business.
SAP has the tools companies need to increase their confidence and set the foundation for business cases and deployment plans that are sustainable, intelligent, and cost-efficient – but, above all, engines for long-term growth.
Bjoern Braemer is head of SAP S/4HANA Movement at SAP.
