Experience Matters – Recognize Expertise and Select the Right Partner
for your continuous success with SAP S/4HANA Cloud!
Cloud is not about Technology - It’s about Economics, Innovation and new Business Engagement Models. It therefore is all about transformative efforts, changing processes and business models in contrast to ‘just’ running a technology project and implementing a new solution.
Moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a crucial element of your business transformation.
Who will you entrust that to?
You need a true Partner for Success that brings
The right approach
Quality focus
Capacity and breadth of capabilities
Supporting you in your decision-making process we’ve developed a framework of 3 guiding principles now available to you in our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Partner Selection Guidance.
(1) Prioritize proven Expertise and Capabilities – Identify Expertise
Key to your success is a Partner’s understanding and embrace of SAP Activate for S/4HANA Cloud and a deep solution knowledge in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, proven through a fully certified, dedicated delivery team. The implementation price should not be a primary partner selection standard. Quality delivery saves costs while poorly delivered projects not only cost more upfront, but can result in ongoing costs, poor adoption, and unrealized innovations. Make a careful and conscious decision on which Partners to approach. Always remember: Knowledge and Expertise fuel your Success in Cloud.
(2) Ask the right questions in your Partner tender
Closely tied to Cloud is the expectation of an accelerated Time-to-Value and shorter project cycles, due to a paradigm shift towards a more prescriptive implementation approach and methodology. Acknowledging this shift, we strongly recommend to only issue Requests for Information, Proposal or Quotation that allow you to validate key factors for successful cloud projects.
Very specifically, cloud-focused Request for Information or Proposal will provide you clarity on each Partner’s dedication, commitment, delivery approach, quality and capacity.
Your partner of choice has to bring a breadth and depth of capabilities to help with:
Process changes
Program management and governance
Risk management
Organizational change management
(3) Stay in Control – Be ready to adopt – Be ready to innovate
While the actual implementation is the initial driver for your partner selection it only reflects a part of your efforts opportunity to fully capitalize on your investment and continue to extract new value release over release. At the end you’ll want to be empowered and ready for continuous adoption and innovation.
Hold yourself and your Partners accountable to exemplifying a strong cloud mindset and follow a prescriptive implementation approach anchored in SAP Activate for S4HC, and focused on achieving your desired Business Outcomes rather than focusing on Features & Functions.
A. Embrace the 10 S/4HANA Cloud Key Success Factors
Ensure you and your Partner acknowledge and agree to follow the 10 Key Success Factors
e.g. Adheres to SAP Activate methodology
e.g. Utilizes SAP S/4HANA Cloud Value Assurance service the first time a team implements S/4HANA Cloud
B. Empower your own team
An implementation at "cloud speed” not only depends on the Partner you choose, but also on your own team’s ability to make decisions at “cloud speed” and to challenge assumptions and previous approaches
Drive success in your SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementations by empowering your team with vital enablement offerings available to SAP S/4HANA Cloud customers and implementation partners. See Blog: Ensure project success with a fully enabled team
C. Knowledge Fuels your Success
Core Knowledge Base - Formal, continuous enablement prepares and leads to Delivery Readiness proven through Certification
Dynamic Working Knowledge - Cloud demands a fluent, constant learning mindset where one can only keep up with frequent changes in Product, Process and Approach by staying engaged. Embrace a changing and dynamic working knowledge.
Make ‘online’ resources part of your dynamic Knowledge Exchange toolkit; always work with latest information online and treat Best Practices Explorer and Activate Roadmap as ‘Product’;
D. Ensure your business leads the S/4HANA Cloud journey
Lock-in key members of your project team even before Partner selection and ensure they stay engaged at least for the Fit-2-Standard Workshops to ensure continuity and knowledge transfer to the Partner
Your S/4HANA Cloud Project has to be business-led (rather than IT-led) with a strong focus on desired business outcomes and your business team has to be involved at all stages
Ensure you understand the key milestones and that you align with your Partner on realistic expectations
Open and timely communications in a clearly defined engagement and governance model are key to fast “cloud speed” decisions
If this sparks your interest please take a closer look at our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Partner Selection Guidance, which also holds valuable tips for even when you have already selected your partner.
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