Maximizing Value

Throughout 2023, a consistent theme for many SAP organizations is the need to do more with less. In these uncertain economic times, organizations are unwilling or unable to invest in new solutions or team members. Multiple SAPinsider research reports and end user interviews have confirmed that organizations must maximize the value they can get from existing teams and solutions already on hand. Making processes more efficient is a top priority for many business leaders. This was the focus of our recent SAPinsider roundtable discussion “Real Talk: Navigating 2023 Economic Headwinds While Providing Value with SAP.” In this discussion, SAP community evangelist Paul Kurchina spoke with Scott McCullough, SAP Solutions Architect at NetApp, Prakash Pattaiyan, Principal Product Manager of Microsoft, and Adam Mommersteeg, SVP Solution Architecture of Protera. We will take a closer look at the discussion, highlighting key topics on how SAP organizations can maximize value. Enterprise Architecture To make the most of what they have, organizations need to get back to basics when it comes to their enterprise architecture. It is vital for organizations to leverage simple and proven design patterns, according to Mommersteeg. “We take the outcomes we're looking for, break them down into fundamental building blocks and then use the proven technologies and tools that we utilize to really help facilitate streamline project delivery, centralization of data, and quick and agile outcomes in the cloud,” said Mommersteeg. Cost optimization was also a major focal point for the experts on the call. Pattaiyan highlighted the fact that organizations must ensure they are continuously monitoring and updating their architecture to ensure they have the best possible fit, and that they are observing best practices. “You have to make sure you're continuously fitting to the reference architectures that we keep releasing and SAP keeps releasing… It's a continuous process. We've also released quality checks, inventory checks and things like that, that our customers and partners can take advantage of as well,” said Pattaiyan. Using the Tools in Your Toolkit SAP and its partner organizations are constantly rolling out new products and new features, but many SAP organizations fail to take advantage of this and the benefits that these updates could provide. “It's really important to understand what tools you have in your bag and how they apply to your environment. I see a lot of customers that go into the cloud are focused on this build lift and shift and not really taking advantage of those tools,” said McCullough. Organizations may have valuable solutions available to them, but simply not know they exist. The pace of change within the SAP universe is always speeding up, and organizations should make sure they are aware of the latest tools and have the skills to utilize them. Automation Automation is one of the best strategies organizations can leverage to provide value within SAP. Before automating business-critical functions, organizations would be wise to ensure they have a strong foundation, so they have standards to automate against and leverage. “Without the defined building blocks, building that automation, executing on that automation, driving down time to value for project environments or landscapes, creating HANA scale out clusters, automating those to spin them up and spin them down becomes very difficult. The building blocks are a critical foundation,” said Mommersteeg. Security Risk mitigation is still a valuable piece of the puzzle for SAP organizations. Standardizing and automating critical building blocks not only enables automation, but can also have the added benefit of helping an organization run more securely. “Once you have the data in the cloud, you still need to respond, you still need to mitigate risk, you still need to operate your business. Having the standards drives down response time. When it comes to an AI OPS perspective, having the standardized tools allows you to respond quickly, to mitigate quickly, and to contain an issue,” said Mommersteeg. Partnership SAP organizations have robust options to choose from when searching for a partner to help them maximize the resources at their disposal. Whether it is introducing new technology, simplifying architectures, deploying automation tools, or leveraging data, SAP and related organizations offer numerous options to help businesses get the most bang for their buck. To hear in-depth insights on these topics and more, you can watch the full roundtable discussion “Real Talk: Navigating 2023 Economic Headwinds While Providing Value with SAP.”