Hana - a fundamental break

There is no question that SAP has ushered in a paradigm shift with Hana technology and that this technology stack will determine the pace of innovation in the coming years.

However, the impact of a swing to Hana is still not fully understood. Unlocking the hoped-for potential requires the massive involvement of the business units.

The technological possibilities and restrictions demand that the real options be narrowed down and weighed up. The new technology demands addressing the human capital of IT and, if necessary, reshaping the depth of value creation. But let's take the points one by one.

Hana offers itself as a powerful, end-to-end platform that paves the way to the digital future. However, the latter means radical adaptation of processes (digitization) or creation of new business models (digital transformation). Both represent a fundamental break with the corporate organization that is to shape, live and permanently optimize this new world.

SAP provides a long list of optimization potentials that can be tapped with Hana. However, none of them can be realized without the contribution of business managers.

The decision to work not only with Hana, but even in the cloud, brings with it an additional challenge. Companies are buying the rapid provision of process functionality by foregoing the almost unrestricted individualization of "their" software.

An organization must first "digest" the quarterly increase in functionality. Technological progress is bought with permanent, creative restlessness in the organization.

Not only the multitude of technical options, but also the possible combinations and dependencies make the changeover complex.

• Which system with which release is mandatory?
• Which systems are mutually dependent or mutually exclusive?
• Does the latest release cover all the features used today or will that come in the future?
• Which is the most favorable license model?

The options range from a re-design or re-implementation of in-house developments to the question of using the SAP standard. The associated planning horizon goes far beyond the usual annual consideration and requires a long-term allocation of resources.

Technological progress is also affecting IT experts. Abap is no longer in the foreground, Java and JavaScript play an increasingly important role; in the SAP Cloud Platform, for example, they are mandatory.

The aspect of services in the SAP Cloud Platform alone represents a paradigm shift to which both internal and external employees must adapt. With regard to the skills required, the question of training, hiring or buying in needs to be answered.

And above all, the balancing act of maintaining ongoing operations in the "old" world while building up competencies for the "new" one. It can make perfect sense to focus your own staff on high value-added functions and to draw pure technical competence from an increasingly mature, competitive market.

Hana has the potential to be a major driver of innovation. In order to be able to leverage this potential, an intensive examination of the options is required. Once a decision has been made in favor of the right option for a particular context, a change process begins that will last several years and affect many areas of an organization. Preparation and planning are essential.

Together, therefore, this is a strategic project that must be set up with the necessary foresight. Requirements, IT landscapes and a roadmap are the components that need to be worked out. This takes time, but once it has been done correctly, the roadmap for the next few years will be in place and everyone involved will know what to expect.