Your business can work smarter with SAP S/4HANA

Digital technologies have been transforming the business landscape for decades and that is only going to accelerate. SAP S/4HANA helps companies keep pace, with tools that give them the flexibility and agility to explore new opportunities.

Priorities may vary between different industries, but we all face a common set of challenges as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 transform the world of business. Today’s organisations must negotiate ever faster intelligent decision-making, which is driven by a tsunami of data that can only be turned into usable information with help from artificial intelligence (AI). This is making legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems look increasingly outdated.

SAP S/4HANA is a smarter, cloud-native solution that is designed to help users thrive in the world of digital business. SAP S/4HANA is built using the power of SAP’s HANA in-memory database, simplifying the data model and eliminating redundancies. Built-in machine learning automates key business processes and empowers employees with real-time business and predictive insights, enabling them to redirect their efforts away from routine tasks to where they can add the most value.

Deploying a digital core will also make it easier for businesses to adopt new, transformative solutions as they emerge. This is in stark contrast to the integration challenges presented by older, monolithic ERP solutions.

By choosing NTT DATA as a partner in your transformation, you can rely on our deep industry knowledge and strong track record of SAP S/4HANA implementations for a faster, more efficient transformation.

Balance simplicity and customisation

You know what makes your core business unique, but why reinvent the wheel when it comes to the digital transformation of other processes and support functions? Our proven Large Enterprise Acceleration Program (LEAP) layers flexible customisation on top of standard company and process models to protect what makes you special while we implement proven best practices wherever possible.

As a recognised leader in SAP and especially S/4HANA services, NTT DATA combines a structured approach and industry knowledge with agile implementation to accelerate and manage your program of change. With more than 450 SAP S/4HANA implementations already completed, we will work with you to roll out a version of SAP S/4HANA that’s uniquely suited to your business. That might be anything from a single, on-premise instance of S/4HANA to a complex multi-cloud architecture.

Managing your transformation journey

All businesses need to be more flexible and agile in today’s volatile business environment. We are all moving in the same direction towards a digital future but the starting point varies. Wherever you are on the journey, we can support you as you take the next step.

Most enterprises have already taken the first step towards digital transformation with some level of data digitisation. This includes adopting technologies such as sensors and automated machines, integrated controls and cybersecurity.

Implementing SAP S/4HANA enables companies to take the next step – business digitisation. By integrating across OT and IT, enabling production and business systems to interact and by implementing advanced data analytics, enterprises can unlock potential new revenue streams, target customers more accurately and improve processes, thereby transforming operating efficiency and costs.

Possible benefits extend far beyond the manufacturing process itself into other business areas, such as delivering real time data for finance operations, vendor analysis and better visibility of global procurement, to name a few.

Data holds the key

The most fundamental change brought by business digitisation is the shift from measuring against historical data to using real-time data flows to optimise performance dynamically across multiple parameters. This is the key to developing new business models and enhancing the profit potential of the business. 
It’s the kind of change that can enable radically new ways of doing business, such as hyper-customisation in manufacturing, connected vehicles in automotive or ‘cure as a service’ packages in the life sciences, for example.

Typical challenges

Like any big change, making the leap to digitise your business comes with challenges.

• There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, yet extra customisation generates added complexity, pushing up costs and preventing a fast roll-out and adoption.
• There can be resistance among senior stakeholders because of the perceived risk of business disruption and worries over the likely cost.
• Adoption can also be delayed by a reluctance among staff to change the way they work and adopt new, standardised processes.

NTT DATA’s approach to SAP S/4HANA projects tackles all these challenges head on. Our proven, agile strategies for organisational change management ensure everyone embraces the new ways of working.

Optimise delivery and adoption for better results

Industry knowledge and experience is one of our greatest strengths and we use it to your advantage in SAP S/4HANA projects.

We take an approach based on model companies and best-practice processes that we have developed over time to suit each business sector.

We understand that every enterprise is different, but having a common starting point is an effective way to speed up developments and increase confidence about how your chosen solution will work. It also reduces the need for testing although, of course, testing remains an important part of any roll-out.

Some customisation will always be needed, but we analyse your existing processes so we can optimise the degree of customisation and prevent unnecessary complexity and delays.

Our structured approach operates in three phases.

Discovery

We explore where you are on your journey to the cloud and how well our established business models fit with your organisational set up and processes. We also begin the change management process, carefully preparing users to adopt the coming transformation with enthusiasm.

Blueprinting

We map your business processes in detail and determine exactly how much customisation you need to adapt our models to suit the way you work. This approach of using proven best practice models and adapting them with flexible customisation, can massively reduce and even half project lead times.

Delivery

Using agile practices and development sprints, we work with you to rapidly design and scale up the roll out of SAP S/4 HANA across your organisation. Testing begins and soon ramps up from technical unit tests to user acceptance tests for end-to-end processes.

This generalised process maps successfully onto the specific Activate Methodologies developed by SAP to manage S/4HANA deployments for users faced with a range of different scenarios.

The combination of model-based design and agile implementation typically enables us to deliver an SAP S/4HANA project between 40 and 60% faster overall, depending on the degree of customisation. 

Take the next step with a trusted partner

Now is a great time to digitise your business and secure a competitive advantage. You don’t need to navigate the tricky path to the future alone. You need the right partner and you need to choose carefully.

Choosing a partner with a proven track record of delivering successful transformation through SAP S/4HANA helps maximise the rewards and minimise the risk of disruption.

NTT DATA supports companies at every step of the transformation journey. Using our global reach, we have analysed a huge range of projects to understand the reasons for success, as well as the potential pitfalls. We can come in early to advise and help you plan and from there you can take it as fast or as slowly as you want.

NTT DATA is more than an IT services business. As one of the world’s largest industrial organisations, we have been at the heart of all previous transformation waves in key industries worldwide.

Combined strengths

Leading research companies, such as Gartner, IDC and NelsonHall, all recognise NTT DATA as a leader in SAP and especially in S/4HANA services. Our global manufacturing practice combines all these specialist capabilities in one global team, skilled at addressing the key challenges facing industries today and tomorrow from the most strategic position: leadership in core systems.

We’re also a leader in cloud-native solutions. We have partnerships with Microsoft, AWS and Google Cloud for the delivery and migration of SAP solutions using their cloud platforms, and our multi-cloud capabilities mean we’re equally happy working with other leading platform providers. In fact, our cloud expertise and the data storage benefits of SAP S/4HANA together enable us to provide savings on cloud storage costs of up to 85% as an immediate benefit of making the switch.

Simple is better

Unnecessary complexity is the enemy of a fast and effective transformation. Our approach to SAP S/4HANA is all about keeping things simple wherever possible. By customising solutions and processes only where needed, we safeguard what makes your company unique while ensuring that your new, smart processes match proven best-practice standards from across your industry. It’s the ideal combination.

“NTT DATA’s aggressive expansion of its SAP capabilities through acquisition, a close relationship with Microsoft Azure and its S/4HANA implementation experience gives it a strong, broad global delivery capability with specific industry and locally tailored capabilities.” 

David McIntire, NelsonHall IT Services Research Director.