Does your business use SAP? It could be marching into a perfect storm. Everything from the SAP S/4HANA deadline to a talent shortage, migration problems, and more could hit your procurement and accounts payable (AP) teams soon. Failing to plan now could freeze your organization’s long-term growth plans.
However, there are ways to prepare for S/4HANA transitions now so your team can zip around this fast-approaching storm. Here’s what’s on the horizon for businesses that need to transition to S/4HANA, along with how to make your migration as smooth as possible.
Why an S/4HANA Disaster Could Be on The Horizon
Not every procurement or AP leader knows how significant the SAP S/4HANA transition could be for their teams. Here’s why many teams are concerned about S/4:
The SAP Business Suite 7 ECC’s maintenance deadline is 2027.
According to Gartner, around 70 percent of Business Suite 7 customers who plan to move to SAP S/4HANA before the deadline haven’t migrated yet. Most business leaders don’t realize that the average time it takes to migrate is 2-3 years. That means if procurement teams don’t start planning for their migration soon, they could face extended maintenance costs.
SAP consultants are exiting the workforce and leaving a skills gap that could cause transition nightmares.
According to one report, 92 percent of organizations that plan to transition to S/4HANA are worried that a lack of skills and the competition for the fewer skilled resources will slow down their move.
SAP migrations are a hefty task.
Although upgrading to S/4HANA is expected to give businesses more flexibility, increased speed, and better scalability, digital transitions can be difficult. They could slow down growth plans for the duration of the upgrade or until businesses can get a firm grip on new capabilities. According to the earlier-cited study, of those organizations that have made the leap to S/4, 64 percent say integrations were a challenge.
How to Stay Ahead of S/4 Chaos
As the S/4HANA deadline quickly approaches, procurement and AP professionals can prepare. One of the easiest ways to bridge the gap between old and new SAP systems is to adopt an advanced procure-to-pay (P2P) solution.
These systems include SAP extensions that give users a digital catalog and purchasing marketplace that is as easy to use as modern consumer shopping sites. That way, employees can browse and purchase with approved suppliers and approve purchase requisitions within a single, intuitive platform.
P2P solutions roll purchasing data into a single platform that integrates with both old and new SAP systems. Although these solutions don’t directly move your organization to S/4HANA, they lay the groundwork, introduce digital processes, and ease the change management for a faster, simpler, and smoother transition.
Why P2P Solutions Prepare Businesses For 2027 and Beyond
Here are a few ways using an advanced P2P solution can help you resolve your business’ SAP concerns and move ahead of any competitors who delay:
1. Stress-proof your transition.
There are several ways advanced P2P solutions make the transition to S/4HANA easier. Here are a few:
- Increase user adoption and strategic opportunities. Advanced P2P platforms use a digital marketplace for purchasing. Because they feature a user-friendly design, these platforms require little training, so employees adopt them at high rates. In addition to increasing user adoption, an intuitive purchasing marketplace gives procurement more spend control and visibility. That way, it’s easier to see opportunities and strategize during transitions.
- Automate tasks. An advanced P2P solution will automate tasks and free time to focus on more strategic work. For instance, some platforms use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to automate purchase order (PO) and invoice management. They can create POs for you, complete three-way matching, and learn to improve your team’s workflows. That all means less work for you and more time to strategize.
- Simplify change management. By adding an intuitive P2P solution, you can reduce the impact of change. These systems provide an interface that requires little or no training—and is easy to use. That makes it easy to shift to upgrades without experiencing much, if any, day-to-day disruptions.
- Make your backend system transparent. Many of your organization’s users may have no idea what ERP systems you’re using. That’s not a problem if they’re using an advanced P2P solution. These solutions make it possible for typical users to go through upgrades to S/4HANA without them even knowing it.
- Reduce your transition’s impact on suppliers. P2P systems bridge the gap for suppliers during a transition to S/4HANA—making it easy to do business, uninterrupted, at every stage of the migration. P2P solutions also make it easier to work with suppliers by improving supplier collaboration. For instance, advanced solutions provide a two-way supplier portal—where buyers can submit POs, message suppliers, and access shipping notices. At the same time, your approved suppliers can send confirmations, reject orders, or fill you in on disputes.
Advanced P2P solutions also consolidate your supplier information and make it easy to see how you’re spending, whether you’re using old or new SAP systems. P2P solutions let you share supplier information across the organization so procurement can see the full scope of who the company buys from, can connect more suppliers, and can reduce supplier support overhead costs.
2. Make SAP integration seamless.
P2P solutions make it easier for procurement and AP to continue work during the transition to S/4. Advanced P2P platforms integrate easily with SAP—both old and new. That means you can keep improving, innovating, and growing during the transition.
3. Navigate change with a co-pilot.
Top-tier P2P solutions offer support. That can be a significant stress reliever when it comes time to manage change. SAP-compatible P2P solutions make it easy to shift information and move to your new SAP S/4HANA system with no additional training. Plus, you’ll work with a partner that’s used to helping organizations manage change.
Stay Ahead of the S/4 Deadline
By adopting an advanced P2P solution now, your organization can prepare for a smoother transition to S/4HANA. Want to see a top-rated P2P solution in action? Take a Vroozi product tour now to see how you can prepare for a smooth SAP migration and improve your procurement team simultaneously.
