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Author's profile photo Gerard Koelmeyer

Top 5 factors for success with cloud projects

In this post I share thoughts on factors common to success in the cloud.

  1. All in on standardisation from business case to project organisation, only standard S4HC capability is considered; a ‘wandering eye’ for customisation and bespoke scenarios is engineered out of the approach by design

  2. Cloud mindset seen in everything that happens – from the use of adjacent cloud technology for example SAP Jam, JIRA and MS Teams for collaboration, cloud capability is exploited at every turn. Instead of bad practices managing by spreadsheets and email we see cloud productivity mastery
  3. Rapid adoption of productivity practices – capability designed to drive down the operational burden including test automation tools and knowledge sharing with Customer Community is keenly embraced
  4. Trust in SAP – instead of undertaking customer-specific cyber security testing, confidence is placed in SAP’s leadership in this area
  5. Knowing what to let go of – success in the cloud means some concepts of old and no longer relevant. These include performance tests, exhaustive solution documentation, the imperative of getting it right the first time and investing resources in bespoke capability. Instead, customers masterery means, for example, leaving performance testing to SAP, having faith in the system itself as documentation, embracing the sensibility of continuous improvement and smartly participating in SAP Customer Influence forums to influence product capability

Do you agree or disagree? What did I miss?

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      11 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Polly Gan
      Polly Gan

      Hi Gerard,

      Good insights! I have some thoughts and I will share with you later.

      Author's profile photo Sandeep Kumar
      Sandeep Kumar

      Gerard Koelmeyer Great insights, how about leveraging cutting edge stuff like ML, NLP and iRPA.

      Author's profile photo Gerard Koelmeyer
      Gerard Koelmeyer
      Blog Post Author

      well said, ‎@Sandeep!

      Author's profile photo Edrilan Berisha
      Edrilan Berisha

      I think the most important thing missing with a lot of huge customers is the point of "cloud mindset".

      I would like to add this to either that or to "Knowing what to let go of".

      I think if you go to the cloud you have to know that you may have not your personalization and customizing you used to have in your OP world. But unless it is about some real benefit due to a better calculation of a whatever KPI or number in your system. That change has to happen. There is no benefit if you changed the UI the way that your employees were used to work with since decades and now are insisting on that to continue.... These kind of customizing has to disappear in the "cloud mindset" of of everyone out there. Cloud really means one product for everyone.

      Author's profile photo Gerard Koelmeyer
      Gerard Koelmeyer
      Blog Post Author

      well said!

      Author's profile photo Eric Yu
      Eric Yu

      Hi Edrilan, thanks for sharing this and I think this should be also a part of standardisation, because user/project team should always keep 'fit to standar' in mind.

      Author's profile photo Tony Yan
      Tony Yan

      Thanks for the great sharing.

      I would like to add one comment about "Stay current". As we all know, during the project implementation process, we will definitely cross one or two quarterly release. As a consultant or a key user, they need to keep their knowledge up to date, to see what’s new in the new version, is there any modification and deprecation on the functionalities which in their scope. And also, do use the latest version of accelerators like test scripts, data migration templates, etc. That’s very important.

      Author's profile photo Gerard Koelmeyer
      Gerard Koelmeyer
      Blog Post Author

      Well said, Tony Yan ! Gone are the days of set and forget!

      Author's profile photo Priyank Kumar Jain
      Priyank Kumar Jain

      nice one. I think "technology adoption" needs a mention somewhere. Modern and ever-changing technologies are a reality and rapidly becoming a necessity.

      Author's profile photo Gerard Koelmeyer
      Gerard Koelmeyer
      Blog Post Author

      Agreed, Priyank Kumar Jain . Techniques and capability that didn't widely exist only a few years ago (ML, NLP, etc) are not front and centre to our S4HC value prop.

      Author's profile photo Sai Giridhar Kasturi
      Sai Giridhar Kasturi

      well covered Gerard. thanks for sharing.