2023 is the year of the poly-crisis, referring to the multiple, simultaneous global emergencies: the surge in energy prices, inflationary pressure, climate change, and lingering supply chain disruptions, to name a few of the many challenges faced by businesses.
There is enormous pressure on businesses today to create more and more value in a complex and dynamic business environment. The shift in consumer preferences, technology advancement and climate change are redefining how businesses need to adapt to structural modifications and continue with their transformation at a pace never seen before.
In line with the current global challenges, the theme of SAP Sapphire 2023 is "Future-proof your business." In this blog, we delve deep to understand how businesses can transform and derive business value through S/4HANA implementation.
Business Model-driven Transformation
Now the business needs value from SAP S/4HANA transformation. Upgrading an SAP ECC system is one of the most extensive and expensive decisions Business and IT leaders will make, which can last several years.
The new market drivers and re-imagining business models based on customer needs will determine SAP S/4 implementation, potentially transforming their operations for the next decade. Few examples:
- Deliver more services rather than products for new revenues generation models
- Online channel growth to B2C for personalized and targeted medicines
- Monetization and selling of data
- Consumer product companies and retailers by embracing a circular economy-driven business model
- Adding and selling energy solutions in the current portfolio and creating a new marketplace
- Invest in bio-degradable and paperboard-based packaging product as sustainable packaging grows
- Invest and upgrade product lines for sustainable product manufacturing to increase the sales of sustainable products like more carbon neutral, close to zero carbon special products
- Product category growth with a price premium for consumers and plan for product expansion
- Response to new market drivers across Industries, Auto, Utilities, and many others
Moving to S/4HANA will enable new business models to meet stakeholders' and consumers' demands in digital business. With Tech Mahindra’s NXT.NOW™ framework, our customers can IMAGINE, BUILD, RUN revolutionary business models to be competitively dominant and Rise beyond for a better, equal future
Driving Business Value from S/4HANA Implementation
A modern composable ERP digital platform capability has evolved significantly in recent years. A modern ERP is highly connected and integrated with a best-of-breed line of business applications and flexible "plug and play" multi-cloud architecture leveraging intelligent technologies on a solid technology foundation.
Organizations looking for SAP S/4HANA transformation will ensure their investment brings value and will continue to derive value over the solution's lifetime. Based on where their industry is heading and where the business should be going by developing a strategic vision, which is essential for a measurable result during and after the SAP S/4HANA transformation.
To drive values, a well-designed ERP capability map should be in place for differentiating elements to determine which part of business capability needs to be designed and upgraded based on additional investment in the solution to provide value to the business. Organizational design, operating model, and business process management is often the most critical determinant of success.
Any transformation in the organization should be driven by entire industry value streams and mapping-based business processes unique to your business to enable high-level benefits to the capabilities to deliver business outcomes.
Our business-led and IT-enabled approach maps all the objectives, understands a new solution's impact on your business operations, and aligns stakeholders with realizing a successful S/4HANA program.
Speed to Value-Driven Implementation Approach
Business conditions are consistently changing. Doing a project faster limits the change that can impact the project as the solution changes based on business needs. The major decisions that affect the solution must be made early based on a clear strategy to foster change and drive transformation.
SAP S/4 delivered using agile methods is a better approach to drive value and emphasize the processes, which need additional technology focus on helping in achieving business capabilities and future scalable architecture for SAP S/4HANA transformation.
Any anticipated challenges should be mitigated through early demos of the solution validation and continuous business involvement to provide input until they see the solution for their pain points to have a higher confidence level in the final products.
Sustainability – Net Zero Enterprise
As net-zero has become an organizing principle for business, companies need to transform their business and operating models to pursue long-term value creation, which depends on their ability to reduce the carbon emissions of the existing portfolio.
The ERP implementation can improve new sets of sustainability KPIs on top of transaction linear efficiency, which may require changing the process when embedding into it. ERP's core strengths have always been in reinventing sustainable business processes, understanding complex business challenges and optimizing existing business processes.
Many S/4HANA projects have been driven by the move to embed sustainability into business strategy and enable a sustainable low-carbon economy from various initiatives to measure carbon impact across enterprise activities.
Data Monetization
SAP S/4HANA enables a data-driven approach by combining all data, preparing data structures for real-time requirements, and processing big data. The S/4 implementation should focus on developing a data monetization strategy by identifying the most valuable data to you and your broader ecosystem, developing a plan for collecting, storing, and analysing it, and then monetizing it.
SAP S/4HANA provides real-time data visibility, advanced analytics capabilities, such as predictive analytics and machine learning, improved data visibility, and better data governance. By monetizing its data, companies can gain insights into customer preferences, create customized products or services, product usage and development, and market trends while increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs.
Digitally Transform and Future-Proof your Business
Futureproofing is a way of operating, and it can help you achieve greater agility and transform your business. Many SAP ECC customers are looking to migrate to S/4HANA. However, the most successful transitions to S/4HANA incorporate real business value.
At Tech Mahindra, we are helping enterprises through this journey from resilience to relevance with solutions powered by next-gen tech for successful customer transformations.
Join us at SAP SAPPHIRE 2023 as we unleash the strategy for unlocking the full potential of your business by enabling you to achieve greater agility through trusted expertise and proven innovation, which will help you stay ahead of the NXT change coming your way!
About the Author
Avanish Kumar,
SAP Practice Head , Tech Mahindra
Avanish has over 28 years of experience in the Industry and SAP domain. Avanish is passionate about working in sustainability to enable business value-driven S/4HANA sustainable transformation for clients. He has extensive experience developing sustainability solutions for different industries using SAP technologies and digital platforms.
He is a certified sustainable supply chain professional and a regular blogger on sustainability, supply chain, and SAP. Avanish has a Bachelor’s in Engineering from IIT, Roorkee, and a diploma in sustainable business strategy from Harvard Business School.
