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former_member197599
Discoverer

As a former consultant who has visited a number of customer sites over a span of 10 years, I have a clear understanding of how consulting and customer support work together to solve customer challenges. It was always fascinating to witness the preciseness of the support organization when targeting customer issues and presenting relevant findings and solutions.

So it was no surprise to me when SAP announced in 2015 that our Service and Support organizations were joining forces to better serve our customers. One year later, we unveiled the evolution of that unified organization now called Digital Business Services, as well as SAP S/4HANA service packages. This new offering is our first package under a reimagined support-first go-to-market model for SAP S/4HANA implementations.

In my current role, I help our field organization support our customers as they purchase and receive various technology solutions. And now that SAP S/4HANA service packages are part of our portfolio, the way we deliver value to our customers is changing, providing options that help ensure implementation success at any engagement level.

This shift represents a transition to a more-defined scope of packaged service offerings with a support-led approach that is a significantly bigger in scale than seen in the past.

The SAP S/4HANA service packages include:

Each service provides significant value to all our customers and partners at any stage of their SAP S/4HANA implementation. Here a few of these advantages:

1. End-to-end engagement

From the identification of a business case and gathering of requirements and all the way through going live, engagement is a consistent process. By learning best practices and key lessons along the way, you can move from high-impact planning to co-innovation.

2. Consideration of key values and potential circumstances

Just as every customer is unique, so is its implementation experience. SAP or an SAP partner can bridge any experience gap to help ensure that the implementation is resourced with the right skills at the right time from the start. As a result, you can anticipate what will be required and know how to avoid potential pitfalls.

3. Implementation partner agnosticism

Whether you choose to work with SAP or an SAP partner during the implementation, you will have a powerful opportunity to leverage a trusted advisor that will help you focus on potential pitfalls, customize your solution as needed, and provide support throughout the journey.

4. Accelerators to get up to speed significantly faster

This approach jump-starts processes and streamlines innovation in a matter of days.  You can take advantage of simple assistance when learning the system, a tailored set of best-practices documentation, or customization to fit your business needs.

5. SAP Activate methodology

The beauty of this methodology is its ease and ability to kick-start your innovation journey. However, the key differentiator is this methodology’s ability to help businesses learn about the system. After a fit-gap analysis, your organization can identify critical areas that require optimization. From there, you can refocus efforts to create value-adding processes.

6. Customization

Every company has individual needs, objectives, business models, and varying IT pain points. However, developing custom modifications that do not really answer those concerns can consume a good portion of total cost of ownership. By taking the time to scrutinize your business requirements before customizing a solution, you can realize the potential of simplification and cost reduction. That’s the advantage of SAP S/4HANA services packages – they can tailor the software to fit your unique needs and help ensure the best value is delivered.

7. Flexibility throughout the implementation

It’s nearly impossible to predict the future 100% of the time. The foundation of these service packages is based on a long-term relationship, where the business collaborates with a trusted technical quality manager (TQM) throughout the engagement. You can work closely with the TQM to continuously adjust service plans, wherever needed. By the end of the planning phase, you’ll have a significantly better understanding of your needs and a well-detailed road map for implementing SAP S/4HANA.

Learn more about the Digital Business Services organization and our service packages to see how we can support your implementation of SAP S/4HANA. Join us at SAPPHIRE NOW, and speak with our solutions experts at the Digital Business Services campus to discover the best SAP S/4HANA implementation approach for your organization.

SAP S/4HANA Service Packages - Lifetime Support by SAP