What to consider with HXM Move

If there's one thing SAP is good at besides software development, it's creating catchy marketing language. Just earlier this year, Christian Klein introduced Rise with SAP, a business transformation-as-a-service offering.

So in the future, users are supposed to elevate themselves with the help of the technology provider - a wording reminiscent of self-discovery and personal development. Namaste. In reality, however, the aim is to make the path to S/4 Hana in the cloud easier. To this end, SAP has put together a package with licenses, tools and services.

In the slipstream of the Rise initiative, the HXM Move program - as the successor to Upgrade2Success - has now also picked up speed. In our opinion, SAP has not just come up with another fancy name, but actually something that many users in the DACH region have been waiting for. For example, HXM Move provides a concrete answer to a question that has been vexing many companies for some time: What's next for HR processes?

What are the innovations

The focus continues to be on SAP SuccessFactors - for some time now framed by SAP as the HXM suite (a new acronym of the software manufacturer for Human Experience Management). Innovations will only be available here. Users will be pleased to learn that the SuccessFactors HXM Suite will also provide functions that have been missing or only rudimentary up to now.

Specifically, HXM Move provides for four items: Core HR, Hybrid, Time Management and Payroll. The first two points relate to the expansion of Employee Central, for example in the area of collective agreements or mass processing, and to the standardization of the user experience between SAP HR products.

So far, so good, although not really concrete. The most important points for most customers are the other two. Worth mentioning here is in particular the announcement of wanting to achieve "feature parity" between the old world and SuccessFactors Time in time management. There had already been other voices on this in the past.

Furthermore, the "Next Generation Payroll" is to be launched with the first country versions from the end of the 2020s. On a less positive note, it will probably be a few years longer before the new payroll system is available for Germany; in any case, there is no timeframe yet. So users will have to think about something until then.

How to get there

SAP itself proposes various migration scenarios with the HXM Move initiative. So-called transition solutions represent a link between the old on-premises world (SAP ERP HCM and H4S4) and the new cloud world. Which change makes sense at which point in time depends on many factors. Above all, it depends on which core HR functions a company needs.

Thus, the path can either run via the Transition Solutions - in particular Employee Central Payroll - with a subsequent successive shift of functionalities to the HXM Suite, depending on availability. We consider this option to be particularly attractive if SuccessFactors is already in use and SAP HCM is essentially only required because of payroll accounting, perhaps still with very simple time management functionalities.

On the other hand, those who still have a more extensive installation of SAP ERP HCM in use will probably not be able to avoid H4S4 (HR for S/4 Hana). After all, the changeover is supposed to be a comparatively simple technical migration and the maintenance commitment is valid until at least 2040.

There is therefore sufficient time to observe the developments of the HXM suite in a relaxed manner. We consider staying on the existing SAP ERP HCM system to make limited sense. By the end of maintenance in 2027, the HXM suite will not yet cover all the required functionalities. And relying on extended maintenance until 2030 will only be more expensive without really changing the situation.

What can already be said

Regardless of all this: All the functionalities that SAP SuccessFactors offers for Talent Management, Recruiting and Learning, we already consider it the first choice in most cases. The cloud solution is simply more innovative, more employee-centric and more modern in terms of the overall user experience.

For users, HXM Move definitely provides more clarity and a range of options. At Empleox, we support users in finding the best way for their own situation with our technology know-how and HR expertise.