Decisive factors for the migration to S/4 Hana

In a recent survey by the German-speaking SAP User Group, 18 percent of members said they either will not implement SAP S/4 Hana or are still undecided.

So it came as no surprise that less than two weeks after the report was published, SAP announced an extension of ECC support until 2027 (or 2030 if you're willing to pay more).

Despite the slow progress of the move to S/4, many companies have already opted for it because they see it as a competitive advantage.

This therefore means that those who remain on the old SAP platforms have to keep up with these "pioneers". One means of achieving this is automation.

It unlocks value from existing SAP systems by making them much more agile. Whatever benefits S/4 brings, what would it mean for your business if you could simply change your production systems as needed, every day, during working hours, without risk?

In our conversations with SAP users, we often hear that the perceived benefits of S/4 Hana in the ROI analysis are outweighed by the cost, effort and risk along the way.

Gartner recently acknowledged this in its "Magic Quadrant for SAP S/4 Hana Application Services" report, highlighting that the cost of S/4 implementation remains a challenge for customers.

Automation can also strengthen the business justification for adopting S/4 Hana. Faster, more efficient, and more secure migration means lower costs, reduced business interruption risk, and more positive ROI calculations. But it's also important to factor future value into your business case.

Some perceive the investment in moving to S/4 as a one-time "sunk cost" that cannot be recouped. This may be true for certain elements of the process, but it is not necessarily the case for automation.

For example, the impact of SAP's annual S/4 releases is often underestimated. They are likely to include necessary features, and even if you don't implement each release, you must remember that each has only five years of official support.

So there's no avoiding the fact that upgrades will become more frequent. The same automation that accelerated your move to S/4 can then continue to be beneficial by accelerating these projects and mitigating their effort.

The sheer number of people required for a successful transition to S/4 is a deterrent for companies. In the recent DSAG survey, 77 percent of respondents said that a lack of resources such as employees and consultants should be classified as "significant" or "very significant." The first reason is financial.

Frankly, many people bring many costs. But it's also true that simply too few have the required skills. Automation mitigates these pain points by greatly reducing the amount of manual effort required, which reduces costs accordingly.

There are certainly many factors that contribute to companies not investing in SAP's S/4 Hana vision, but those that have not yet migrated should keep certain factors in mind.

Consider, for example, minimizing the initial "pioneer" advantage, building a more effective business case, and the risk of a skills shortage can have severe consequences.

Automation - for example, through Basis Technologies' DevOps and Test Platform - can help address many of these issues. It adds value not only during the transition to S/4, but also in the years before and after.

Thus, automation in the company is one of the most important drivers of a successful digital transformation - whether you decide to use the new SAP software generation or not.