Organizations looking to implement a modern and innovative ERP platform often have SAP S/4HANA as their top choice. This ready-to-run cloud ERP delivers a range of industry best practices, empowering organizations with the capabilities they need to drive their business forward. But SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation isn’t a one-man’s job. It is a shared responsibility. Read on to understand more about the roles and responsibilities that organizations must shoulder along with their vendor/partner for a successful SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Implementation – Expectations
When deploying a modular cloud ERP like SAP S/4HANA, most organizations expect the SAP vendor to take on all implementation responsibilities — right from implementing tools to operating databases, servers, networks, etc. These expectations hold for the most part. When implementing a solution like SAP S/4HANA Cloud, organizations can:
- Leverage robust infrastructure capabilities and not worry about procuring or implementing cloud instances or the logistics of infrastructure setup and management.
- Get access to unmatched industry capabilities and expertise, innovate easily, and achieve business goals faster.
- Choose an ERP deployment strategy that works best for their business and caters to their unique growth goals and other desired business outcomes.
- Eliminate capital expenditure associated with procuring and implementing infrastructure components while also optimizing operational expenditures.
- Enjoy better and faster scalability along with automatic updates, upgrades, and easy access to innovation.
- Shorten deployment times and risks through the experience and expertise of a qualified team of SAP S/4HANA experts.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Implementation – Reality
Successfully implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud is not just the responsibility of the vendor. There are several duties organizations have to take on to ensure their SAP S/4HANA Cloud instance is implemented correctly. Let’s look at them in detail:
1. Customizations
An SAP S/4HANA vendor might help in implementing an out-of-the-box ERP solution. Any customizations, modifications, or integration must be accounted for from the very beginning. When scoping the solution implementation, your business architects, configuration consultants, and organizational change managers must engage with the vendor team to establish the right groundwork and chart out an agile roadmap.
2. Change Management
In addition to continuous improvement, change management is another aspect of SAP S/4HANA cloud implementation that you will have to address. As you standardize and/or automate business processes around your SAP implementation, users are sure to be impacted. Successfully analyzing and addressing these changes requires you to have a robust change management policy in place. This will ensure a certain level of resilience to cope with frequent process changes and new ways of working.
3. User Training
If you want your users to make the most of the modern capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you must invest in continuous user training. You can explore the SAP Learning Hub to understand learning journeys specific to user roles. But for any customizations or modifications you make, you will have to develop unique training plans and modules to ensure quick adoption and a shorter learning curve.
4. Monitoring and Testing
A solution like SAP S/4HANA is constantly evolving. To make sure it continues to meet the needs of your business and your users, continuous monitoring and support is vital. This is especially true if you have enabled automation or integrated your SAP instance with other systems in your IT ecosystem. You must also engage in continuous testing of new features and capabilities using the latest test automation tools and strategies.
5. Continuous Improvement
When it comes to updates, upgrades, and patches, you can rest assured that SAP will enable them automatically. But as your business grows and your needs change, making modifications to your SAP S/4HANA instance and ensuring alignment with your current business narrative is entirely your responsibility. You might also have to establish the right security and governance measures based on the industry you operate in and the regulatory requirements you need to adhere to.
Implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a great way to unify business processes, improve performance and insights and enable end-to-end visibility into operations. But the tasks and activities needed for successful deployment are quite varied. While SAP will enable access to all the latest features, updates, and capabilities, there are several responsibilities around customizations, improvement, and monitoring that you need to take on.
The Sapours Advantage
As a leading SAP S/4HANA partner, Sapours can help streamline the implementation process and ensure that you get maximum returns on your investments. By bringing the power of real-time data, we can ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruptions and enable successful third-party application integrations.
Our proficient and experienced team of SAP-certified professionals has fruitfully carried out multiple implementation projects using the SAP-recommended Rapid Deployment methodology for better accuracy and quicker results. As a skilled SAP Partner, we have proven experience in S/4HANA consultancy and implementation services. Whether you want to take a big-bang approach or a phased one, we can help you deploy S/4HANA in the cloud using the latest innovations while standardizing and simplifying the existing landscape to reduce TCO.
Get in touch with us today to make faster and better implementation decisions and take organizational excellence to a new level.