Building a Smarter Foundation: How PwC’s Cloud Foundation Services Accelerate SAP S/4HANA Success

The shift to SAP S/4HANA has become a strategic imperative as organizations race to modernize their ERP environments before SAP ends mainstream support for ECC. Yet for many enterprises, the path forward is anything but clear. Key decisions around solution architecture, cloud strategy, and business alignment often stall progress before implementation even begins. That’s where PwC’s Cloud Foundation Services for Phase 0 come in—offering a structured, insight-driven approach to de-risk and help accelerate the journey to S/4HANA. 

Solving the Uncertainty at the Starting Line 

Many SAP customers face a critical knowledge gap at the outset of their transformation. Whether debating between a Greenfield implementation or a system conversion, evaluating the costs and cash flow impacts, or determining how SAP’s RISE offering and “Clean Core” architecture fit into their future-state vision—organizations need clarity. The absence of a well-defined roadmap and shared organizational alignment can quickly turn an ambitious initiative into a costly and chaotic one. 

PwC’s Phase 0 services are designed to bring structure, strategy, and foresight to this pivotal early stage. By combining decades of SAP delivery experience with emerging technologies like AI and cloud-native tools, PwC helps companies build a resilient and value-aligned plan. It’s notable that PwC is also the largest enterprise user of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud in the world and helps clients apply lessons from their own journey. A distinctive aspect of the approach is their emphasis on cross-functional collaboration, enabling IT, finance, operations, and executive stakeholders to align on goals, scope, timelines, and investment strategies. The result is not just a project plan, but a roadmap anchored in industry leading practices, business strategy, and clearly defined success metrics. 

Proactively Identifying and Mitigating Risks 

Many ERP transformation projects falter due to surprises uncovered midstream—unforeseen customizations, incomplete data models, compliance gaps, or ambiguous process ownership. PwC’s Cloud Foundation Services aim to uncover these risks before they become project blockers. Drawing on lessons from hundreds of S/4HANA engagements, PwC provides a structured methodology to uncover technical and regulatory complexity early, including cybersecurity, data residency, and industry-specific compliance requirements. 

By resolving these challenges up front, organizations can significantly reduce downstream costs, avoid timeline disruptions, and confirm they are not making decisions in reactive mode. PwC’s approach helps establish that Phase 0 delivers actionable insights—not just slideware—through practical activities that shape a fit-for-purpose transformation roadmap. 

Building a Data Model for the Future 

A successful S/4HANA transformation demands more than migrating legacy systems—it requires rethinking how enterprise data flows across the organization. Over time, many SAP environments have accumulated fragmented data structures and custom code that hinder agility. PwC addresses this by working closely with business and technical teams to design a cohesive enterprise data model tailored for S/4HANA. 

This includes assessing and streamlining master data, enabling governance models are in place, and aligning business processes with the capabilities of the new platform. Additionally, PwC helps organizations define and track key metrics tied to business value, enabling continuous measurement and refinement throughout the transformation lifecycle. 

PwC’s Phase 0 offering is more than a technical assessment, it’s a strategic engagement that positions organizations to realize the full value of their S/4HANA investment. With a focus on business alignment, early risk mitigation, and a clean data foundation, PwC helps clients reduce implementation risk, improve decision-making, and accelerate time to value. 

By starting with a well-structured and insight-rich foundation, enterprises can transition to SAP S/4HANA with greater confidence and control—turning a complex migration into a catalyst for competitive advantage. 

What This Means for SAPinsiders 

Proactively address critical tasks at the start of the project. Unanticipated challenges—such as misaligned processes, unclear scope, or unrecognized compliance requirements—can lead to delays, cost overruns, and change fatigue. PwC’s Phase 0 services are designed to uncover these complexities at the beginning of the project, using a proven framework and industry accelerators to facilitate discovery workshops, stakeholder alignment, and risk assessments. By identifying and resolving key issues in the planning phase, organizations can prevent disruption and create a roadmap that is both executable and resilient. 

Use the business case to guide metrics and decision-making. The business case for SAP S/4HANA should serve as more than just a justification—it should function as a strategic guidepost. PwC helps organizations define clear KPIs tied to business value early in Phase 0, enabling them to track performance against expected outcomes throughout the transformation. These metrics support better prioritization, maintain executive alignment, and keep the focus on delivering tangible business impact. With PwC’s insights and methodology, companies can confirm their investments remain value-driven from planning through execution. 

Establish a robust enterprise data model early. A solid enterprise data model is essential for a successful SAP S/4HANA migration. Many organizations struggle with fragmented or heavily customized data environments that can hinder transformation. PwC’s Cloud Foundation Services help address this challenge upfront by conducting a holistic analysis of existing data structures and aligning them with the future-state S/4HANA architecture. This includes identifying redundancies, cleaning legacy data, and building governance models that help establish consistency across the business. By resolving data complexity early, organizations can help accelerate the deployment and avoid downstream integration issues. 

If you’re interested in learning more about PwC’s cloud foundation approach and overall S/4 implementation services, click here. 

If you’re interested in joining our team of SAP technology and transformation leaders, click here.