The question of modernizing your SAP is no longer a matter of “if” — it’s a matter of “when”. Continuing to rely on outdated infrastructure puts strict limits on productivity, efficiency, and flexibility compared to the advantages offered by state-of-the-art technologies.
SAP modernization, automation, and integration provides you with enhanced data management, streamlined processes, and up-to-date information.
Read on to learn more about the five essential steps you should take to implement SAP migration and future-proof your business.
5 Ways To Modernize Your SAP Systems
Successful SAP modernization requires a well-planned, holistic approach. True transformation means examining your existing infrastructure, processes, data management and integration touchpoints before you can lay a robust foundation for the future.
Focusing on these five key pillars can help you prepare the ground and unlock the full benefits of a modern cloud-based ERP:
1. Turn Managing Change Into Creating Opportunity
The preparation stage is a chance to collect ideas from your subject matter experts on how automation and integration could improve their day-to-day lives and empower them to take control of how the tools they use every day interact. Use this period to identify processes that can be automated, replace outdated tools with more efficient solutions, and dive deep with your teams to optimize data and workflows.
2. Discover and Document Legacy Applications
Thoroughly mapping legacy systems currently integrated across departments in complex custom applications is essential before SAP S/4HANA migration. Document each application’s purpose, the user department served, and supplied data in detail. The proper documentation of all legacy application dependencies and processes avoids potential issues and ensures a smooth migration. This comprehensive review identifies which legacy systems provide continued value and so should be retained and integrated versus those that are ready to be retired.
Useful legacy systems can be seamlessly connected to a modernized environment via integration platforms as a service (iPaaS), like the Boomi Enterprise Platform, maintaining their value while allowing transition without disrupting critical workflows. Boomi enables easy connection between on-premises legacy mainframes and SAP, preserving existing functionality.
3. Record and Assess Manual Processes
True modernization and automation requires a sophisticated evaluation of your operations beyond what’s needed for a basic SAP migration. Simply replacing inefficient manual tasks with automated versions risks keeping your team at the same level of efficiency as before. Thoroughly record each manual business process in detail, from start to finish, and look for opportunities to streamline your workflows. Any repetitive or redundant steps are ripe for automation.
For example, implementing robotic process automation (RPA) bots can automate repetitive rule-based data entry. This improves day-to-day operations, unlocking greater productivity and flexibility and allowing team workflows and technologies to improve side-by-side.
4. Evaluate Vendor and Partner Relationships
Optimizing external partnerships and communication is crucial. Analyzing integration points, data exchange reliability, and current efficiency levels with all vendors and business partners should help inform your modernization planning.
An iPaaS ensures accelerated SAP modernization and the seamless, dependable sharing of critical information between SAP and external systems post-migration. This maintains productivity and profitability across the value chain through improved processes. For example, integrating suppliers via EDI eliminates manual data entry, speeding up order fulfillment.
5. Establish Data and Compliance Groundwork
Poor data quality results in poor decision-making and missed opportunities. It also significantly hampers growth, leading to decreased productivity, increased costs, and ineffective processes. Financially, companies can lose an average of 30% of revenue due to low data quality, with annual costs reaching up to $14.2 million. Reliable, consistent data is indispensable for informed decision-making.
By implementing data management solutions like Boomi DataHub and golden records, you can establish unified views of core entities. Standardizing codes and identifiers across modules removes inconsistencies and data quality checks and validation rules catch issues early.
When it comes to compliance, Boomi enables adherence to data governance best practices. For example, implementing data lineage tracking satisfies financial auditing requirements. Clean, governed data empowers users and streamlines reporting processes post-migration.
How to Choose the Right Cloud Platform for Modernization
Selecting the right cloud platform is a critical decision that can significantly impact your business operations. Key criteria to bear in mind throughout the evaluation process include scalability, integration capabilities, security, and cost:
- Scalability ensures the platform can adapt as your business needs evolve over time.
- Comprehensive integration functionality smooths data exchange between the modernized SAP environment and any external applications or databases.
- Security is non-negotiable when handling sensitive business and customer data.
- Cost predictability prevents unbudgeted expenses derailing your modernization goals.
Knowing SAP integration best practices can ensure that you find the right integration partner who can help you lay the foundation for a successful SAP migration.
For more information on SAP modernization, read our SAP integration planner’s guidebook.