Rapid adaptation to a changing world is a must. While classic IT environments have paved the way to digital transformation for many companies, technology is moving faster than ever, and organizations hoping to catch up need to respond to new conditions and developments in the business world.
The last three years have put the spotlight on Cloud solutions — they offer flexibility, fast time-to-market, scalability, and business continuity. Our apps, emails, files, entertainment, purchases, and have been in the Cloud for years. And now, complex platforms like SAP S/4HANA are making that shift to the Cloud as well. Still, it is understandable for large organizations with strict policies on data and digital to take more than a minute to make a decision on hosting a major investment like their ERP on the Cloud.
If you are one of them, here are a few points to help you build your pros and cons list.
Access Cloud-based services from anywhere with an internet connection. Enable remote work and collaboration for your employees, fostering productivity and flexibility, especially in today's evolving work environments.
Let your Cloud service providers handle infrastructure updates and maintenance tasks, ensuring that businesses have access to the latest features, performance improvements, and security patches without any disruptions or additional effort from the organization.
Accommodate growth, seasonal spikes, or changing business environments without a significant upfront investment on infrastructure.
Eliminate the need to invest in and maintain your own hardware and infrastructure. Pay only for the resources and services you consume. This allows you to manage capital expenditures, reduce maintenance costs, and provides predictable operational expenses.
Let the experts worry and invest heavily on encryption, access controls, and threat monitoring. Protect your digital assets and reduce the risk of security breaches more than you can with on-premise solutions.
Leverage built-in disaster recovery mechanisms and redundancy options such as data backup, multi-site replication, and failover — protecting you from loss in the event of natural disasters, emergencies, or system failures.
Readily gain access to a wider range of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics.
There are three key areas in your organization that will be affected by your choice. The benefits (and disadvantages) to their departments may help you decide on whether you are ready to go Cloud.
With SAP S/4 HANA on the Cloud, you can lighten the load of your technical support team and finally open up their bandwidth to establish new digital transformation projects that will open up opportunities for growth.
Choosing the Cloud edition is a decision to adapt tried and tested global best practices in procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, and more.
Project management for implementing SAP S/4HANA on the Cloud demands a completely different approach. The focus is now on the end goal of each business process. Consider selecting a partner who is well aware of the challenges that may come your way and who can offer the capabilities to counter them.
Before diving into your cloud move, consider the following:
If you choose to work on the Cloud, it is crucial to know where your data is processed, what laws apply, and what impact they may have on your processes. A migration to the cloud must therefore also comply with all applicable internal, sectoral, and national regulations.
Verify guarantees offered by the solution you choose. What is the availability of the solution? Is data migration possible if you change systems?
Consider the advantages and limitations of Cloud editions vs their on-premise counterparts — will your organization be able to effectively function? Should you consider a hybrid approach for your headquarters vs your satellite offices?
Remember that migrating to the cloud requires an open mindset and a different way of working, not just a technical shifting from one platform location to another.
Let delaware help. We are a global SAP Platinum Partner and have helped 50 customers worldwide move to SAP S/4HANA. We understand the ins and outs of both on-premise and Cloud implementations, and we can help you assess your readiness to make the move.
