To succeed in the saturated business world, companies must leverage the fast, scalable, and flexible cloud. SAP is one of the largest providers of enterprise application software that integrates multiple parts of a business into an intelligent digital suite. Now, 56% of the businesses that rely on SAP plan to undertake a workload migration to SAP S/4HANA.
SAP S/4HANA is the latest business suite that offers improved performance and flexibility. So, the remaining businesses that are still evaluating a move to S/4HANA are missing out. The longer they wait for the transition or ignore their SAP operations, the farther they’ll fall behind the competition. And because SAP is planning to end support for its current business suite applications by 2027, migrating will ultimately become essential.
Let’s look at why CEOs and IT leaders should make workload migration to SAP S/4HANA a top priority.
The Business Value of Migrating to S/4HANA
Millions of businesses worldwide use SAP to run their critical operations. In fact, 77% of the world’s transactional revenue touches an SAP system. This is a big indicator of how SAP is bringing digital transformation to businesses. However, SAP is evolving. SAP S/4HANA can handle a multitude of functionalities that can raise the performance level of several business applications.
Even though SAP S/4HANA launched in 2015, most businesses have yet to undertake a workload migration. Migration isn’t mandatory to run current SAP applications. However, as SAP is planning to phase out its old software suites in favor of S/4HANA, workload migration is inevitable.
SAP’s S/4HANA provides superior benefits. Most IT experts and SAP administrators understand the advantages of migrating to HANA. However, many Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) might wonder whether the transition will be fruitful.
Here’s why businesses should strongly consider moving to S/4HANA sooner rather than later:
1. It supports digital transformation.
“Digital transformation” is more than just integrating technology into business. It’s an entire cultural shift that brings everyone together to provide a better customer experience. As such, a successful digital transformation strategy is the main driver behind adopting new tech.
SAP S/4HANA is a cloud-based software that heavily supports digital transformation. It takes into consideration the latest industry best practices along with continuous innovation. It also delivers results the right way and quickly gives companies tools to get started and scale themselves.
Another tenet of digital transformation is the ability to keep evolving. With workload migration to SAP S/4HANA, companies can stay ahead of the curve thanks to the latest processes and technological innovations. By using the latest technology such as built-in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation, businesses get what they need to innovate and move ahead of competitors.
2. It supports business agility.
Because SAP S/4HANA is a more flexible iteration, its deployment options make a business more agile. In addition, S/4HANA’s guided implementation process makes it easier for businesses to get started. In other words, it supports agility in every step of the process.
With a fast technical setup, an intuitive interface, and a team of experts that can lay down an implementation strategy, businesses will be more agile than ever.
Moreover, the agility factor is mainly due to SAP on the cloud. It makes things much more free-flowing, allowing companies to have more control over their data. It also makes data accessible only to the people who need to see it.
3. It helps reduce hardware and software maintenance.
Another big benefit of workload migration to S/4HANA is that companies can reduce hardware and software maintenance. When businesses store their data offline, they need regular hardware upgrades, fixes, and maybe even software updates.
However, with SAP S/4HANA storing the company’s data on the cloud, businesses no longer have to worry about maintaining and upgrading hardware and software. The hardware load will be minimized because the software will be running over the cloud. Moreover, storing data on the cloud gives companies a huge advantage because the risk of data loss, stolen data, or unforeseen circumstances is near zero.
In other words, with the digital transformation, SAP S/4HANA provides all the regular benefits a cloud has, but with more tools and a wider variety of features than ever.
4. It helps deliver services faster.
Thanks to its many cloud-based features, SAP S/4HANA enables businesses to be flexible and helps them deliver services faster. With the use of ready-to-go application programming interfaces (APIs), businesses can leverage those tools and documentation to easily provide the best customer experience.
Unlike regular SAP systems, it’s easy to update S/4HANA because the system is managed by SAP itself, so there’s no need for extensive IT resources or a big team. Simply put, since HANA is cloud-based, it can easily integrate with a company’s strategic business goals—including digital transformation.
But what are the components of S/4HANA migration? Let’s find out the most important aspects that form its infrastructure.
The Components of S/4HANA Migration
Only a small percentage of SAP customers have completed the workload migration process from their current systems to SAP S/4HANA. With the benefits it brings, it’s clear that IT experts, CEOs, and company owners need to learn about the main components of S/4HANA to understand it a bit more easily and effectively. Not only is it one of the biggest technical transitions your business can undertake, but it’s also a huge functional change.
Companies will need a detailed migration execution plan if they want to complete a successful migration. For that, it’s important to understand the various components that make up S/4HANA.
1. Code Modernization
First and foremost is code modernization. This is the core component of S/4HANA, and it takes away the traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) models and custom code that make enterprise applications slow and bulky.
This component introduces a cloud-native DevOps platform to encourage SAP extensions. Moreover, during the workload migration to S/4HANA, all the extensions that require custom development will be done on the cloud-native platform and integrated with ready-to-use APIs.
This component is taken to the “clean” step where SAP upgrades become quite easy and seamless. On the other hand, businesses also leverage code modernization to incorporate new data sources into their applications.
A simple example would be to add innovative features like parcel location tracking for a logistics company. The main challenge is to choose a cloud-native DevOps platform that will run extension workloads anywhere without breaking down. That’s why cloud-based SAP business technology platforms are best suited for this need.
2. Data Quality and Conversion
Another important component of SAP S/4HANA is data quality and conversion. As businesses plan to move toward S/4HANA, they need to find out whether the current state of their data will provide any positive outcomes and align with their business plan.
This aspect is all about automating the remediation of data to reduce its complexity and make it clear, concise, and accessible. The workload migration to S/4HANA allows businesses to only keep the important data they need. As a result, it eliminates redundant or useless data.
So, let’s say a business has 10 different entries from the same user from 12 years ago. It will be able to cleanse the data easily and effectively.
3. Process Optimization
Minimizing the process’ complexity is another big challenge for businesses. However, SAP S/4HANA can simplify and optimize processes to make things simpler and faster. Since SAP is a transaction-driven application, processes are quite simple at their core.
Migrating to S/4HANA also lets you determine whether SAP is being used as intended. You can see if there’s potential to improve your business processes, such as through automation technology. As a result, you get a real-time look at your active processes, which helps you correct inefficiencies.
4. Infrastructure Modernization
For traditional ERP systems, infrastructure modernization means introducing cloud capabilities. After moving to S/4HANA, businesses need to look for a cloud provider that can make their investment come to fruition and ultimately bring a positive ROI. This will help you maintain the environment size that’s right for your needs.
Benefits of SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration
While SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) is a core ERP product, S/4HANA is an all-in-one cloud-friendly database that can perform intensive data processing, transactions, and analysis on one system. Here’s how businesses benefit by a workload migration to S/4HANA:
Scalability
Customer needs are evolving rapidly, which is why CEOs must adapt to them quickly. With S/4HANA, companies can get the freedom to scale their ERP system within realistic timelines. This ensures businesses won’t be hurt and will be evolving with their customers over time.
Flexibility
S/4HANA’s compatibility with a wide range of databases and integration capabilities make it good software. It can integrate with existing IT applications and infrastructure while taking a business to the next level.
Data Capabilities
S/4HANA gives businesses more control of their data by processing and analyzing large data sets in real time. As a result, it’s possible to get insights to make important business decisions and evolve a company.
Innovation
SAP S/4HANA is designed with the future and innovation in mind. Businesses are constantly changing, and S/4HANA provides all the tools and important information to make the transition happen. Latest technologies like AI, ML, and many more are available with it.
Automation
One of the biggest benefits of moving to the cloud is that businesses can leverage automation. This reduces human error and maximizes process automation. It also ensures high performance and cost optimization.
Finding the Best SAP Cloud Provider
The time to make a complete workload migration to SAP S/4HANA is now. It will support your company’s digital transformation as you evolve to keep up with customer needs. It will also make your business more agile, reduce maintenance, and deliver services faster.
Because SAP will stop supporting its current business suite applications by 2027, all companies will need to migrate their workload eventually. For that, businesses need an SAP cloud provider that helps them make the transition faster and more seamlessly. That’s why a solution like Approyo is ideal, as it makes the workload migration stress-free and easy.
Get started with Approyo today for a smooth S/4HANA workload migration. Contact us for more information.
No comments:
Post a Comment