Growing importance of SAP business solutions for digitization

A recent study by techconsult and LHIND examines the relevance of new SAP solutions in the economy and the challenges companies are face when implementing them. Key findings: For the majority of companies, are willing to use new SAP solutions and although they are also taking the path to the SAP cloud, they tend to underestimate its benefits.

Kassel/Norderstedt, October 22, 2020 – Three quarters of the companies surveyed in the study already use one or more SAP solutions today. A further 22 percent plan to use them in the future. S/4HANA, the successor to the widely used SAP R/3 system, is also to be used more extensively in the coming years. While currently around a quarter of the companies already use S/4HANA, this number is expected to rise to 76 percent in the midterm.

A strong trend is also emerging in the areas of intelligent services, digital platforms and modern technologies (e.g. Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain), which, according to the authors of the study, make up an intelligent company: although only around a third of those surveyed are currently implementing these topics, in addition around half of the companies are planning projects in these areas. "The use of data-driven intelligent solutions is an essential component for ensuring the future-proof orientation of every modern company. The study shows that SAP offers the right solutions for the needs of companies and that these solutions are increasingly being accepted," says Carsten Fleer, Vice President SAP Intelligent Enterprise at LHIND.

Challenges in dealing with SAP applications

Nevertheless, many companies face various challenges when dealing with SAP applications: More than 53 percent of companies describe the high degree of individualization and customization of existing SAP systems as challenging. A lack of internal know-how (50 percent) and insufficient resources are cited by many respondents (40 percent) as the greatest obstacles to a transformation to S/4HANA."Many companies recognize, especially in the current situation, that appropriate digitization of processes gives more stability and flexibility to businesses. Both in times of crisis and beyond exceptional situations. Be it through collaboration tools, through a production linked via IoT or in digital exchange with partners within the supply chain," says Heiko Packwitz, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of Lufthansa Industry Solutions, assessing the companies' intentions.

Cloud solutions will prevail

One tool designed to enable companies to overcome these and other challenges is the SAP Cloud Platform (SCP). It offers services for the development, integration and operation of cloud applications and the possibility to develop your own, completely individual extensions. Customers can also find application scenarios and pre-built services for IoT or AI. The users surveyed in the study rate the easy integration of external business partners, authorities or internal systems as particularly useful (60 percent).

Almost a third of companies with up to 4,999 employees and almost half of companies with 5,000 or more employees currently use SCP. The study shows that companies are much more open-minded about a cloud solution than in the past. SAP expects SCP to become the standard in the medium term. Customers are following this path, so that in just a few years, according to the authors of the study, 80 percent of SAP users are expected to rely on the cloud solution.

The question about the benefits of SCP also revealed that companies that already use the platform rate its benefits more highly than those companies that are only planning to use SCP.

In addition, the study investigated which migration strategies companies prefer when introducing S/4HANA, how data analysis with the SAP Analytics Cloud is successful, as well as which industries are pioneers on the way to the SAP Cloud, what they use it for and what requirements they have for IT service providers when implementing it.