SAP S/4HANA - are you already profiting?

Successful implementation of SAP S/4HANA

We accompany your company during the implementation and beyond. Find out everything about SAP S/4HANA and our consulting services here.

Your route to SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA is a new world. With SAP's integrated solution, companies can manage, connect, control and analyse all processes and resources even better and faster.

Properly understood, however, SAP S/4HANA is not just a technical upgrade of existing systems. Rather, SAP S/4HANA is a strategic opportunity to realign your company's entire business model, primarily

• By building a digital system architecture,
• through the use of contemporary cloud solutions,
• through new analytics capabilities,
• through more easily scalable processes or even
• through the application of artificial intelligence.

The advantages and new functions of SAP S/4HANA are convincing.

• SAP S/4HANA enables end-to-end processes and analytics in real time.
• A wide range of best-practice standard solutions are immediately available - simply plug-and-play for numerous sectors and industries.
• With SAP Fiori, SAP S/4HANA also offers an intuitive user interface with a modern design.

How we support you on the way to SAP S/4HANA

We are your consulting and implementation partner. Our consultants help you to implement SAP S/4HANA - with the experience from numerous implementations and the knowledge of SAP from more than 25 years.

• We check to what extent your company is ready for the changeover to SAP S/4HANA - and bring along the appropriate tools for this.
• We show you the different operating models for SAP S/4HANA and weigh up the respective advantages and disadvantages together with you.
• We recommend a suitable method of migration - always with a view to a contemporary and flexible target architecture.

Detailed examination before the introduction of SAP S/4HANA

Before implementation, we usually check within the scope of a preliminary project whether and how SAP S/4HANA pays off best for your company. At GAMBIT, however, this check is not a purely IT-heavy process.

We rather carry out the analysis under the following aspect: After the changeover, the functions of the platforms and databases should, in contrast to before, offer clear advantages, both for the management and for the individual divisions.

In other words: The switch to SAP S/4HANA should pay off for your company both strategically and operationally - and in measurable terms.

Our audit gives you a glimpse into a possible future. In this way, we lay the foundation for you to make a sound and safe decision.

Migration to SAP S/4HANA in day-to-day business

Migration to SAP S/4HANA is a costly and complex undertaking. This applies to the technical implementation, to the often large number of users, as well as to the budget and time planning.

Any changeover must be carried out in parallel with ongoing operations - and without becoming a burden on day-to-day business. To ensure that the changeover goes as smoothly as possible for your company, we recommend that you pay particular attention to the following aspects, among others:

• Do not calculate time and budget too tightly! Since unforeseen events or errors can always occur in such a complex project, you need a time and financial buffer.
• Prepare your organization! Projects of this magnitude need to be well prepared in terms of timing for all stakeholders and users, and planned changes need to be well communicated.
• Test extensively before go-live! Ideally, all future user groups should already be involved in these tests and all future applications and processes should be run through.
• Use the know-how and experience of external partners! External consultants can support companies in many ways: for example, with regard to the optimization or transformation of existing business processes or the introduction of new business models.
• Appoint an expert and manager for project management! Unclear responsibilities, a lack of trust in leadership among those involved, or communication problems can quickly prove to be a stumbling block for the entire process.
• Look at the hardware if you want to implement an on-premise solution. Investigate early on whether your own IT infrastructure is designed for this path. Not every server on which the previous ERP software is still running is also suitable for SAP S/4HANA. Adaptations and investments may still be necessary.

What is the right time to convert to SAP S/4HANA?

The changeover must be feasible for your company at low risk and as problem-free as possible. Therefore we also consider the timeline of the changeover.

From 2027, SAP will discontinue maintenance without additional costs and the further development of the predecessor software SAP ECC. This will give you still enough time to act - without having to act rashly.

We recommend our customers to deal with the changeover at an early stage. Companies should not underestimate the time and effort involved in preparing and implementing such a project.

In addition, as the end of maintenance approaches and the number of companies that still need to migrate increases, there may not be enough resources available from consulting firms.

Companies should avoid exceeding the maintenance limit at the end of 2027 at all costs - acting too late can have dramatic consequences for the security and operation of SAP systems.

Get off to a good start with SAP S/4HANA: Readiness Check

GAMBIT does not only give a recommendation whether the current one is the right time to convert your company to SAP S/4HANA. We also analyze whether your company is ready for it.

Among other things, we assess the integration of programs in SAP S/4HANA which were developed in your company itself.

We also use tools to determine the difference between your current system and the state after the changeover. Various tools with different focuses are available for this purpose.

1. With Business Scenario Recommendations (BSR), we investigate which benefits you would particularly benefit from during the transformation to SAP S/4HANA - beyond the generally known advantages of SAP S/4HANA.

These include significant improvements in processes, such as simplified transactions or previously unrecognised value creators.

2. With the SAP Innovation and Optimisation Pathfinder, individual information sources can be aggregated, prepared and evaluated.

The advantage of using Pathfinder is that it saves time. On the other hand, the findings from the evaluation can be diverse and all the more interesting due to the diverse sources. Pathfinder also sorts the different areas according to the amount of potential for improvement.

3. the SAP Transformation Navigator provides companies with answers to the question of what benefits can be expected from new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) or Blockchain technology.

The Transformation Manager can also provide a chronological order for the introduction of new technologies and show which benefits will result for the company.

4. The SAP Value Lifecycle Manager (VLM) can improve on-time performance. It helps the company's business units to stay within budget.

It also increases value performance. This can be done, for example, through process improvements: The Value Lifecycle Manager identifies these opportunities for improvement, diagnoses the shortcomings of a process and makes recommendations for improved performance.

Which SAP S/4HANA operating model is right for your company?

Systems that have grown over many years, heterogeneous databases for different markets and specialized user roles inhibit companies in their further development.

Users, however, have become accustomed to the systems and solutions. They are therefore often skeptical of innovations - or even reject them.

With a due diligence review, we look at the operating models on an objective level: We evaluate strengths and weaknesses and provide an outlook on opportunities and risks. In doing so, GAMBIT considers both the impact on the systems and business effects.

Depending on the individual situation, SAP offers various solutions:

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud (private or public),
• On-Premise (on-site in own data center or hosted via hyperscaler) or
• Hybrid (a hybrid of cloud and on-premise).

With due diligence, GAMBIT consultants will find the right solution for your company.

SAP S/4HANA: Options for the operating model

When choosing the operating model, these questions are particularly important:

• where the data is stored,
• where application programmes and infrastructure are available
• what costs are incurred in each case
• what consequences the operating model has for expandability and the use of best practices, and
• how flexibly the evaluations can be accessed geographically.

Whether stationary or in the cloud: The decision on this can have significant consequences for the field service, for branch offices or national companies as well as for the cooperation with service providers.

There are basically three variants available today:

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition or PCE for short (formerly: Single Tenant Edition or Extended Edition).
• SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition (formerly: Multi Tenant Edition or Essential Edition)
• SAP S/4HANA On-Premise (classic on-premise in your own data center or hosted by hyperscalers such as AWS, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure).

The difference between these basic directions is not so much a question of infrastructure (SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition can also be hosted by a hyperscaler, for example), but rather whether

• a company buys the licenses for the software ("software as a product" as with the on-premise variant)
• or whether it subscribes to the software and pays a fee ("software as a service" or "software subscription" as with the cloud solutions).

There is no blanket answer as to which concept is best. In order to arrive at a suitable solution, experts have to analyse and get to know the respective company situation in detail. The strategic company goals play a decisive role in this.

GAMBIT advises you which constellation seems to be the most promising for the achievement of your corporate goals. In our recommendation, we take into account the technical readiness and the timeline for implementation. In addition, we show you which advantages you are likely to benefit from.

In the following, we compare different approaches and address the fundamental differences between the solutions.

1. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition (PCE)

Diese Lösung ist die von vielen Kunden bevorzugte Variante: eine Cloud-Lösung, die von SAP betrieben und bei einem Hyperscaler (Amazon Web Service AWS, Google Cloud oder Microsoft Azure) gehostet wird.

Erhältlich ist diese Lösung als Teil von RISE mit SAP (RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition).

Lizenziert wird die SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition als „Software Subscription“.

Mit der PCE können Unternehmen den Funktionsumfang und die Erweiterbarkeit einer On-Premise-Lösung mit den Vorteilen einer Cloud-Lösung verbinden. Der Scope entspricht der On-Premise-Lösung.

Die Lösung kann auf verschiedene Arten implementiert werden: sowohl mit Greenfield (Neuimplementierung), Brownfield (System Conversion) als auch als selektive Migration (Selektive Data Transition).

Unternehmen können die SAP Best Practices nutzen (nur bei Greenfield).

2. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition

Die SAP S/4HANA, Public Edition ist eine sofort einsatzbereite SaaS-Cloud-Lösung.

Unternehmen abonnieren die Software, die von SAP gehostet und betrieben und dem Unternehmen über das Internet zur Verfügung gestellt wird.

Erhältlich ist diese Lösung als Teil von RISE mit SAP oder für Neukunden im Mittelstand über GROW with SAP.

Diese „Public Cloud“ kann nur mit dem Greenfield-Ansatz (Neuimplementierung) genutzt werden. Sie ist über die

• SAP Business Technology Platform Extension Suite (Side-by-Side-Erweiterbarkeit) mit whitelisted APIs,
• für Key-User als In-App oder
• mit On-Stack Development erweiterbar.

3. SAP S/4HANA On-premise

Über diese Cloud-Lösung lässt sich der Best-Practice-Standard nutzen.

Im Gegensatz zu allen anderen Bereitstellungsoptionen steht für diese Variante nur SAP Fiori zur Verfügung.

On-premise bedeutet in einem klassischen Sinne, dass Software und Hardware lokal vor Ort in einem eigenen Rechenzentrum installiert und betrieben werden. Dort befinden sich meist Anwendungen, Datenbanken und SAP Systeme.

Zudem spricht man – aus einer lizenzrechtlichen Perspektive – von On-Premise, wenn SAP S/4HANA bei einem Hyperscaler gehostet wird.

Ein reines On-premise ist aber ein theoretisches Konzept. Meistens sind On-premise- und Cloud-Lösungen heute miteinander verbunden und tauschen Daten aus.

So kommen heute Datenquellen hinzu, die sich bereits in der Cloud befinden. Dazu gehören beispielsweise externe Datenbanken für Customer Relationship Management, Social Media oder die Daten, die von IoT-Applikationen übertragen werden.

Nachteile einer On-premise-Lösung: Die Kosten und der Aufwand für die Wartung und Support liegen beim Unternehmen. Zudem mangelt es im Solid Core möglicherweise an Geschwindigkeit, die sich mit Cloud-Lösungen realisieren lässt.

SAP S/4HANA: Implementation

With SAP Activate, SAP Data Services and the SAP Migration Cockpit, tools and solutions are available to support companies in the transition to SAP S/4HANA.

With the tools, processes are sensibly broken down into individual steps that are easier to understand. In addition, there are various aids or simulations in a test environment.

This pragmatic support lowers the hurdles to implementation. What's more, the tools also make it easier for employees to access SAP S/4HANA in their daily work - whether at the clerk level, in IT or in management.

SAP Activate, for example, is an approach that allows SAP S/4HANA to be introduced quickly and efficiently. The solution is based on a standardised environment and consists of three parts or "pillars".

The Activate methodology includes

• Best practices for business processes (Content),
• a Guided Configuration, and
• the methodology for implementation with agile approaches in the core phases of the project (Methodology).

GAMBIT: Your experienced partner for your SAP S/4HANA implementation

GAMBIT's specialists are on hand to support you on your way to SAP S/4HANA.

Since, as a rule, technically all ways to SAP S/4HANA are possible, we recommend our customers in most cases an implementation according to the SAP Greenfield approach and thus a modern IT architecture:

• 100 per cent in SAP standard,
• simple and permanently flexible,
• individually and infinitely expandable through high-performance apps and other options such as the Extensibility Framework and
• connected via real-time interfaces.

If the existing system landscape has to be retained, we will of course also implement an system conversion according to the brownfield approach on request.

You can find out how the approaches differ in the article Greenfield vs. Brownfield.

The introduction of SAP S/4HANA in a company is a far-reaching decision. However, once you have made this decision in favor of SAP S/4HANA, you will benefit from the conversion in the long term.

Would you like to take advantage of this opportunity now? Whether system architecture, roadmap, design or implementation - we support you from the beginning to the end of your SAP S/4HANA project.

Your advantages of an SAP implementation with GAMBIT

More than 200 people who know what is important in such projects. Experts who have an eye on every little detail - but do not get bogged down. And a project management that is as progressive and reliable as it has to be for such an implementation. All this is GAMBIT - SAP Gold Partner and certified for SAP S/4HANA and the SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

With us, different also means better - three advantages in detail

• Proprietary, proven process model
• Individual live model companies
• State-of-the-art project management

We have a tried and tested agile end-to-end process model based on SAP's Activate approach. This makes the implementation of SAP S/4HANA even faster and more secure. Guaranteed.

In your exclusive Project Sandbox on AWS (Amazon Web Services), SAP S/4HANA can be experienced live immediately - completely customised and from day one.

Your internal experts can access the system immediately, run through your processes with their own data and see what SAP S/4HANA is capable of. In addition, the expansion of the system can be actively accompanied in this way - optimisation already takes place during the conception phase. This can be called time-saving and efficient - or simply a good idea.

We rely on modern project management. This includes modern IT solutions and the latest methodologies. For example, we rely on tools such as Microsoft Sharepoint, OneNote and MS Teams for project work.

All this facilitates cooperation, increases transparency and clarity, minimises risks and errors - and thus improves the result.

What GAMBIT stands for:

• 25 years of experience and competence as an SAP management consultancy
• 200+ employees in operation
• 80 employees certified for SAP S4/HANA, SAP S4/HANA Cloud and Landscape Transformation 2.0
• 15,000 users in application management
• 2 locations (Germany and Switzerland)
• 2,000 successful projects in more than 70 countries
• 5/5 - this is how our customers rate us on Google on average

SAP S/4HANA with GAMBIT. Simply everything from one source.

Whether architecture in SAP standard, roadmap, implementation or licences, we support you. With GAMBIT you get SAP S/4HANA as a complete package - secure, on time and individually fitting.

• Design and system architecture
• Licenses (GAMBIT is SAP license partner)
• Pre-project (roadmap program)
• Implementation
• Support and Application Lifecycle Management

You still have questions?

• Would you like to know more about SAP S/4HANA?
• You want to get to know SAP's cloud solutions?
• Are you wondering whether RISE with SAP is worthwhile for you?
• Are you interested in a special Fiori app?

GAMBIT has the answers. Call or write us - and schedule a free phone appointment or video call with one of our experts today. We'll be happy to help you.

Glossary: SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA

SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA, (SAP S/4HANA) is the in-memory version of the SAP Business Suite ERP platform. The new generation of the SAP ERP suite has a simplified data model and intuitive user interfaces. The open architecture is optimized for in-memory databases. The application can be run as an on-premise or cloud version and can be deployed in a hybrid environment. In 2027, SAP will discontinue maintenance and further development of the predecessor system SAP ECC 6.0.

SAP HANA

SAP HANA is a database and software platform from SAP. The platform enables the development and integration of software applications. It is based on an in-memory technology that enables processes and analyses in real time. SAP HANA is the basis for SAP S/4HANA.

ERP

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. This is the task of controlling and planning resources in the company on time and according to demand. This includes, for example, personnel, purchasing, logistics, materials, operating resources, equipment, information and communication technology and IT systems.

SAP Fiori

An important innovation under SAP S/4HANA is SAP Fiori, SAP's new User Experience (UX). This feature offers a role-based and contemporary user experience for SAP users. Whether in the office or on the road - the web-based SAP Fiori interface can be used device-independently, with smartphone, notebook, desktop or even tablet.