How to Go about SAP S4 HANA Implementation?

SAP S/4 HANA is an intelligent and powerful ERP suite that helps businesses with their digital transformations. It’s designed to impact every aspect of a business whether it’s marketing, sales, supply chain, finance, human resource or customer service. But what is critical to the success of the ERP system is how it is deployed and how the team approaches the SAP S4 HANA implementation.

The best time to integrate SAP S4 HANA into your business systems and processes is now.

SAP will support ECC until 2027. The support can also be extended up to 2030. However, smart organizations won’t likely wait for all these years to adopt transformative technologies like SAP S/4 HANA. It is because assessing an organization’s readiness to embrace latest technologies takes time, so does the actual SAP S4 HANA implementation. Delaying the deployment and implementation of the new breed of technologies and applications, thus, do not make much sense at a time when businesses are increasingly investing in their digital transformations.

How to go about SAP S/4 HANA Implementation?

The implementation process needs to start with a strategic planning and assessment of the business capabilities and challenges.

A business planning to switch to SAP S4 HANA must have an experienced and professional SAP partner onboard. This ensures a smooth conversion to the latest technologies and platforms. It’s also important to gain a complete understanding of what the ERP system entails and adopting it is in alignment with the business goals and objectives of the enterprise.

Readiness for the new system and capabilities: a standard business and technical report is created that throws light on the readiness of the business for the digital transformation. This report also helps the project team to further decide on the most suitable conversion path.

Analysis of the current SAP ECC system: Under this step, the existing SAP environment is thoroughly analyzed to make a list of all the technical and business elements that would undergo key changes. For the successful SAP S4 HANA implementation, it is critical to have a clear understanding as to whether the current processes would be supported in the new environment and if not, what exactly would be required to ensure minimal business disruption.

Verification of the ABAP code and deciding on the system architecture and system sizing are among the other essential steps / elements that go into deciding the most suitable implementation option. Professional SAP implementation partners will always carry out the entire analysis and implementation in accordance with the best SAP standards.

Now when it comes to actual implementation, SAP proposes two basic roadmaps: Brownfield and Greenfield. Factors such as the existing SAP ECC system, the budget of the client, and the readiness of the organization, etc., go into deciding the best roadmap. Both the conversion methodologies have their pros and cons. And an organization must go with the one that best suits its business goals.

The process of choosing from among the best SAP implementation partners

The in-house project management team may not have the required expertise in implementing the ERP software so they may need some help. It is, therefore, very important to research and select an ERP implementation partner.

An ideal SAP HANA implementation partner would be someone with a deep understanding of SAP S4 HANA migration and implementation and has a long association with SAP. The implementation partner should also be able to assess your business processes and have proprietary migration tools and methodologies along with a proven experience in legacy to SAP S4 HANA migrations.

SAP S/4 HANA can help a business integrate and optimize its processes and get ready for new and emerging technologies such as cloud native and machine learning. Holding on to the outdated technologies is not a wise decision on the part of businesses that wish to thrive in the ever-changing business landscape. To leverage new technologies and platforms to dramatically improve business intelligence and profitability, businesses must adopt ERP solutions like SAP S4 HANA. And to ensure a successful SAP S4 HANA implementation, it is important to choose your ‘in-house implementation team’ with utmost care. And it is equally important to select a professional and experienced software and service partner to help the in-house team with the ERP deployment and implementation.