How to Streamline SAP Integration? End-User Focus is the Answer
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Key Takeaways
⇨ 50 percent of SAP users rely on SAP solutions integrated with third-party offerings, rising to 65 percent in larger organizations, highlighting the growing complexity of enterprise landscapes.
⇨ To make integration successful, businesses must focus on enhancing the end-user experience; it should appear seamless, allowing users to access necessary resources without realizing they are engaging with integrated systems.
⇨ Businesses should prioritize innovation, thorough planning and the end-user perspective in their migration to SAP S/4HANA to ensure successful integration and maximize business value.
According to the recent SAPinsider report, 50 percent of SAP users say that the core of their enterprise landscape consists of SAP solutions used in conjunction with select third-party offerings, with the proportion increasing to 65 percent when looking at larger organizations. It is evident that enterprise landscapes are growing increasingly complex, and with that, businesses are looking for ways to seamlessly integrate their systems and applications.
So, when planning the migration to a new ERP landscape and integration, business leaders face a list of tasks that need to be considered, be it data mapping, process optimization, API testing or more. With an array of advice, solutions and opinions, many overlook one crucial focus point that must be considered when it comes to integration – its impact on end-users.
Integration is “beautiful” when it’s comprehensive for end-users
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The topic was discussed in a recent webinar, hosted by integration and automated testing software provider INT4, in which Petra Kloess, a senior director of central business configuration at SAP, talked about what users need to know when they’re planning to migrate to SAP S/4HANA.
Speaking on the topic of how to find that fine balance between enhancing an ERP system and implementing integration, Kloess described three major “no-go”s that organizations need to consider: first, do not ignore innovation because you might miss out on something that could streamline your potential, especially at a time when changes happen in every moment of time. In other words, stagnation and reliance on the ‘good old ways’ alone is not going to get you anywhere.
Second, focus on planning and do not rush into anything. Investigate what your landscape looks like and how it can be used in S/4. This way, you’ll be able to build a seamless experience for both the company and the users. On that point, she emphasized the specific message that SAP users should pay attention to:
“A real integration is successful when everybody is not realizing that it is an integration,” said Kloess. “A true integration is when you don’t see it when it works seamlessly […] and the end-user has no idea.”
Leading to the third “no-go”, Kloess explained that successful SAP integration can only be achieved when you make the end-user and business value your goals, rather than technical aspects. An integration must feel intuitive for end-users, so they can access anything they need, be it documentation, UI, support or downtime procedures.
“Make it comprehensive. Then, integration is a beautiful thing, it provides lots of value and everybody’s happy with it,” she added.
Realizing the potential of seamless integration with dedicated solutions
So, where do you start? According to Int4, a successful integration goes hand-in-hand with testing, for it allows businesses to ensure that “the system is working properly after making any changes.” The streamlined testing process is exactly the method that can help organizations ensure the end-user-oriented direction that Kloess described.
This is why INT4 launched the INT4 Suite, a software designed to not only speed up testing but also improve quality assurance by enabling comprehensive testing and supporting regression testing post-migration. By utilizing modern technologies like SAP Service Virtualization, the software removes the dependency on external applications you may have and allows you to leverage the historical messages with your partners to automatically create test cases and categorize them to the relevant scenarios, eliminating the need to create tedious and complex scripts.
After that, INT4 Suite can automatically validate and compare the referenced business document processing and post it from SAP ECC to the actual tested message in the new SAP S/4HANA environment.
So, when you are planning to cross the bridge toward the innovative SAP S/4HANA environment, do not forget three crucial steps: think about innovation, planning and, most importantly, your end-users. To achieve success in this venture, finding the approach and solution that is going to make integration seamless is the most important step toward S/4HANA implementation.
