Streamlining Success: From Home Moves to Cloud Transitions

Imagine being a modern-day nomad, traversing the tapestry of life with an astounding 34 moves under your belt. Just last month, my family embarked on a new chapter, planting roots in our new London abode.

Packing and unpacking so many times has honed my skills in space optimization and time management, valuable assets that transcend physical moves. Preparing for a new home, much like transitioning to a cloud ERP environment, presents an exciting opportunity to tailor your surroundings to current and future needs, driving improvements every step of the way.

From this perspective, moving into a new home is very similar to shifting from an on-prem environment to a cloud ERP environment. “Moving house” here translates into adopting a modern delivery model to become more productive and drive innovation for the future.

This parallels the evolving IT landscape, where modernizing infrastructure and applications remains a chief concern for CIOs. The State of the CIO study underscores this trend—30% of surveyed CIOs are focusing on enhancing IT-business collaboration, while 28% prioritize the modernization of application and legacy systems, along with security and risk management, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Accenture's study reinforces this shift, showcasing the cloud as the preferred platform for innovation and operational enhancements.

However, the effectiveness of this transition hinges on applying a strategic approach. Here, my number one takeaway from countless moves proves invaluable—a rigorous decluttering to set the stage for the future.

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Adopt an ERP Clean Core Strategy

In essence, moving is an exercise in deciding what is important, and what is not - an approach reminiscent of the tidying expert Marie Kondo's wisdom. According to Marie, you need to decide which objects spark joy, and which objects have simply become joyless clutter. It's about discerning what matters most and shedding the excess baggage.

Applied to ERP, adopting a clean core cloud strategy is equivalent to decluttering your digital home. This process ensures that your move to the cloud is efficient and opens doors to future opportunities. The real clutter that hampers your innovation isn't just the physical objects; it's the complexity of outdated legacy systems, interfaces, process and even your organizational structure. These become a burden over time, impeding agility and innovation.

A clean core strategy paves the way for simplicity and agility. Rather than transporting a complex IT infrastructure (full of customizations and modifications) to the cloud, businesses can standardize their ERP operations & underlying business processes, tapping into best practices and customizing only where differentiation is crucial. Listen in to the 80/20 rule for differentiation beautifully explained by my colleague @Paul Saunders.

?Drive Innovation With Greater Flexibility, Speed, and Control

Let's dissect the Clean Core—a convergence of six crucial dimensions of ERP and Business: the software stack, extensibility of functionality, integrations, end-to-end processes, data, and operations. These dimensions interact to empower businesses with enhanced productivity, sustainability, and the ability to adapt business models at greater speed. By preserving this clean core, businesses can reduce maintenance efforts and total cost of ownership. At SAP our Business Technology Platform supports this strategy as this is our future proof platform for extensibility, adaptation, integration, and innovation.

While all six dimensions are important, one dimension in particular holds immense potential - business process reengineering. Amid cloud migration, the opportunity arises to redefine and adapt processes to current and future needs. This drives innovation by streamlining processes and minimizing customizations, allowing for seamless integration of cloud-compliant upgrades and extensions.

And don't think the journey ends once you've transitioned to the cloud. Maintaining a clean core requires dedication and vigilance. It's about ensuring a resilient and agile organization, processes and resulting business by having controlled modifications, a reliable landscape, and efficient processes. The reward? Accelerated innovation, smoother execution, and better risk management—backed by improved data quality, intelligence, and governance.

Interested in more insights? Let's connect here and delve into the Clean Core strategy for driving cloud-based innovation. Oh, and if you seek more than just digital wisdom, I've got more moving tips to share. ??

For a deep dive into the ERP Clean Core Strategy, explore further here: https://www.sap.com/products/rise/clean-core.html

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