How to accelerate your journey to S4/Hana

I’ve noticed that most large SAP enterprise customers are using the old versions that are showing their age. This makes it hard to create a single source of “truth” for the business and allow the business to take advantage of intelligent technologies and innovations such as:

·      Real-time analytics

·      Machine learning

·      Artificial intelligence

·      Big data

·      Cloud

·      Internet of Things

Eventually, most SAP customers will need to migrate to the SAP S/4HANA platform. This typically requires a large investment and can take many years to implement depending on the size of the organisation.

Is there a more cost effective and efficient way to proceed?

I think that companies can use SAP Central Finance (CFIN) as a means of gradually evolving towards the SAP S/4HANA world, reaping value at each step along the way.

Some of the benefits of SAP CFIN include:

1.    Centralises and harmonises data into a single global instance, which can significantly boost the efficiency and effectiveness of the finance function. (e.g. improved financial close tasks, cash flow management, revenue recognition etc.).

2.    Allows users to create a global, common reporting structure - providing a solid base for pro-active decision-making, business strategies and meeting stakeholder needs.

3.    Provides an improved platform for financial planning, resulting in real-time planning data that facilitates proactive and predictive financial reporting capabilities.

4.    It is a cloud-based solution – reducing ownership and maintenance costs.

From my experience, SAP CFIN can provide a non-invasive approach to adopting financial benefits from the SAP S/4HANA platform. Starting the SAP S/4HANA journey with a CFIN instance can give the benefits of a greenfield implementation over time with transformational system and process improvements.

I will be more than happy to share my views in more detail. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss.