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Transforming Business Operations with SAP S/4HANA Consulting Services
#FocusOnBestPractices
Mukund Shinde
Sr. Vice President (Enterprise Solutions – SAP Practice)
December 12, 2024
SAP S/4HANA is one of the most widely used ERP suites, with many features that suit every business need and function. SAP S/4HANA includes pre-configured Solution for Order to cash(OTC), Purchase to pay( PTP) Record to Report(RTR), Plan to Supply( PTS) Hire to Retire( HTR), amongst others, making it a turnkey solution for every industry vertical. With the rise in popularity of SAP S/4HANA, predominantly with GROW with SAP and RISE with SAP bundled offerings, there is an inherent need for expert SAP consulting services to design, implement, and maintain the SAP suite, with S/4HANA consulting services.
Use Cases for SAP S/4HANA Consulting Services
If you are:
- Looking to migrate from SAP ECC to S/4HANA
- Working with an existing ERP but need to transition to SAP S/4HANA
- Requiring customization for your current SAP landscape
- New to unified ERPs and looking to make a full transition to S/4HANA
- Moving from an on-prem SAP S/4HANA deployment to public or private cloud
- Seeking process automation and optimization
- Aiming to improve governance and security
- Focused on ensuring regulatory compliance
With the above reasons for moving towards SAP S/4HANA, let’s look at how you stand to benefit from an expert SAP S/4HANA consulting provider . We will elaborate on the different consulting approaches for SAP S/4HANA, and what you stand to gain from them.
SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration
If you are running on the legacy SAP ECC version, you need to act fast by moving to SAP S/4HANA, as support for SAP ECC ends in 2027, making the version obsolete without any periodic patches, upgrades, and necessary support. It’s better to shift to SAP S/4HANA well before the timeline ends to ensure seamless business continuity and official support. You will need to have a third-party SAP consulting services provider to ensure a seamless migration, as some processes are no longer supported by SAP S/4HANA and need to be configured and optimized to suit the new deployment.
Migration from other ERPs to SAP S/4HANA
Migration from other ERPs to SAP S/4HANA, such as from MS Dynamics, is a key scenario in SAP consulting services. The shift needs a precise estimate of your objectives from the new platform, the challenges faced with the current ERP, and the actual migration strategy and implementation.
Net New to SAP S/4HANA
Small and medium businesses often use a combination of disparate applications that have poor interconnectivity, leading to delayed reporting, planning, and core operations. For customers who are new to SAP S/4HANA, SAP offers a GROW with SAP bundled offering, which includes the below components.
- SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud - A suite with core ERP functionalities Order to cash (OTC), Purchase to pay( PTP) Record to Report(RTR),, supply chain, procurement, etc.) designed for quick deployment.
- SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) - Provides tools for integration, data management, and AI/machine learning, Business process automation and low code no code process management and to connect to other SAP applications and other third-party solutions.
- Best Practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud - Preconfigured, industry-specific business processes that help businesses speed up implementation and streamline operations.
- SAP Build - A low-code/no-code platform for creating applications and automation tailored to the business without heavy coding.
- Guided Onboarding – This includes resources, tools, and support services to ensure a smooth and efficient implementation.
- SAP Activate Methodology - A framework for a structured deployment using SAP's best practices, making it easier to follow each step in the implementation.
- Continuous Learning Resources - Access to the SAP Learning Hub and other resources to help employees continuously learn and maximize the value of SAP adoption.
SAP has another offering called RISE with SAP , which comes with enhanced features for deploying SAP S/4HANA
Key components include:
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud: The core ERP solution, allowing businesses to streamline processes across Order to cash( OTC), Purchase to pay( PTP) Record to Report(RTR), Plan to Supply( PTS), with industry-specific capabilities to enhance efficiency.
- Business Process Intelligence: A suite of tools to analyze and optimize processes, identifying areas for automation or improvement for better agility and performance.
- SAP Business Network Starter Pack: Access to SAP’s digital networks for procurement, logistics, and asset management, enabling collaboration with suppliers and partners.
- SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP): Offers tools for integration, data management, and extensibility, empowering businesses to adapt and innovate as they grow.
- SAP Activate: A structured deployment framework that speeds up implementation through best practices and methodologies.
- SAP Activate Methodology - A framework for a structured deployment using SAP's best practices, making it easier to follow each step in the implementation.
- Technical and Functional Services: Including cloud infrastructure management, security, and compliance support, allowing businesses to focus on strategic growth.
Your SAP Consulting services provider will give you the right choice to move towards SAP S/4HANA. Such an approach uses a comprehensive assessment, Fit-to-Standard workshops, a well-defined implementation strategy, and deployment with required customizations that you might require. In addition, SAP Consulting services also deal with moving the SAP S/4HANA on-premise deployment to the cloud-either complete or with a hybrid approach.
SAP Process Optimization and Automation
SAP Consulting Services also provides process automation and optimization solutions. You might want to optimize processes to ensure more performance and less effort, with the required customization. You can also automate your manual processes to save time and resource usage.
Governance and Security
SAP S/4HANA has built capabilities to ensure optimal security, and the required set of Governance features to ensure that your data is secure from both internal and external threats. Role-based access, Two-factor authentication, and easy administration capabilities, amongst others, improve your security posture. In addition, SAP consulting services can also customize the naïve capabilities as per your business requirements.
Compliance
SAP S/4HANA is built to comply with most of the regulatory standards across a vast range of business verticals, such as with FDA specified regulations for the pharma and healthcare sector. You can also customize the solution to suit regulatory norms, ensuring seamless business continuity.
Conclusion
The above set of SAP consulting services are the most comprehensive use cases where you need to engage a third-party SAP implementation partner. You get a tailored offering that suits your business requirements, with a precise estimate of the cost and efforts needed, right from the assessment stage to the Go-live phase and beyond, along with optimal change management solutions.
Korcomptenz, an SAP Solution Partner provides custom SAP consulting services that accelerate your path towards digital transformation, with our two decades of experience in ERP consulting, development and support services. Our solutions enable you to thrive and leverage the immense potential of the S/4HANA suite. Do contact us to know how we can make a difference.
