Closing the Automation Execution Gap in SAP Environments: Lessons from Redwood

Organizations are pouring record budgets into automation, yet most still fail to capture meaningful ROI because complexity is crippling execution, according to Redwood’s 2025 Enterprise Automation Index. Per the report, 73% of companies increased their automation spend in the past year, yet fewer than 30% are fully utilizing their tools and less than 6% have achieved autonomous automation for any core business process.

Rama Vadakattu, SVP of global services at Redwood, argued this is not primarily a technology failure, but an execution gap rooted in complexity and fragmentation. Despite probable benefits in cost, workload reduction, and workflow efficiency, the resulting pattern is stalled initiatives that never scale beyond early wins.

Why Automation Investments Fall Short

Vadakattu identified the following four traps that keep automation from delivering value:

• Ad hoc tool sprawl, where business units procure their own automation tools, creating siloed “shadow automation” that lacks governance, shared data, and enterprise visibility.
• Stopping at the task level, with teams automating only simple, isolated activities while leaving cross functional processes vulnerable to failure and manual intervention.
• Legacy tech dependency, in which critical processes continue to run on outdated schedulers or basic scripts that lack modern visibility, error handling, or security but are considered too difficult to replace.
• No automation strategy, resulting in a fragmented collection of tools that are underused, misaligned, and operationally disconnected.

Complexity is another primary barrier to scaling automation. Redwood’s research finds nearly one in five professionals cite complex workflows as the number one obstacle, which mirrors Vadakattu’s description of decades of custom scripts, fragile integrations, and undocumented processes being in the way of enterprise modernization.

In SAP environments, this often maps to a mix of SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Integration Suite, and more being surrounded by non SAP applications and data platforms. Redwood’s RunMyJobs platform is designed precisely for this context, providing workload automation and job scheduling that orchestrates SAP and non SAP processes end to end, with integrations into SAP S/4HANA, RISE with SAP, SAP BTP, SAP Integration Suite, and other cloud solutions.

Actions to Scale Automation Effectively

Vadakattu outlined a multi-part response for closing the execution gap preventing scaling automation, including these points:

• Standardize before automating so chaotic manual processes do not become faster chaotic automated processes.
• Treat migration as a redesign exercise rather than a simple lift-and-shift of legacy jobs to a new platform, with a focus on consolidation and simplification.
• Orchestrate across systems and applications, which is particularly relevant for seeking clean core principles while coordinating mission-critical data and business processes.

Vadakattu also framed automation as a C-suite priority: CFOs view it as a cost-reduction lever, COOs emphasize efficiency and resilience, and CIOs see it as foundational to agility and AI readiness, even though fewer than 40% feel prepared for AI-driven automation today. Per the Index, top performers advanced automation maturity by selecting the right platform and partner. Redwood customers reportedly are twice as likely to cut manual effort by half, 1.6 times as likely to boost efficiency, and 1.3 times as likely to fully utilize their tools because they simplified their architecture and executed against a clear strategy.

What this Means for SAPinsiders

Strategic consolidation is becoming essential for meaningful automation ROI. Scattered tooling, task-level wins, and legacy schedulers prevent enterprises from scaling automation across complex SAP estates, which typically blend S/4HANA, SAP ERP, and various extensions. This shows SAP leaders the need to shift from incremental automation to platform consolidation around orchestrators that can govern end-to-end processes across both SAP and non-SAP environments.

Execution complexity is a decisive barrier to SAP automation maturity. Redwood’s findings highlight how years of custom scripts, undocumented interfaces, and fragmented integrations stall even well-funded efforts. Modernization cannot succeed through lift-and-shift or isolated workflow fixes; it requires partners and platforms that offer strategic redesign, simplification, and orchestration across systems.

Automation is a C-suite mandate tied directly to cost, resilience, and AI readiness. While CFOs, COOs, and CIOs view automation through different value lenses, they all see it as mission critical. For SAP end users preparing for AI-driven automation, Redwood’s research reinforces that automation strategies must be explicitly linked to business outcomes, not just technical execution.