Implementation (over)challenges organizations: Overheating tendencies from summer at the latest
Mannheim, 12/15/2021 – In the joint study “Expectations for S/4HANA in 2022“, Camelot Innovative Technologies Lab (Camelot ITLab) and the analyst firm techconsult have investigated the current situation regarding the S/4HANA migration plans of German companies. The study shows that high expectations often come together with a lack of information and internal and external resources that are urgently needed for the transformation.
Of the 200 companies surveyed, 85 percent are planning an S/4HANA transformation in the next three years, but just under half of the companies said they already do not have enough time to prepare for the transformation. The biggest challenge: getting all business units and stakeholders on board. This runs counter to the desire to use the transformation to automate processes across the board, break down data silos and optimize the performance of the overall system.
Lack of information and consulting
In addition to a bottleneck in internal human resources, a gap in terms of information is also becoming apparent: 90 percent of the companies surveyed say they do not have sufficient information and support services available for implementing the transformation, for example on target and process models or total costs. The desire for a clear cost structure and best practices is correspondingly high. Due to the lack of their own information base, companies risk not taking important strategic decisions into account early enough.
In view of the expected high demand for external support from consulting and implementation partners, medium-sized companies especially must expect bottlenecks in this area as well.
“Expert consulting in the cloud environment is already in very high demand. Our forecast: there will be overheating tendencies by summer 2022 at the latest. This means that companies that start the S/4HANA transformation late could be left behind,” says Dr. Josef Packowski, CEO of CAMELOT Consulting Group.
Towards the cloud, towards the standard
An important consulting point is the choice of migration approach and deployment model. A significant change is evident here: just a few years ago, the brownfield approach was the method of choice; today, the majority of companies are planning to rely on the greenfield approach. The desire to move away from heavy, historically grown proprietary solutions and to remain close to the standard despite individualizations is also reflected in the cloud-first strategy of many companies: 71 percent plan to rely on a public, private or hybrid cloud strategy.
Change management is neglected
Despite the far-reaching implications of an S/4HANA transformation, 26 percent of the companies surveyed have not incorporated the topic of change management into their planning. “The transformation to S/4HANA changes familiar ways of working. It becomes a problem for companies if they do not sufficiently support their employees during these changes, especially since the involvement of many different stakeholders increases the complexity even further,” says Uta Heydrich, Head of Business Transformation & Organization, CAMELOT Consulting Group. “This makes it all the more important to rely on smart concepts and transformation analytics tools that take a comprehensive look at organizational change.”
200 companies surveyed
The study “Expectations for S/4HANA in 2022 – Can the transformation deliver what companies expect?” was designed and conducted by techconsult GmbH on behalf of Camelot ITLab GmbH. For this purpose, 200 companies that would like to implement SAP S/4HANA as an ERP solution in the future were asked about the status quo and plans for the transformation, the associated challenges, expectations and fears of the companies, as well as the requirements for SAP partners.
The study can be requested for free download at the following link (currently in German only, English version will follow soon): https://www.camelot-itlab.com/de/studie-s4hana-sap-2022/
Graphics for PR purposes on request.
