Introducing Dean Richards: A role model for SAP S4 Strategists

Dean Richards was a bit of a hero of mine. He played rugby for Leicester and England and later went on to manage some highly successful teams. The Leicester Tigers?website summarises his skills perfectly:

"A talismanic presence in the Tigers' back row, with shirt loose and socks down, Richards had the ability to read the game around him and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time on the pitch."

What I admired about him was that he always looked a little scruffy, seemed exhausted from the moment the game kicked off, yet had an uncanny ability to influence the game. As the quote suggests, he was always in the right place at the right time. Whether he was incredibly fast over the ground is debatable, but what was clear was his ability to read the game so well that he simply appeared where he was needed most, expending energy only when it truly mattered. He didn't chase the ball; he predicted where it was going and got there just in time.

So, what does this have to do with SAP S/4HANA? Well, to be truly successful with S/4, you need to read the game like Dean did—choosing your position wisely, even when the crowd noise suggests you should be elsewhere and avoiding the exhaustion that comes with aimless chasing. Even in a time when SAP has a relatively clear strategy and a stable approach, there are plenty of examples where foresight is crucial.

Take, for instance, clean core or cloud adoption. SAP’s roadmap is clearly leaning towards increased cloud components and innovation in the cloud. Now, will everything ultimately land in a 100% public cloud, or will a hybrid approach persist? We don’t know for sure. But what is clear is that organisations with cloud-enabled teams, the right tooling for the new landscape, and a cleaner core will be well-positioned to react to whatever SAP decides to do next.

Another example is SAP’s recent announcements about Databricks. How this will fully unfold remains uncertain, but one thing seems clear—there will be less reliance on BW, and more operational reporting will reside within S/4. However, immediately committing to a 100% Databricks strategy might be premature, given SAP’s tendency to introduce additional players like Snowflake into the mix. Pricing structures remain unclear (and by the time this is published, we might have more clarity). Will Databricks be bundled into the RISE contract? That remains to be seen. What we do know is that the general direction is evident, even if the precise path isn’t. Meanwhile, making a large-scale BW investment or ignoring Databricks altogether might turn out to be a poor choice.

The alternatives? You could do nothing—but Dean Richards wouldn’t have stood still, hoping to be in the right place by chance. In rugby, there’s a saying that someone who stays put will be in the right place once or twice a game, and they’ll be less tired than those who chase the action. But in reality, standing still usually means you’ll be too far behind to make an impact.

Or you could constantly chase the game—jumping from HEC to Hyperscaler to RISE—without a clear understanding of where things will ultimately settle. This approach is often encouraged by those caught up in the moment, but it’s a sure way to exhaust yourself without ever truly achieving your goal. Some of the early adopters of S/4 who rushed into Central Finance may have fallen into this trap, chasing the ball instead of strategically positioning themselves for the long game.

I had the chance to meet Dean once, and he struck me as not only a brilliant strategist but also a genuinely nice guy with a great sense of humour. His ability to craft a future-proof S/4HANA strategy was second to none! (Or wait… am I confusing S/4 strategy with rugby again?)

So, be a bit more like Dean. It doesn’t matter if your socks are rolled down and you look a little scruffy—what matters is that you anticipate where the SAP ball is headed before expending unnecessary energy. Make sure you’re in the right place when it arrives, ready to make your impact.

After all, in SAP as in rugby, the last thing you want is to be caught in a ruck you didn’t see coming.