By Jannis Gutermann
April 8, 2025
One customer came to us with some very specific goals: 1) reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for ERP solutions, 2) improve financial efficiency by cutting the monthly close process time by 50% and 3) establish a scalable platform for future business growth. To help our customer achieve these ambitious objectives, Answerthink created a plan to migrate their highly customized legacy ERP system to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud.
Key Challenges
Before implementing SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, the company faced several operational challenges:
- A heavily tailored on-premise ERP system that was costly to maintain.
- The existing ERP acted as an “Interface Hub” for multiple ancillary systems, creating integration complexities.
- A need to implement Central Invoice Management (CIM), a process that was new to the organization.
- Specific formatting requirements for quarterly and annual financial reports.
Implementation Highlights
The transition to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud was executed over a 26-week period, with hyper-care support following the go-live phase. Key implementation steps included:
- Migrating core finance and procurement operations to the new system.
- Deploying Central Invoice Management to streamline financial workflows.
- Integrating SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) for advanced financial reporting.
- Standardizing business processes across departments.
- Leveraging SAC for enhanced financial reporting capabilities.
Why SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud?
The organization selected SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud for several compelling reasons:
- Cost Efficiency: The cloud-based model reduced operational costs while eliminating expensive legacy system maintenance.
- Scalability & Visibility: SAP’s robust capabilities provided a foundation for continuous growth and operational transparency.
- Continuous Innovation: Biannual upgrades ensured the organization remained at the cutting edge of technology.
Business Benefits Realized
Since the successful implementation of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, the company has experienced significant improvements, including:
- Faster time-to-value with cloud deployment.
- Adoption of industry best practices for optimized workflows.
- Enhanced process efficiencies across financial and procurement functions.
- A future-proof ERP environment with regular system enhancements and updates.
Conclusion
By migrating to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, our customer successfully modernized its operations, reduced costs, and positioned itself for sustainable growth. The transformation not only streamlined financial management but also established a foundation for continuous innovation, ensuring the organization remains agile in a dynamic industry landscape.
More Information
Ready to move your on-premise ERP system to the cloud? Schedule a demo to learn more about the process and the many benefits of migration. Let’s get started!
