Enterprises Hesitate to Upgrade to SAP’s S/4HANA Intelligent ERP

ISG Provider Lens report finds many enterprises across the globe sticking with older ERP systems amid economic uncertainty

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Many enterprises across the globe may delay large-scale SAP S/4HANA transformation and implementations due to economic uncertainty, even as the company is pushing the benefits of its intelligent ERP system, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The ISG Provider Lens SAP HANA and Leonardo Ecosystem Partners Archetype Report finds that instead of upgrading or adopting SAP’s S/4HANA, some enterprises may continue their existing SAP ERP setup and maintenance arrangements to meet short-term goals such as cost management and agile delivery. Enterprises may also look to move their SAP functions to the cloud as a way to rein in costs, the report says.

There is a large base of enterprise clients across the globe that have not made the decision about whether to move to S/4HANA, the report says. In many cases, these enterprises are concerned about the cost, complexity and manageability of a transition. Service providers are assuring these enterprises that they will continue to support older systems.

Still, some enterprises may turn to S/4HANA because of project speed, simplicity, cost and solution management needs, the report says. SAP’s evolution to S/4HANA has come in response to changing enterprise needs and IT requirements.

“SAP launched S/4HANA to address enterprise needs centered around growing IT complexity, legacy applications and customizations, database migration and maintenance,” said Jan Erik Aase, director and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “S/4HANA helps simplify data and applications while providing a rich user experience.”

To help ease the transition to S/4HANA, SAP-related service providers have enhanced their conversion and migration services. They have added industry-focused preconfigured templates for speedy implementations to tap the large market of enterprises seeking to take the brownfield implementation route, the report says. Service providers continue to strengthen their portfolios to meet enterprise requirements for landscape transformation, intelligent enterprise-led transformation, conversions and implementations and for managing existing legacy SAP ERP offerings.