Predictable ERP Modernization with SAP Cloud ERP

The decision to modernize an ERP is strategically important for financial and operational leaders in the mid-market. However, the path is often associated with significant risk, primarily unpredictable costs, scope creep, and the potential for significant operational disruption. This creates a challenging dilemma of how to innovate without exposing the business to the vulnerabilities inherent in traditional, large-scale IT projects. 

The answer lies in a new approach to ERP deployment, specifically designed to mitigate these risks. 

Understanding ERP Modernization 

For mid-market finance teams migrating to SAP Cloud ERP, GROW with SAP is engineered to deliver a predictable and accelerated path to a modern cloud ERP. It includes: 

• A powerful, scalable cloud ERP that serves as the system’s core. 

• Industry-specific processes and workflows that are ready to activate, reducing the need for extensive customization and shortening implementation timelines. 

• Integrated services and methodologies that streamline the migration and deployment process from start to finish. 

This structure is designed to de-risk the modernization process by providing a clear, standardized framework for adoption. 

Benefits for Finance Teams 

SAP Cloud ERP offers finance teams in mid-sized organizations in various industries with the tools to automate and standardize their processes. Some examples include: 

• Manufacturing: By implementing SAP Cloud ERP, a manufacturer’s finance team can adopt the standard real-time margin analysis apps in the SAP Fiori Launchpad. Therefore, the finance team’s role transformed from maintaining custom code to configuring semantic tags and reporting logic within the standard tools, providing instant, drill-down insights directly from the Universal Journal (ACDOCA). 

• Consumer Products: Many companies struggle to understand actual product margin until 10-15 days after month-end. With SAP Cloud ERP, every goods movement and sales transaction updates the Universal Journal in real-time. So, a finance analyst can now access a live P&L for a specific brand or customer at any point during the month. This enables immediate adjustments to pricing or promotions based on actual margin performance, transforming the finance team into a proactive strategic partner. 

• Professional Services: Many professional services firms with multiple legal entities spend the first four business days every month manually matching and reconciling intercompany transactions. However, through GROW with SAP, these firms can implement SAP Cloud ERP’s Intercompany Matching and Reconciliation (ICMR) tool. Now, transactions are matched automatically on a daily basis. The finance team’s job changes to handling exceptions and focusing only on the small number of items the system flags, freeing up nearly a whole week of their time to focus on value-added analysis. 

Getting A Structured Implementation Partner 

While SAP Cloud ERP provides the technology, companies must consider an implementation partner that provides the strategy and execution required for success. SAP partners, such as Forgestik, focus on delivering concrete business outcomes with maximum predictability.  

Forgestik structures SAP Cloud ERP projects with complete budget clarity and eliminating reducing the financial risk of unforeseen costs. Moreover, its deployment strategy is meticulously planned to ensure the business’s core functions are sustained as much as possible during the transition. The Forgestik team also manages the go-live process to maintain operational stability. 

Finally, by leveraging the pre-configured nature of SAP Cloud ERP, Forgestik enables companies to compress the project timeline. This allows the organization to begin realizing the benefits of its investment significantly faster. 

What This Means for SAPinsiders 

Leverage a single source of truth for real-time closing. The Universal Journal is the non-negotiable heart of the finance solution in SAP Cloud ERP. This finally eliminates the foundational issue of separate FI and CO ledgers that required batch jobs and reconciliation. With a single-line-item table for all financial and managerial accounting, data is harmonized and instantly available.  

The mindset is shifting from customization to standardization. SAP Cloud ERP is built on standardized, best-practice processes. For SAPinsiders, this means that your value shifts from designing custom solutions to mastering and adopting these standards. The focus is now on configuring the system to meet business needs within the provided framework and using the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) for necessary extensions, ensuring the core remains clean.  

Embrace continuous accounting and automation. The traditional, frantic month-end close is a relic of older systems’ limitations. SAP Cloud ERP provides the tools to automate repetitive closing tasks and shift towards a continuous accounting model. Processes that were once performed manually in a rush during the first week of the month can now be run automatically and continuously throughout the period.