Launch Of SAP S/4 Provides Catalyst For Organizations To Update Their Next Gen Apps Strategy
The February 3rd, 2015 New York City SAP S/4 launch event brought a positive closure for customers seeking the next generation apps strategy from SAP. At a high level, the SAP S/4 HANA offering offers:
- a new suite of applications built only on top of SAP’s in memory database technology, also known as the SAP HANA platform
- a user experience built from the SAP Fiori technology that also starts with a mobile first paradigm
- delivery in the cloud, on-premises, and hybrid
At launch date, the first set of public SaaS offerings will include Simple Finance (SFIN), project delivery, and sales cloud for customer. Constellation estimates that the refactoring process of 400 million lines of code will take between 4 to 6 years. Constellation estimates that the functional parity on the vertical and micro vertical industries will take even longer.
The Bottom Line: Now Is The Time To Rethink Your Apps Strategy With SAP
While determining where to go in the future, Constellation recommends the following strategies in determining a go forward strategy with not only SAP, but also legacy ERP vendors on the journey to digital business and digital transformation. (see Figure 2).
- Ask for all copies of previous order docs and price lists
- Itemize every unit of software and cost per unit
- Use third party maintenance as a lever
- Battle indirect licensing
- Understand your license usage
- Never, ever, bundle your contracts
- Focus on designing SOA Principles
- Stabilize the core, invest in cloud
- Remember you are the boss of the relationship
Figure 2. Four Paths Of Modernizing Your Legacy Apps
Your POV
How do you feel about your SAP investment? Is SAP meeting your needs or are you going elsewhere? Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) com.
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- Vendor selection
- Implementation partner selection
- Connecting with other pioneers
- Sharing best practices
- Designing a next gen apps strategy
- Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support
- Demystifying software licensing
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