Although 70% of organizations either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one, 45% of executives don’t believe their company has the right technology to pursue such a transformation project successfully.
Being able to deliver digital transformation is essential if businesses want to continue innovating, adapt to new market and customer trends, and accelerate growth. But digital transformation is not just about acquiring the latest, shiny gadget or software solution. It’s about ensuring you have the right mindset and culture within your organization. It’s about technology; but also people, processes, and operations.
ERP systems play a critical role for many of the world’s largest companies, but, somewhat ironically, when these organizations look to replace their legacy ERP platforms to ensure they suit the current business landscape, they might simply be putting off the inevitable.
The pace of technological change means that even an updated, customized ERP system could soon be out of date. This could result in high system maintenance costs, major failures for transformation projects, or missed growth opportunities. To guard against obsolescence, businesses need an ERP solution that is truly adaptable and future-proof. They need one that is an enabler of digital transformation - not a hindrance. They need SAP S/4HANA.
S/4HANA utilizes both artificial intelligence and advanced analytics so businesses can unlock innovation, discover new insights, and implement new data-driven business models.Technology integration is essential to making the most of an ERP platform. By integrating your business processes with SAP S/4HANA, you can reap the benefits of AI and robotic process automation. You can make your digital transformation project a reality.
Implementation
In order to successfully leverage S/4HANA in the context of digital transformation, it’s a good idea to formulate an implementation journey. This should consist of a roadmap that is as much about your human capital as it is your digital tools. When finalizing your strategy for SAP S/4HANA implementation, think carefully about the work outcomes you want to achieve, the opportunities to automate processes, and what your employees need for the future workplace.
Remember to complete a business readiness check first to reduce the risk of failure around S/4HANA implementation. Also, consider the two different conversion pathways that SAP offers: Brownfield andGreenfield. Each approach comes with its advantages and disadvantages, but whichever you choose, SAP S/4HANA implementation could lead to increases in software quality, delivery, and ROI. If you haven’t already, it’s time to finalize your S/4HANA roadmap.
Integration
As the digital landscape has grown, it has also become more complex. One of the main aims of digital transformation is providing a single source of truth across different tools - and this is another area where S/4HANA can help, starting with the integration of all users and end devices, including IoT and mobile solutions.
Integration lies at the heart of S/4HANA, providing APIs that allow you to integrate with other SAP Cloud, on-premise, or third-party solutions. In addition, there are also SAP-to-SAP pre-delivered integration scenarios to consider. The benefits of using SAP S/4HANA to further your business process integration are substantial. It can deliver faster ROI, lower total cost of ownership, and increased business agility.
One company that is enjoying the benefits of S/4HANA integration is Macmahon Holdings Limited, an Australian contractor working in the mining, civil construction, and resource engineering fields. After establishing a unified business operations platform using SAP S/4HANACloud, Macmahon was able to respond more rapidly to customer queries by leveraging real-time data. As a result of this digital transformation shift, the company has accessed several tangible benefits. It has been able to reduce working capital expenditure by AUD$ 5 million, access AUD$ 2 million of cost savings due to a reduction in duplicate purchase orders, and eliminate 25,000paper forms due to digitalization.
Transformation and the power of partnerships
Digital transformation is a goal for so many businesses - and it’s easy to see why. The benefits that digital transformation can deliver are numerous - but organizations need to get their implementation and integration right to pursue transformation successfully.
With SAP S/4HANA, all your critical enterprise functions can be transformed, enabling businesses to analyze their existing processes and predict new ones in real-time. Even the most basic S/4HANA implementation can generate unforeseen complexities, so avoid duplicate work and unnecessary manual output by formulating a unified approach to testing, documentation, and learning. However, if accessing the advantages of S/4HANA sounds like a lot of work, remember that businesses don’t need to go it alone.
Qualibrate is a cloud solution for S/4HANA test automation and software delivery boasting a unified automation engine and empowering businesses to create interactive training materials for their employees to maximize the adoption of their S/4HANA system. Unfortunately, with support for SAP ECC set to retire in 2027 (or in 2030 if you’re prepared to purchase an expensive extension), there is some time pressure to complete your migration to S/4HANA. But help is on hand to make this transition as smooth as possible.
External partnerships can add clarity to your digital transformation. Make sure you choose yours wisely to get the most from SAP S/4HANA. Find out how Qualibrate can support your testing program, ease the adoption of SAP S/4HANA, and bring you closer to your digital transformation goals.
Interested in knowing more about Qualibrate use cases? Watch a webinar on demand from KLM and AirFrance and get inspired!