Is There an Oxygen Crisis: Has the S/4 HANA Transition Left Operational Teams Suffocating?
SAP has always had a knack for driving its customers’ SAP operational team’s priorities, making it challenging for teams to deviate. The demands leave little oxygen for initiatives outside of them.
Things like SAP solution upgrades, security patches and updates, application of SAP Notes, evaluation of new, revised, or renamed SAP products, and Solution Manager upgrades and changes all require oxygen.
With S/4 HANA taking centre stage, requiring an even more significant amount of oxygen, many SAP operations teams may find themselves oxygen-starved. What little oxygen is left is all but consumed making it difficult to function. Brain fog manifests itself in various forms, from hiring freezes to initiative investment hesitations.
S/4 HANA
For many SAP customers, moving forward with an S/4 HANA transition is complex, and many have yet to decide their approach. It’s not indecision, there is a lot to consider. For example, is a Brownfield, Bluefield, or Greenfield transition the best approach? Should the 2027 transition deadline be met? Is an on-premises or SAP RISE infrastructure strategy the way forward? Should perpetual-type licensing be retained, or is SAP’s SaaS offering better? And for those contemplating a Greenfield transition, Is an alternative ERP a consideration?
So, until these questions are answered and decisions are made, some companies are considering not investing in new SAP resources or SAP operational initiatives altogether.
The lack of oxygen has nullified confident decision-making for many.
An observable pattern
However, this approach could be more sustainable. It has happened before. In the 1990’s, during the great Australian recession, and in the years post the year 2000.
During the 1990’s recession, most companies stopped investing and stopped replacing employees. In the years post 2000 many companies delayed IT investment due to the need to bring much of it forward.
In the end, though, investment flowed; it needed to. Companies had to restart investing in new technologies and people. In fact, to catch up, the subsequent investments were substantially more significant than the average.
SAP customers may find themselves in a similar position if not well planned. Short on resources and behind the eightball operational initiative-wise. Future years may require a much greater than-average investment cycle to catch up.
All is not lost.
Although it’s easier, not all SAP customers are taking this approach, and for those who are, it will eventually pass. Eventually, new resources will be required, and investment in SAP operational initiatives will make sense. Holding patterns cannot go on for too long. So, for those SAP operational teams suffering from immobilisation and struggling with too little oxygen to operate efficiently, take heart. It too, shall pass.
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We know the SAP operations and infrastructure automation solutions landscape and have already done the legwork identifying the best available solutions.
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