There are a number of technical benefits of implementing SAP S/4HANA. The SAP HANA in-memory platform is ideal for processing a high volumes of data in real time. SAP claims that S/4HANA will allow you to take advantage of the IoT (Internet of Things), mobile technology, Big Data, real-time analytics as well as other technical advances.

This information is fine if the key decision maker is the CIO or IT Director, which is rarely the case. The key decision makers for this type of investment is usually the CFO and COO whose input will weigh much heavier on the CEO. Rather than the technical benefits they want to hear the business benefits. ‘I don’t care about the speed of the system, it’s the speed of delivery to the customer that I’m concerned about’, are the typical words from many COO’s.

Let’s look at one area where the speed of the system influences the speed of the business and show the COO how his wishes can be met.

In a number of companies the MRP run can take a long time, 18 hours to 24 hours, and in some cases longer. This means that MRP is not run daily and there are a number of missing parts for production which leads to goods not being delivered to customers on time. With S/4HANA:

  • The time to run MRP is dramatically reduced. Instead of 24 hours, MRP can now run in 4 hours so it can be run daily rather than weekly.
  • This means Purchase Orders are raised sooner to meet demand.
  • Replenishment is carried out at a more frequent interval.
  • This simplifies the work of the planners and stock levels can be reduced as inventory is flowing consistently.
  • Production demands can be met sooner to produce the goods for the customer sooner.
  • KPI for lower inventory levels can be met.
  • On-time delivery will be higher.

By running S/4HANA not only do the techies benefit but the business gets a huge benefit too.

These benefits cover all of the required business functions from HR to Finance, Supply Chain to Plant Maintenance.

If you want to learn more, talk to us and understand the business benefits that we have brought to companies with our S/4HANA implementations.