Since the launch of SAP S/4HANA, the momentum around the next generation business suite has grown as customers, partners, and industry leaders have recognized the unique advantages of having a digital core to power the digital transformation that businesses crave. More than 1,300 customers have already selected SAP S/4HANA as their digital core making the solution the fastest-growing SAP product to date. In addition to customer momentum, more than 1,000 SAP S/4HANA reseller firms are already engaged and the ecosystem of SAP Partners are managing over 80% of the SAP S/4HANA projects worldwide.
SAP is adding to this growing momentum and excitement with our latest SAP S/4HANA announcement enriching the next-generation business suite - which is the industry’s first digital core.
The Next Wave of SAP S/4HANA Simplification and Innovation
In this latest release, SAP delivers a massive wave of simplification and innovation to reimagine financial and operational mission-critical business processes. This update helps to drive innovative use cases across lines of business such as finance, sales, service, marketing, commerce, procurement and sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain, asset management, research and development, and human resources. This new wave of innovation introduces SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management, our fully digitized enterprise management solution, and includes the SAP S/4HANA Lines-of-Business solutions.
Customers can now drive end-to-end digitized processes such as order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, plan-to-produce, request-to-service and more finance capabilities in the core. For example, SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management offers native integration with the solutions in SAP’s portfolio (on-premise and cloud) for each line of business – examples include SAP Cash Management for finance; SAP SuccessFactors solutions in human resources; the Ariba Network in procurement, and SAP hybris solutions in marketing and commerce.
The visual below highlights the business scope of this update for the SAP S/4HANA on-premise edition. The simplification and innovation that are part of SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management are in blue, and innovations outside the scope of SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management are noted in grey.
SAP has often highlighted SAP S/4HANA Finance (formerly known as SAP Simple Finance) and its ability to help customers close their books more quickly and realize higher revenue. This is not the only business process that has been reimagined with SAP S/4HANA. Here are some use case examples of how we have reimagined other business processes with a digital core.
SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain Speeds Responses to Changes in Supply and Demand
SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain is simplifying supply chain processes and data. Once the processes are streamlined and the information is accurate, companies experience faster planning and execution from the embedded analytics and decision support in SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain.
For example, SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain, which is based on real-time data, provides the insight a warehouse manager at a wholesale distributor needs to plan for upcoming cycles. The manager can also quickly respond when demand increases—without being short on supplies. SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain lets the manager apply different simulation scenarios and define a new plan based on unexpected spikes in demand. And depending on order upticks or lulls, the warehouse manager can respond efficiently with real-time and adaptive freight planning, visibility into available delivery trucks, and warehouse automation based on the Internet of Things.
The wholesale distributor is able to realize:
- Higher inventory turns and revenues, reduced stock outs, and revenue loss
- Higher on-time delivery, reduced order lead times, using inventory more efficiently to buffer against uncertainty
- Reduced warehouse and transportation spend, improved flexibility, and lower customer order cycle times
Based on SAP benchmarks, companies that put SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain to work in their supply-and-demand environment have 50% faster production planning operations and 17% lower inventory carrying costs when they apply what-if scenarios to evaluate different problem-resolution scenarios.
SAP S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement Connects Trading Partners to Speed Order and Invoice Cycles
In addition to supply chain management, businesses can reimagine their sourcing and procurement with SAP S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement for networked commerce. This use case is an example of how SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management offers native integration with the Ariba solutions for networked commerce.
Every day employees at electronic manufacturers or food suppliers are under huge pressures to source and procure materials and ingredients for production. A single price increase or a storm that prevents deliveries has huge impacts on the business. SAP S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement reduces the stress and frenzy of locating, purchasing, and procuring critical business supplies. It also increases profitability and improves risk management.
Business rely on SAP S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement for their spend analysis, sourcing contract management, supplier management, procurement, service management, and payables management across a business network. SAP S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement, the combination of SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management with the Ariba solutions, specifically the new AribaPay solution that won the 2015 Hasso Plattner Founders’ award, allows businesses to securely connect to their trading partners from desktop and mobile clients. Businesses also can discover new suppliers and compare their ratings to existing providers.
Businesses are able to realize:
- Increased profitability derived from employee compliance and sustainable cost savings
- Effortless user experiences with unprecedented transparencyinto spend
- Reduced IT costs with “connect once, connect to all” collaboration
- Faster order and invoicing cycle times with fewer errors
- Ability to drive early payment discounts
- Improved management of supplier-based risks
These are a couple of examples of how SAP S/4HANA helps companies digitize their business operations. I invite you to learn more about how a digital core and a fully digital enterprise management solution lets you reimagine your business with the new Use cases for SAP S/4HANA Flipbook.
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