The New Rules of the Game

In today’s ever more complex and rapidly evolving business landscape, mastering uncertainty has become the new competitive edge. Agility and foresight are the future currencies of success. Only a firm that truly knows itself and understands its environment is equipped to thrive.

If the past year has taught us anything, it is that the status quo no longer holds. Erstwhile formulas for achievement are losing their shine and can be depended upon no more. As the global pandemic continues to upend legacy business models and expose supply chain fragilities, digital technologies have been levelling the playing field and empowering upstarts to leapfrog long-standing incumbents.

As notes, a new breed of champions is now coming to the fore: one that has been primed for speed and excellence of execution. Tomorrow’s winners will most likely share certain characteristics; they will be the most aware, the flattest, the nimblest, and the most digitally immersive.

Taking the Plunge

Faced with such a volatile, opaque, and complicated operating ecosystem, most midcap and large multinationals have already grasped the urgency of embracing change. According to , a full 72% of businesses have now resorted to disrupting their own sectors just to survive.

Moreover, most recognize the need for faster reaction speeds and greater real-time insight into all aspects of their operations – from procurement and supply chain activities to customer experience management and distribution. The question is no longer whether to transition towards becoming an intelligent enterprise, but when and how.

Adopting cutting-edge digital technology has, of course, been an essential part of this process as data collection and extrapolation are the lifeblood of better insight. One study reveals that over 69% of companies have been ramping up their digital initiatives in the past year alone, whereas a reported 59% are already exploiting advanced data and analytics to inform strategic decision-making.

A Path Well-Trodden

For many elite companies and aspiring champions, intelligent ERP is already the only game in town. An impressive 86% of the world’s , 75% of the world’s , and 52% of the are, right now, all well advanced in their deployment of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA.

This picture becomes even more pronounced in the European theatre of operations where a mighty 98% of EuroStoxx, the top 50 blue-chip representations of super-sector leaders across the Eurozone, run the software. Nor is there any sign of let up or slackening of momentum. On the contrary, since 2020 there has been no less than one 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA go-live every single business hour!

Interestingly, the shift to this state-of-the-art software is no longer the cumbersome, disruptive, tortuous process it was once purported to be. What formerly may have been a long, arduous trip for those businesses that didn’t quite fit the template has now become an enlightening journey of discovery accessible to companies of all shapes, sizes, and sectoral flavors.

Into the Fast Lane

Indeed, undertaking the leap to enlightenment has never been so effortlessly easy and smooth, courtesy of RISE with SAP, a freshly unveiled business-transformation-as-a-service offering that responds to the need for a simplified, flexible route that suits everyone and is fully accompanied every step of the way.

This self-styled “concierge service” to the Intelligent Enterprise has managed to blaze new trails by bundling together the requisite tools, guidance, and support systems needed for any company, irrespective of its starting point, to scale.

Examples now abound of tip-top transitions from all four corners of the planet. One Indian automotive giant with a head count of over 24,000 recently accomplished their metamorphosis to an intelligent enterprise within a mere 17 months, a big brand American retailer of 300,000 in under 10 months, and a British telecom heavyweight in only 16 months.

In a League of Their Own

Software like 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA thus increasingly stands as a critical differentiator in a global marketplace where the competition is narrowing, clarity is in short supply, and opportunities are rife for the taking. Only those endowed with it can keep pace with their peers and their idols, operate at full throttle, and face the future with confidence and poise.

Discover more about and its one-stop enabler, .

Nevertheless, 51·çÁ÷is facilitating the go-live of an customer every hour of every working day. For many companies from shaken industries, this could be a start of a brighter future.

COVID-19 has forced entire industries to rethink and transform business models and core processes. Many companies have found themselves in need of fundamental change. Right now, many companies seem to be pushing even harder to renew their business systems.

For Uwe Grigoleit, 51·çÁ÷senior vice president and general manager for 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, this is a logical response to the dramatic challenges of the crisis: “We are observing that many companies have just now realized how important the cloud and 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA are for them to adapt faster and efficiently to the new reality.”

Implementation and Go-Live with Remote Support

Time is of the essence, regardless of whether it is a matter of managing critical situations in a supply chain and stores, enabling employees to work more flexibly and effectively, or gaining more transparency into the current financial and operational situation.

As a result, companies want to implement innovations faster and the demand for 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud is growing. “With 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, companies can create an environment of resilience to combat the uncertainty of these difficult times. When our customers need us, we – and our worldwide 51·çÁ÷partner ecosystem – are there for them,” Grigoleit says.

Every implementation project and go-live of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA can be supported and executed remotely. The success of this is proven by the fact that 75 percent of all 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud customers that had planned to go live in the second quarter of 2020 went live. Given the adverse general conditions with lockdowns and many home office employees, this is astonishing.

Supported by 51·çÁ÷partner Capgemini, the , a global supplier of sustainable technologies, completed its 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA implementation at its U.S. water technology subsidiary – fully remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown. De Nora Group now benefits from the extended integration and standardization of accounting processes across all its companies. Other advantages include innovative, cross-functional, and multi-level reporting models, optimized data use via mobile devices, and more efficient, consolidated infrastructure security. These are crucial prerequisites for faster reactions and improved resilience to fundamental shifts in market demand in the future.

Which Operation Model Fits Best Now?

51·çÁ÷offers a comprehensive, modular cloud suite. The entire value chain can be operated in the cloud. However, customers can decide which model is best for them as well as when and which areas they want to move to 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA and the cloud.

This is particularly important in the automotive and manufacturing industries, where the pandemic has put the entire supply chain under pressure while, at the same time, major investments are required to set a new strategic course.

In these industries, it is vital – now more than ever – to use existing budgets carefully and with strategic foresight. Cloud solutions in the pay-as-you-use model open decisive advantages here because they relieve companies of major investments in equipment, software, and a workforce to run and maintain everything. Operating expenses instead of capital expenses leave more budget for other important business investments that are pending.

Smart Transition with a Hybrid Model

The transition from on-premise structures to a hybrid enterprise resource planning (ERP) landscape with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA is easier than many people imagine. Three key service packages – 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA for central finance, 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA for central procurement, and 51·çÁ÷Extended Warehouse Management – help 51·çÁ÷customers to make progress in key areas and build powerful hybrid solutions. This allows them to innovate their business models decisively, quickly, and more securely than others. Manufacturers can prepare their shift for the subscription-based economy or execute B2B2C strategies, while retailers might drive a seamless omni-channel shopper experience and be prepared for sudden changes in demand.

Suited for Companies of All Sizes

These benefits are not limited to large corporations. A good example is the midsize company Mondou, a Canadian market leader in the sale of products, services, and accessories for the health and well-being of pets. The company has a large distribution center and more than sixty-five stores throughout Quebec. Due to the pandemic, Mondou’s retail and online sales skyrocketed in one day without warning.

“Before the COVID-19 lockdown, we had one team working and one shift filling orders. However, after the lockdown one team was not enough, so we quickly had to expand warehouse space to add more workers and ensure adequate social distancing space,” says Lyne Hervieux, 51·çÁ÷practice manager at Mondou.

To keep pace with customer demand, Mondou successfully brought a second warehouse online in only two weeks. Thanks to 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, the warehouses of Mondou ran 24 hours a day for the first time, without interruptions for financial reporting or system maintenance. “There’s no way our old ERP could have kept up,” says Hervieux. “We always had problems with material blockages, and background jobs took all evening.”

Starting with a Clear Focus

To support companies in their decision to become an intelligent enterprise with decisively more resilience, agility, and responsiveness, 51·çÁ÷offers custom-made , which inspire process optimization and innovation. Current examples from other companies illustrate the benefits 51·çÁ÷customers can achieve with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, namely becoming more resilient and fit for the future.

Oliver Schoenborn is interim head of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud Product Marketing.

“Włó±đ˛Ô COVID-19 and the lockdowns took the headlines, we at 51·çÁ÷naturally gave it a lot of thought,” says Uwe Grigoleit, senior vice president and general manager for 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA. “How would our customers cope with it? What would that mean for ongoing implementation projects with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA?”

It did not take long for the answers to arrive. Projects would continue as planned almost without exception. Decision-makers from a wide range of companies and industries have recognized that they not only have to react quickly to the crisis and its consequences, but also must build resilience and potential for the future.

Unleash Possibilities Quickly

In this unprecedented situation, many organizations need to reorganize critical processes and map them digitally. It has become apparent that legacy enterprise management systems can be more of a burden than a help. There is a lack of necessary financial and operational transparency to safely adjust to the new normal.

“Many companies have realized that they now need to focus all the more on their core business and strengthening their resilience, instead of spending valuable time and resources on managing IT systems and running their own data centers,” Grigoleit says.

51·çÁ÷and its partners are well prepared for this. Every implementation project and go-live of 51·çÁ÷solutions can be supported and executed remotely. It therefore came as no surprise that 75 percent of all 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud customers that had planned to go live in the second quarter of 2020 went live. Currently, there is one go-live of an 51·çÁ÷customer with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA every hour of every business day.

More Resilience and Innovation Through the Cloud

While the on-premise edition of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA is functionally very comprehensive and modular, the cloud solution is more straightforward. This can be a big advantage, especially if time is of the essence. Standardization allows companies to more efficiently establish end-to-end processes based on best practices. This way, 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud provides value faster and offers superior flexibility, scalability, and agility compared to traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This results in more resilience and capability for innovation.

In financial terms, too, moving to the cloud solution offers major advantages. Traditional, in-house models for data centers require a huge investment – capital expenses or CAPEX – in equipment, software, and a workforce to run and maintain everything. 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud switches IT spending to a pay-as-you-go model. From an accounting point of view, this means that only operating expenses (OPEX) arise. These expenses, unlike CAPEX, do not have to be depreciated or amortized over their useful life, but can be directly deducted in the relevant tax year. Less CAPEX also means that companies have more budget available for other important business investments.

Combining the Best of Both Worlds

Depending on individual business requirements or strategic vendor relationships, existing 51·çÁ÷customers can choose between public and private cloud or hybrid models with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA. 51·çÁ÷can serve hybrid, or two-tier, ERP scenarios from one common code base and one single semantic model. This allows 51·çÁ÷customers to set new strategic priorities and to move individual capabilities to the cloud quickly while other areas of the business remain on premise.

From the user’s perspective, the transition to a hybrid model is hardly noticeable. Unified user interfaces (UI) help ensure that the user experience remains consistent when switching between cloud and on-premise systems. They can find their way around immediately and work productively because, for example, the capabilities for analytics and reports look and function the same.

To support companies in their decision to become intelligent enterprises with decisively more resilience, agility, and responsiveness, 51·çÁ÷offers custom-made , which create perspectives and inspiration for process optimization and innovation. Proven best practices of 51·çÁ÷customers illustrate what can be achieved with 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, namely making companies more resilient and fit for the future.

Oliver Schoenborn is interim head of 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud Product Marketing.