Expectations with S/4 Hana

Many existing SAP customers are about to embark on an S/4 project, are in the process of doing so, or are reviewing their initial expectations after the project has been completed. My many years of experience from many projects have shown that the customer's initial expectations determine success or failure. If this is disappointed by deviating results, motivation tips over and acceptance is damaged in the long run. The consequences are costly in every respect. I would therefore like to point out a few clues in the S/4 transformations where, as a result of various SAP marketing and product strategies, expectation can become a sensitive issue.

Performance and end of maintenance

After all, seven years have passed since SAP guru Hasso Plattner's big announcement in 2015 regarding the major SAP technology change with the "in-memory database Hana and S/4". The SAP marketing machinery has kept the expectations of the entire SAP community worldwide high with numerous arguments. However, the positive mood was dampened when SAP simultaneously announced the end of maintenance for ERP/ECC 6.0 as of 2025, which was subsequently softened. Many companies and customers felt pressured by the dual strategy. The development of the "in memory" technology, which was extensively accompanied and financed by Plattner personally, brought a significant improvement in performance. Although this triggered great euphoria, it quickly became apparent that the Big Data target group really affected was very small after all. For the vast majority of SAP customers, this argument alone was not a reason for a rather complex and expensive technology change. 

Complexity

The starting point for SAP was R/3, which had been modified over decades, and the numerous additional developments by customers as part of the massive growth in complexity. This statement is interesting in that the possibility for modifications and in-house developments was an important trigger for the SAP success story. Malicious tongues claim that SAP was no longer able to provide appropriate software support due to the many customer changes. Thus, a simplification of data structures and applications was promised, as well as a reduction in complexity with the return to standard software. As a result of functional limitations, however, positive expectations are limited. Many customers also doubt that the integration of cloud solutions in hybrid system landscapes will actually reduce complexity.

Cloud

SAP CEO and brilliant salesman McDermott has joined the global IT trend of cloud solutions with S/4 Hana. The benefits for customers were professionally marketed, but very differently received. The real beneficiary, however, was SAP itself, which was able to secure the necessary growth and finance strategic acquisitions with the new cloud licenses. SAP customers' hopes were not fulfilled, however, because the usual quality of integration of the new solutions was not achieved. In addition, SAP's cloud-only strategy was not adopted because the majority of existing customers prefer hybrid system landscapes (on-prem with cloud solutions). Under pressure from SAP user groups, this was changed to a cloud-first strategy. Existing customers with on-prem systems also expect equal treatment with cloud solutions for all new developments. According to statements made by SAP CEO Christian Klein at the DSAG Annual Congress 2022 in Leipzig, he seems to have at least recognized these demands of the large target group of hybrid system landscapes.

This text is intended to raise awareness of the influence that perspective can have on an S/4 project.