Experience A Greater Business Alignment With SAP S/4HANA Cloud

As business environments are getting more complex in nature with increasing competition, cloud ERP solutions are gaining prominence. And SAP S/4HANA Cloud is not an exception either. In this article, I’ll focus the spotlight on five of the key-value areas of business where this solution is making its mark.

IDC MarketScape has named SAP S/4HANA Cloud as an ideal Cloud ERP solution for upper-midmarket and large companies. Moreover, Nucleus Research recognized SAP as a leader in the 2018 ERP Value Matrix.

So, how do these achievements matter?

In a world where handling business process workflow is all about automation, there are multiple ERP solutions that are thriving in the market of cloud computing. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has managed to secure its rightful place. The team of SAP has put tremendous time and effort into shaping up an intelligent innovation that will optimize core operational processes with a futuristic approach.

Benefits of SAP S/4HANA

If we were to sit down and list down the benefits that SAP solutions offer, then the list would be virtually endless. I am listing down three of the core benefits of S/4HANA below:

Ready Access to the Latest Innovations

It is a known fact that SAP keeps up the pace with the latest developments in the market and releases updates accordingly. If you are an SAP user, you get automatic software updates on a quarterly basis. This ensures that your system is equipped with the latest innovations pertaining to machine learning and predictive analysis.

Complete Optimization of Key Processes

The purpose behind automation is to achieve a completely optimized workflow that will streamline business operations. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has been built after rigorous testing of business processes. It provides built-in processes that are on par with the industry’s best practices.

Seamless Expansion of Business to New Markets

SAP solutions are synonymous with scalability and rapid deployment. Once you are a part of this community, going live takes only a few weeks, and that too in over 25 countries and 15 languages.

Top 5 Value Areas Catered by SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Businesses around the globe are constantly improving their digital strategies to keep up the pace with the digital economy. Decision-makers need to devise a cloud-first strategy that will address all future business needs. In recent times, investments are being made across the three available cloud service models – software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and platform-as-a-service (PaaS). With such strategic changes, the cloud will become the core model for the delivery of technology.

Now, let’s get started with the top 5 value areas of S/4HANA Cloud. They are:

• Increased Business Agility
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Smart Cloud ERP
• Faster Return On Investment (ROI)
• Improved Governance and Compliance

We will explore each of these in a detailed manner.

Increased Business Agility

The traditional methodologies used to run the business process can no longer be used in today’s digital age. They lack in speed and efficiency. Businesses need to be smarter and embrace an organic platform that facilitates rapid evolution on a massive scale.

This platform offers infinite possibilities as it supports cloud combinations (hybrid approach) along with on-premise systems that are coexisting in a business environment. Apart from this, it provides users with the ability to scale up the cloud footprint as per the requirements. Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities are also taken into consideration.

Multiple customer-specific integration scenarios can be managed seamlessly. This includes out-of-the-box connectivity to other SAP cloud products, such as SAP Ariba and SAP SuccessFactors solutions.

The IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Cloud 2017 Predictions, December 2016 had predicted that 55% of business apps will allow direct API access to most applications by 2019.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

The heavy investments that are required for infrastructure and other systems block a significant amount of working capital. This is the point where automated innovations like ERP come into the picture. They enable a business undertaking to carry out cost-efficient operations and achieve a significantly higher return on investment.

As mentioned earlier in this article, the S/4HANA Cloud solution offers rapid deployment options and saves huge project overhead costs. Support and training costs are also significantly lower which helps in freeing up valuable resources.

SAP uses a subscription-based pricing model that is extremely flexible. There are no upfront costs involved and it follows the pay-as-you-use concept. You can switch from license and maintenance to subscription, as per your convenience. The virtualized infrastructure reduces the ownership and maintenance cost as compared to real infrastructure (hardware, server, etc.)

73% of organizations consider lower total costs as a deciding factor for moving to a cloud service, according to Forrester, Global Business Technographics® Software Survey, November 2016.

Smart Cloud ERP

Digital transformation is happening everywhere, every minute, every second. In order to run a profitable business, a simplified digital core is key. A cloud solution that connects the entire business process in a secure, end-to-end manner is sought after by businesses.

S/4HANA Cloud uses intelligent machine learning algorithms and integrates with other applications to automate a particular business process. For example, integration with the SAP Cash Application will automate the invoice matching process and provide prediction results back to SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

Self-service intelligence with contextual analytics offers actionable insights that result in faster strategic decisions and scale up the growth trajectory of the business.

IDC, Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Services Spending Guide, July 2017:

Over the 2015-2020 forecast period, overall public cloud spending will experience a 21.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR),  reaching $203.4 billion by 2020.

Faster Return On Investment (ROI)

Achieving a higher ROI in the least amount of time is indirectly linked to a previous point covered in this article i.e. Lower total cost of ownership (TCO). In the digital age of the 21st century, organizations have shifted their focus from support to business value creation.

Even if you have invested in an on-premise SAP solution, it will incur significant expenses in terms of the infrastructure needed for deployment. This includes the initial investment (CAPEX) and the operational expenses (OPEX).

Cloud solutions offer a faster time to value along with the possibility of a two-tier deployment approach for subsidiaries and divisions. They can be upscaled and downscaled while the level of automation can be tweaked with the SAP® CoPilot digital assistant. It acts as the driving force behind business decisions with its machine learning capabilities. The ready-to-use applications improve employee productivity while increasing the return on investment.

Here is a screenshot that showcases an overview of the project’s profitability:

Improved Governance and Compliance

Business process automation is not just about optimizing the workflow for a better yield (ROI). It also encompasses aspects of data security and establishing a statutory compliance protocol to keep the data safe in the cloud.

The S/4HANA Cloud platform provides local regulatory compliance with tax support, accounting rules, and preconfigured audit reporting features. Furthermore, there are quarterly releases that consist of the latest compliance regulations.

The issue of data security also includes privacy. SAP always gives careful thought to all of the privacy policies. The icing on the cake is a built-in disaster recovery to ensure business continuity. It mitigates the risk of critical business processes.

Both business users and auditors get access to an intuitive dashboard that simplifies the complexities associated with cloud governance and compliance.

The Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and methodology, 2015-2020, 2016 have predicted that by 2020, 92%  of workloads will be processed by cloud data centers whereas only 8% will be processed by traditional data centers.

Align your business goals with that of SAP S/4HANA Cloud

With time, more and more organizations will migrate their legacy systems to the cloud considering the plethora of opportunities that such solutions offer. There are premier SAP consultancy services that guide you through the sophisticated deployment process and make your system cloud-ready.

They also ensure that you are adopting the right integration approach while vouching for an SAP S/4HANA Cloud solution for your business. The various approaches are summarized in the image given below:

So, get ready to experience the future of automated workflows and scale the heights of success!