Inner values

A theoretical greenfield project with Hana and S/4 and the BTP would convince us all next summer. The tools and resources exist to customize S/4 quickly and efficiently if there is no legacy. If you are allowed to start from scratch, don't have to consider historical data, and aren't responsible for the burden of an existing IT infrastructure including multiple data centers, you can have a perfect S/4 system from the cloud in a matter of weeks. So much for the theory!

In practice, I and many of my colleagues are confronted with legacy systems, legacy data and heterogeneous IT architectures. Here, too, an S/4 conversion can be successfully implemented - but not in a few months, but in a few years. PoCs and budgets have to be organized, resources have to be reserved, schedules have to be orchestrated with the business departments, and so on. Even with the best IT tools, a release change takes several years. Thus, the question is justified: Is S/4 still up to date in 2022?

Strictly speaking, it is not about this year and the following year, but about the year of completion of the conversion. What if unforeseen events occur and customizing is delayed, has to be suspended or reengineering becomes necessary due to new organizational structures? Then the completion date of the S/4 conversion may be around 2030 and in that year the question is more than justified: Are Hana and S/4 still up to date?

In 2030, the Hana database platform will be about 20 years old and S/4 about 15 years old - an eternity in the fast-paced IT world. Hana and S/4 are proprietary products of SAP, so every innovation, retread and improvement must come from SAP itself. There is no community for the products that co-develops. A heavy burden for SAP! Everything used to be better: SAP focused on the business ERP innovations and the hardware, operating system and database vendors contributed their improvements. Now SAP has become an ERP island and self-sufficient.

How SAP intends to provide for itself in the future also appears very interesting after the annual sales kick-off (Customer Success Summit): Our SAP contact reported extensive changes in commissions and bonuses. Not only has Christian Klein's concept been further tightened, in which success payments are to be largely dependent on customer satisfaction, but there has been a switch to a "cloud only" system in sales. Put simply: The sales representative will only receive a bonus if the product is SAP's cloud product. Accordingly, an on-prem conversion should not bring a bonus. But that shouldn't stop us from continuing to buy on-prem licenses.

I can hear the message, but I lack faith: "Cloud first" may be a concept, but "cloud only" probably less so. There will be cloud functionality in the company's own data center - in other words, a classic on-premises landscape. SAP itself offers the on-premises cloud option S/4-Hana-Cloud-PE-CDC (Private Edition for Customer Data Center) for this purpose. This interesting S/4 version is hard to find on the SAP website, there is only a 15-page PowerPoint presentation. More information about S/4 Private Edition in the Customer Data Center is available from HPE, who also advise us and help us out with information.

Little information about S/4 Private Edition is, of course, the consequence of a "cloud only" bonus for the sales team. The practice, however, will be hybrid. But how an SAP sales force that will obviously be 100 percent dependent on cloud computing for its bonuses will position itself in this reality is still a mystery to me and my SAP regulars. The fact is, even at SAP there are sensible alternatives to "cloud only", and that's already a big win!