This year, 2015 is very much special for everyone in SAP ecosystem, since SAP announced game-changing and totally new product called S/4HANA 23 years later of R/3 announcement. Everyone in sap ecosystem is very much hunger regarding S/4 HANA and benefits beyond.
This amazing year for sure, will open many new gates to digital and connected economy, not only for companies but also for individuals as well. However there are many traps that we need to consider and not fall into. I have selected 3 major ones of mine and very much welcomed yours:
Trap 1: Considering S/4 HANA as an ERP solution only
As sven.denecken from SAP mentioned in his blog: SAP S/4HANA Frequently Asked Questions - Part 1 - the fundamentals : SAP S/4HANA is natively connected to the Internet of Things and business networks for real-time collaboration (planned: machine-to-machine, Ariba Network, Concur) in the networked economy. Of course ERP is core component of S/4 HANA but whole solution cannot be designed focusing only ERP functions. Right approach will help you to built a platform to support your needs of IoT, bigdata and prediction as well as to perform accurate, required H/W and system sizing.
Trap 2: Migrating to S/4HANA without transforming current business processes and without considering future business plans of operating industry.
Companies which using SAP for years are very much familiar with the existing SAP ERP processes, and they have the process excellence of today. However these processes are designed with the mind set that belongs to a different era. Things are changing, not only economy but also generation is changing. Generation Y is now on the stage, they are leading, managing and consuming, S/4 HANA is designed to cover next generations needs. So all processes should be re-imagine, otherwise 1000 times faster database power brougth by HANA or beautiful and simple UI Fiori can't be consumed by the future of your company or your consumers.
Trap 3: Assuming S/4 HANA migration as a technical upgrade
Migrating to S/4 HANA is relatively easy job; upgrade to EHP7 and migrate to HANA and activate S- innovations ( today Simple Finance), but there is much more. S/4 HANA migration can't be leaved to IT department only. Moving to S/4 HANA without preparing people and changing the mindset searching for simplification, real benefits brought by S/4 HANA will not achievable. This trap is very much related with the trap 2. But the difference is strategy into action part. The strategy which is set by the top management search for simple, however if it is not spread to whole organization, all efforts performed by the design team will be garbage.
I believe there are many potential traps on the way to S/4 HANA, these are my findings, please add yours in the comment section.
Cheers,
@sarhanpolatates
