Survey Reveals Current State of SAP S/4HANA Migrations
New report from LeanIX and PwC finds enterprises are challenged, but optimistic about SAP landscape transformation ahead of 2025
Bonn/Boston - September 4, 2018 - LeanIX, the leading global provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions in Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), today announced findings from its inaugural “State of SAP S/4HANA Transformation” report. The report, conducted in partnership between LeanIX and PwC, gathered insights from IT leaders across global organizations to assess S/4HANA migration progress, approaches, and challenges faced along the digital transformation journey. Overall, the findings show that although organizations are prioritizing their migration projects, they are largely underestimating the complexity - and therefore, the time - to implementation.
“SAP S/4HANA is widely perceived as a critical driver of the digital business of the future, and yet many IT organizations are still falling short in the planning phase,” said André Christ, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, LeanIX. “Without the proper visibility into as-is landscape, the complexities of the SAP environment such as instances, clients, add-ons and enhancement packs will get the best of IT, delaying delivery times and impacting the businesses ability to seize the digital opportunity.”
The Complexity Conundrum
Overall, organizations continue to prioritize S/4HANA migration as part of their larger digital transformation initiatives. In fact, 20 percent of respondents reported they have already completed their migrations well ahead of SAP ECC’s end of life in 2025. However, nearly half (49 percent) reported they plan to complete migration by 2020. These aggressive implementation timelines indicate that IT leaders underestimate the complexity of migration.
Migration, Interrupted
The research also confirms a common set of challenges are plaguing organizations as they migrate to S/4HANA. Of those who have already or are in the process of migrating, respondents cited complex legacy landscapes (60 percent), high customization (59 percent) and unclean master data (51 percent) as the top three issues they have faced.
(Brown)field of Dreams
Further proof that organizations are ready for the transformation is confidence in their migration path. With a multitude of approaches, it can be difficult to determine the best strategy. From greenfield implementations that start from scratch, to brownfield implementations that take advantage of existing systems, to a selective migration that limits business disruption -- there exists a broad spectrum of options. According to the LeanIX/PwC report, of those who have not yet migrated, nearly half (44 percent) plan to use a brownfield approach, while 42 percent will go with a selective greenfield approach. Only 14 percent plan to use a full greenfield approach, indicating a mature avoidance of the rip and replace reflex, as IT teams consider the value of existing SAP ERP and BW systems.
“As transformation plans continue to evolve ahead of 2025, the survey indicates a healthy reliance on business capability mapping,” Christ continued. “With nearly three quarters (73 percent) of respondents citing use of the business capability mappingconcept to plan transformation efforts, manual collection of application and interface data will be a critical pain point. The LeanIX platform integrates with SAP Solution Manager, which is then mapped to the Enterprise Architecture model to provide a consistent view and ensure understanding across IT and business stakeholders. This view provides the foundation to then further develop the target landscape and define a roadmap to transformation success.”
More details on the LeanIX/PwC “State of SAP S/4HANA Transformation” report »
About LeanIX
LeanIX offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for Enterprise Architecture (EA), enabling organizations to make faster, data-driven decisions. Hundreds of global brands such as Adidas, DHL, Merck, Vodafone or Zalando use the LeanIX platform to increase transparency and visibility and drive real-time efficiencies. LeanIX addresses IT’s critical need to ensure high quality, real-time data is accessible to the people who need it. Use cases include application rationalization, technology risk management and the shift from monolithic architectures to microservices. LeanIX was founded in 2012 by Jörg Beyer and André Christ. The company's headquarter is in Bonn, Germany, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Houston, Texas.
To learn more about LeanIX, visit www.leanix.net or @leanix_net on Twitter.
About PwC
Our clients face diverse challenges, strive to put new ideas into practice and seek expert advice. They turn to us for comprehensive support and practical solutions that deliver maximum value. Whether for a global player, a family business or a public institution, we leverage all of our assets: experience, industry knowledge, high standards of quality, commitment to innovation and the resources of our expert network in 158 countries. Building a trusting and cooperative relationship with our clients is particularly important to us – the better we know and understand our clients’ needs, the more effectively we can support them. PwC. More than 10,600 dedicated people at 21 locations. €2.09 billion in turnover. The leading auditing and consulting firm in Germany.