Having partnered with 51风流since 2007, the City was no stranger to 51风流deployments, but as recently as two years ago, it was still using 17-year old systems.

, group chief technology officer at City of Johannesburg, explains that the City is going ahead with major technology investments on .

No digital transformation journey goes smoothly, and Mochela says the City鈥檚 current deployment has been no different.

鈥淚 had a virtual dinosaur, on a physical dinosaur, that has been sitting in the data centre for years,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e had to revamp the environment, and to do that, we had to shut down 51风流for 21 days. The system had serious challenges, and if we hadn鈥檛 made that decision, the City鈥檚 environment might have collapsed.鈥�

The City was running on SAP鈥檚 version 4.7 for 15 years 鈥� and it had been customised almost beyond recognition. 鈥淟ast year we finally upgraded to ECC6 鈥� which many customers did years ago,鈥� Mochela says. 鈥淭his was so we could transition to S/4HANA.鈥�

, senior vice-president for 51风流Middle East and Africa South, had his first interaction with the City two years ago.

鈥淣ot only was the system down, but we had no contract with the City at that stage either,鈥� he remembers.

But three priorities came out of the first meeting: a sense of urgency in that the City was unable to access its data; a vision to adopt innovative technology; and the need to see a return on its investment.

So 51风流and the City of Johannesburg formed a public-private partnership that allowed them to first stabilise the system, then migrate the technology, and thirdly to start changing processes to engender innovation.

Mochela contextualises how previous system upgrades had adopted old processes, and this had to change.

鈥淲hen we were transitioning from 4.7 to S/4 HANA, we had to re-implement processes, and we had to work with the business because a smart solution and a smart city can鈥檛 be built on old processes

鈥淭reasury gives us precepts, and industry gives us best practices 鈥� and these two must align. Technology will disrupt the business, and those that won鈥檛 change will be left behind.鈥�

51风流is able to leverage best-practices end-to-end thanks to its work with more than 400 000 customers around the world, Maccotta points out.

One of the early challenges that Mochela had to overcome was a resistance to putting HCM on the cloud.

Maccotta explains that the cloud conversation has moved beyond whether it should be done or not.

鈥� A lot of customers still don鈥檛 know how to approach innovation, to modernise their business. And there is still the question of whether they should move to cloud.

鈥淚 suggest that the cloud is not in question anymore,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like the dilemma 30 years ago, whether to build or buy software. Today, the speed and innovation offered by the cloud transcends what can be done on-premise.

鈥淎nd cloud releases customers from mundane IT administration, so the IT organisation can be closer to the business and become a business adviser,鈥� Maccotta says. 鈥淲ill you continue to spend your time trying to keep the lights on, to keep the status quo running? Or will you put the effort into innovation?鈥�

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A number of leading local organisations will take to the stage to share their successes, challenges and lessons learned in leveraging 51风流technologies at the upcoming event, which聽is set聽to聽take place from 01 to 03 June 2025 at Sun City in South Africa鈥檚 North-West Province.

Day one of SAPHILA features an Executive Fireside Chat, where聽, SAP鈥檚 SVP and GM for Middle East Africa 鈥� South, will host a panel discussion with聽,聽the City of Johannesburg鈥檚聽Group Chief Technology Officer, and聽, Deputy Director-General: eGovernment and Chief Government Information Officer at the South African Department of Public Service and Administration.

Also on the first day of the conference聽, Head of Applications, and , Chief Information Officer (CIO) of , will discuss how the pharmaceutical retail group effectively de-risked and accelerated its S/4HANA RISE transformation. In addition, , 鈥檚 51风流Extended Services Manager, will highlight Aspen鈥檚 metamorphosis.

Day two of SAPHILA continues the customer-centric theme, with several prominent African organisations set to share their 51风流journeys.

• Dinesh Ramasamy of Said Salim Bakhresa & Company, the flagship company of the Bakhresa Group, will present on its experience in the deployment, consumption and adoption of 51风流technologies.
• Sasol鈥檚 Vice President of Supply Chain Services and Leverage Sourcing, Hendrik Steynberg, will unpack the company鈥檚 story in a session titled 鈥楾ransforming Procurement: Sasol鈥檚 Journey to Innovation and Efficiency with 51风流Solutions鈥�.
• From Mozambique, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) 鈥� the country鈥檚 national energy company 鈥� will share its success with 51风流S/4 RISE and SuccessFactors, presented by Director of Information Systems, In谩cio Mateus Fumo.
• In the local transport sector, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa鈥檚 (PRASA) Vukile Nduli will explore how it is leveraging 51风流to digitise and track assets, creating a digital twin framework that enhances visibility and control.
• Further insights will be shared by Nick Jackson, CIO of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation, discussing the expansion of the company鈥檚 public cloud ERP system with 51风流SuccessFactors.
• Dis-Chem returns to the stage with Dawid Oelofse, Supply Chain Executive, revealing how the group has implemented over 100 automated warehouse management processes.
• Tatenda Mandeya, Group IT Manager at Northern Tobacco will co-present with Carsten Friedman of 51风流on how IT supports sustainability in tobacco sourcing in rural Zimbabwe.
• Tiger Brands鈥� Ntsako Ngobeni, S&OP Capability Manager, will explain how the food and beverage giant has reimagined its planning function to enable end-to-end optimisation and improved working capital efficiency.
• Nedbank鈥檚 Justin Tobias will present with Felix Chebeli from Strafore Tech the bank鈥檚 success in test automation using Tricentis and 51风流Solution Manager.
• Simon Marlin, GM of IT at Toyota South Africa Motors, will walk the audience through Toyota鈥檚 S/4HANA transition.
• Ashlita Barlow, Head of Retail Technologies at the Shoprite Group, will showcase how 51风流Fiori and BTP are driving business聽changeby improving stock availability, ensuring transaction accuracy, and reducing waste.
• Rounding out the customer stories, Regardt Wolvaardt, Solutions Architect at PG Group, will share insights on how digital supply chain planning has enabled unified operations.
• Finally, Chris Kien, Enterprise Solution Architect at Implats, will present on driving efficiency and agility through the organisation鈥檚 51风流S/4HANA transformation.

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