SAPinsider 2022 Research Agenda

 

Financial Management | ERP, Platform & Infrastructure | Governance, Risk & Compliance | Application Development & Integration
IT Operations & Administration | Data & Analytics | Human Capital Management | Supply Chain Management
Security | CIO | Our Methodology

Financial Management

Automation in Finance  – January 2022

Organizations targeting end-to-end visibility require automation across core finance functions as part of an overall financial transformation that translates daily business activity into real-time insights. In this report, SAPinsider will deliver an update on the implementation of automation tools and maturity of automation strategies within core financial management functions. This SAPinsider report will benchmark the trends and progress of SAP customers in automating processes, identify the tools they use and plan to use, and highlight the challenges and benefits of financial process automation. Finally, this research will investigate the future of automation in finance.

Ogo Nwanyanwu
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

 

SAP S/4HANA Finance and Central Finance State of the Market  – April 2022

Multinational organizations are increasingly selecting SAP S/4HANA Central Finance as the primary technology to launch their digital transformation journey. The Universal Journal can deliver near-term ROI for CFOs to validate the long-term vision for the financial system of the future. SAP S/4HANA Central Finance provides CIOs the flexibility to proceed with greenfield, brownfield deployment and standardize highly customized and complex systems at their own pace. In this report, SAPinsider will highlight the different ways SAP customers are handling financial data and closing processes, while updating performance of implementation strategies against benchmark data.

Ogo Nwanyanwu
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

Cash Management and Cash Visibility  – June 2022

Exponential transaction growth across mobile and digital channels, coupled with supply/demand shocks and business disruptions, provide the catalysts for SAPinsider member organizations to modernize cash management operations. For business leaders, transparency and accuracy across cash flow activities are critical to generating on-demand insights that detail the proper health of your organization. As a result, Finance and IT teams are rethinking end-to-end core business processes (O2C, Q2C, P2P, S2P). In addition, how to optimize the finance functions and workflows that support them (invoicing, payments, AR/AP, bank connectivity) to improve real-time cash visibility. This report will examine the cash, treasury, billing/revenue management strategies of our SAPinsider finance community and benchmark the utilization trends and process shifts across SAP ERP, SAP partner, and third-party solutions, tools, and services.

Ogo Nwanyanwu
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

Tax Management State of the Market 2022 – August 2022

The need for compliance is becoming increasingly important as governments adopt a more robust approach to taxation. Revenue authorities across all regions continue to step up enforcement capabilities, amid more robust e-filling and e-invoicing requirements in support of an expanding indirect tax environment. Greater compliance with these laws adds complexity to a rapidly changing business landscape. This complexity puts pressure on CFOs and tax professionals tasked with providing real- time tax calculations and reporting insights across organizations. In this follow-up to our 2021 Trends in Tax report, we will examine what is driving tax automation and tax management best practices for our SAPinsider community, as well as best-in-class organizations.

Ogo Nwanyanwu
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Financial Close and Record-to-Report Process – October 2022

Of the multiple pain points our research uncovered in 2021, a majority of SAPinsider organizations continue to struggle with the financial close and record-to-report process, due to manual processes and poorly integrated systems. Best-in-class organizations are investing in comprehensive financial close and R2R solutions capable of supporting complex business requirements, such as financial consolidation and reporting. This benchmark report explores where firms stand on using automation or intelligence for core finance functions to drive efficiency across the financial close and record-to-report process. Furthermore, we will summarize and analyze community-based knowledge to deliver guidance around best practices and top technologies and tools in use by our SAPinsider finance community.

Ogo Nwanyanwu
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

ERP, Platform & Infrastructure

Transformation in the Enterprise  – January 2022

While some organizations are already well advanced with their overall business transformation, true business transformation is more than just moving workloads to the cloud. Features in RISE with SAP are helping accelerate or jump start that deeper business transformation for those who may not have already started. But it is important to gain an understanding of what business transformation is before it can be properly implemented. This research will examine whether organizations are going through a digital or business transformation, what that transformation means to them, how far they have reached, what workloads they may be transforming, and what infrastructure they are using to support that transformation.

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Data Management/Strategies and SAP HANA  – April 2022

With the expected explosion in data due to 5G technology SAP professionals are increasingly looking for new data management models for the storage, migration, management, protection, transformation, and processing of data ranging from transactional to analytical and unstructured. Balancing the risks, compliance needs, and costs of data management in multiple venues including the cloud while also providing reliable, secure data to the organization is increasingly important to the business. This research will examine the approaches and the technologies SAPinsiders are taking for data.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

SAP S/4HANA Migration Benchmark Report  – May 2022

Over the last three years, SAPinsider research has showed a steady increase in those who have already adopted SAP S/4HANA. However, SAPinsider 2021 research on this topic showed an increase for the first time in three years in those who indicated that they currently have no plans to make the move. These customers have used the extension of mainstream maintenance provided by SAP to put off a long-term, expensive project. This state of the market report will determine where the SAPinsider community currently stands with their plans to move to SAP S/4HANA, and whether those that delayed their plans are starting to re-evaluate that decision. The research will look at the data behind these findings, as well as the transition strategies of the survey respondents.

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Deployment Approaches for SAP S/4HANA – July 2022

Over the past three years SAPinsider has tracked how organizations are deploying SAP S/4HANA. While those who have already adopted the solution were more likely to be driven by a business need to transform and update processes combined with having increased flexibility and scalability in supporting infrastructure, the upcoming end of maintenance of existing ERP systems remains the primary driver for those who are still evaluating the solution. This SAPinsider report will examine what deployment models organizations are looking to use, how those are changing from what previous research has shown, and what impact offerings like RISE with SAP are having on deployment strategy and choices.

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

SAP Infrastructure and Landscape Trends – August 2022

Over the last two years we have seen a rapid acceleration in the adoption of cloud and managed environments within the enterprise landscape. While our Enterprise Cloud Deployment report looks at whether SAP workloads are moving to the cloud, this report will examine the infrastructure and landscape trends over the course of 2022. Are organizations moving more workloads to the public cloud, or are they staying with their usual hosting partners? How much are operational expenditure based internal landscapes being adopted? And how is SAP’s focus on RISE with SAP impacting the traditional on-premise landscape that has been the foundation of the organization’s success over the last 30 years?

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Enterprise Cloud Deployment: State of the Market – October 2022

For the last three years, SAPinsider has tracked the movement of SAP workloads to cloud environments where organizations have been looking to improve flexibility and scalability, deploy solutions more rapidly, and provide a consolidated data set for analytics and AI solutions. This report will determine where the SAPinsider currently stands with moving their SAP workloads to the cloud, and what cloud environments they are using. We will examine the trends with these findings, following the changes over the past years, and examining which workloads are most likely to be deployed in the cloud and which are still lagging.

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

RISE with SAP: State of the Market – October 2022

SAP announced RISE with SAP in January 2021 and have positioned it as the key to transformation within the SAP landscape. However, SAPinsider’s research in late 2021 revealed that while the RISE with SAP was being with transformation, there were parts of the solution that the broader community knew little about. In addition, there was a lack of clarity about how interaction with partners would work, what deployment options were available, and how RISE with SAP would fit in multi-vendor landscapes. In this follow up to our 2021 research, we will examine whether knowledge of the solution has increased over the intervening year, and how the SAPinsider Community is embracing the RISE with SAP offering.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

GRC: State of the Market 2022  – May 2022

Governance, risk, and compliance is becoming increasingly important as companies move to new technologies, many of which are in the cloud. This report will revisit our 2021 benchmark to determine what has changed for companies in the past year regarding GRC. The research will explore what is now driving their GRC strategies, how and why their GRC actions expectations may be changing, and the trend of GRC technology adoption.

Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Application Development & Integration

Application Strategy and Development for SAP S/4HANA and Cloud  – February 2022

SAPinsiders have traditionally used ABAP as their core development language for customizing and enhancing SAP applications. But with organizations now accelerating their adoption of cloud-based technologies, there are many low-code and no-code alternatives alongside more traditional programming languages. Although SAP has made significant efforts to focus more on the developers that are key part of their ecosystem, it can be difficult for SAPinsiders to understand where they should focus their teams’ skills and education to have the most impact on technologies they may only just be adopting. This research will explore where organizations are focusing their development efforts, what types of tools they are investing in terms of both education and capabilities, and what their plans are for the future.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Integration in the Hyper-Connected SAP Landscape  – June 2022

For the last two years, SAPinsider has been tracking the requirements, challenges, and best practices of integrating SAP ERP with other SAP and non-SAP applications, both on the cloud and on premise. Past research has proven the increase in the quantity and complexity of integration. Several new technologies and tools are being deployed to solve this challenge and new governance models and processes are being tested. This research will continue to examine these trends and understand how SAP customers are solving this challenge and how new technologies are being deployed.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Cloud and SAP S/4HANA DevOps – October 2022

With SAP accelerating the pace of change and cloud enabling rapid deployments, SAP customers are acclimatizing their teams and processes to deliver rapid updates and implementations. Methodologies like Agile and DevOps have been slowly percolating through non-SAP systems, but with SAP S/4HANA, more SAP teams are experimenting with these methodologies. This report will investigate the true state of new deployment methodologies, the cultural and process shifts, the challenges, and the outcomes. It will look at the impact of overall company culture and the maturity of digital transformation on these processes too.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Low-code, No-code Development for SAP – December 2022

Self-service for SAP has come full circle with the low-code, no-code platforms that offer easy and secure ways for business users to become citizen developers and help IT professionals focus on complex applications. Low-code applications are also helping companies migrate their code to newer platforms. Companies are starting to deploy low-code/no-code platforms by building a business case, identifying the impactful use cases and enabling proper training. This research looks at how companies launching such platforms are figuring out the governance, launch and management models to gain value, while ensuring security and compliance.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

IT Operations & Administration

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Data & Analytics

Process Automation and SAP S/4HANA  – April 2022

Efficient business processes are the lifeblood of any organization. The opportunity to leverage intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and various forms of robotic process automation are abundant today, but organizations need to carefully select the right technologies and solutions for their business culture, skillsets, and existing solutions. This benchmark report revisits where SAPinsiders are on the maturity curve when it comes to process automation across core functional areas. Th research will explore key technology investments and help customers navigate the challenges of automating processes between divisions and organizations.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Data and Analytics in the Cloud – September 2022

As the volume of data that organizations generate and capture explodes and the need to draw real time insights for business resilience becomes imperative, there is a pressing need for a new breed of data and analytics tools that are scalable, agile, flexible and can integrate seamlessly with other applications. Cloud-based tools and platforms provide a plethora functionality to manage data, and improve data quality, access and analytics. This report will examine trends and challenges in this space.

Deepa Salem
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Human Capital Management

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Planning in the Cloud – July 2022

Supply chain complexities and disruptions today require not only real-time visibility but also end-to-end visibility into every corner of your global supply chain footprint. Add to this the imperative to plan and execute in near-real time as well and limitations of certain on-premise data and analytics infrastructure come to limelight. To address the feature requirements of planning tools for the new age supply chains, many providers and end-users are looking at the cloud. The ability to integrate with edge solutions, collect, analyze and plan in near-real time, becomes much more feasible and scalable in a cloud-based tool and/ or infrastructure. This research report explores that trend and evaluates where SAPinsiders are in their journey.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Automation in Supply Chain – September 2022

In SAPinsider SOM research (Feb 2021), SAPinsiders highlighted that process automation, and specifically process automation in finance and supply chain processes was a key objective for them. This report will understand the progress SAPinsiders have made in the area of supply chain process automation, where they currently are, what are the technologies and vendors they are looking at from an automation perspective and what is their future state roadmap.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Inventory Management and Optimization – November 2022

Having too little or too much inventory on hand, can swing like your windshield washers on your car. Set up smarter inventory management without compromising customer service. Strive for a reduction in your working capital. Manage the stock levels you have through replenishment, goods issue, goods receipt, and internal transfers. With highly effective inventory planning and control, a great reduction in storage costs can occur. Inventory optimization means having the right inventory to meet your customer demand, avoiding disruption and inventory surplus. SAPinsiders are exploring opportunities to leverage inventory management and optimization, in this report let me share those insights with you.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Security

Cybersecurity Threats to SAP Systems  – March 2022

Cybersecurity has become an increasingly important topic over the past year, particularly as SAP systems become a central point of business and financial truth within the organization and are more desirable as targets. With growing numbers of businesses being hit by ransomware or supply chain attacks, or a combination of both, understanding the nature of threats to SAP systems and what organizations can do to protect themselves is critical. This report will determine the most important factors driving organizations to protect their SAP systems, the tools that they are using to secure them from both external and internal exploits, and the strategies that they are taking to ensure the data in their SAP systems is secure.

Robert Holland
VP and Research Director, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

Cloud Security – November 2022

Security is one of the main concerns companies have in deploying data on the cloud. Apart from the growing incidents of ransomware or supply chain attacks, cloud adds additional threats to data in transit. Understanding the risks and planning to protect critical SAP data from such threats is critical. This report will determine the security challenges organizations face in the cloud and the steps that they are taking to mitigate them from both external and internal threats.

Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

 

CIO

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE FORUM: The CIO 2022 Agenda for SAP, SAP S/4HANA, the Cloud and Beyond  – March 2022

2021 was certainly a year of transition for both business and IT teams. But what does 2022 hold in store for Tech Leaders who run SAP? This executive benchmark study delves into the key organizational and technology focused priorities that CIOs who run SAP are investing in for 2022. Learn how executives continue to navigate the challenges of managing hybrid work environments. See what progress they have made in their SAP S/4HANA and Cloud journeys and whether or not these technological shifts are truly driving transformation and innovation within their business. Understand the key skills and talent that leaders are betting on and how they are evolving their current SAP, business, and IT organizations. We will compare results between our 2021 and 2022 benchmark studies so that you can see what trends are accelerating and which ones are struggling to gain traction amongst technology executives.

Rizal Ahmed
Chief Content Officer, SAPinsider
Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE FORUM: How Tech Executives are Leading Org and Technology Change  – June 2022

There are many drivers of change in the current business environment at technology companies. The technology that companies and consumers use is becoming more and more important to daily functions and evolving requirements. Executive(s) at organizations that create and provide that technology must keep pace with the demand for innovation, and that requires them to evolve their organizational and technology strategies. In this executive research report, will look at how leaders are building their organizations to meet the drive for change, and what requirements they have for predicting and meet the need for innovating technologies. We’ll also examine what technologies they themselves have in place to enable their strategies for innovation.

Rizal Ahmed
Chief Content Officer, SAPinsider
Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

Process Intelligence State of The Market – August 2022

With the proliferation of digitalization of processes and increased adoption of Robotics Process Automation (RPA), the amount of data being generated and captured by business processes has increased exponentially. Data is valuable only when it is leveraged effectively. This is where Business Process Intelligence (BPI) comes into picture. This report will examine how SAPinsiders are leveraging BPI tools to add value to their enterprise, where they currently are in their journey and what is their planned roadmap to develop internal BPI capabilities.

Kumar Singh
Research Director, SAPinsider

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE FORUM: How Executives are Scaling Platform and Innovation – September 2022

Innovation is a central tenet for many of the most successful companies, but how do companies build the right environments to enable innovation? Process is important, but ultimately companies must provide a platform with the right capabilities for innovation, and one that can grow with a business. In this executive research report, we will ask leaders what is driving them to build out their platforms and what strategies they are implementing to create a technology stack conducive to innovative business. We’ll also check with them on what they expect to achieve from scaling out platform capabilities, and the technologies they are using to innovate at both the business and IT levels.

Rizal Ahmed
Chief Content Officer, SAPinsider
Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE FORUM: 2022 Leader and Transformation Report Card – November 2022

Transformation and innovation are consistently key priorities for CIOs and other tech leaders—and for many companies, transformation projects have been ongoing across the business. What benefits are these projects delivering, and are they achieving their goals? This executive research report study examines data and input from a variety of tech leaders across many of the major industries. We will look at how leaders are measuring ROI from their transformation initiatives related to efficiency, productivity, and the ability to support new business models and products. We will explore the key factors that are separating successful transformation initiatives from failing projects. Leaders will describe in their own words how they are scoping initial projects and establishing important metrics. You will also learn how CIOs are increasing collaboration between business and IT, addressing change management challenges, and putting innovation in the hands of the entire organization.

Rizal Ahmed
Chief Content Officer, SAPinsider
Craig Powers
Research Analyst, SAPinsider

 

 


About the SAPinsider DART Methodology

SAPinsider has rewritten the rules of research to provide demonstrable insights from its fact-based approach. The DART methodology serves as the very foundation on which SAPinsider educates end users to act, creates market awareness, drives demand, empowers sales forces, and validates return on investments. It’s no wonder that organizations worldwide turn to SAPinsider for research with results. The DART methodology provides actionable insights including:

  • Drivers – These are macro level events that are impacting an organization. They can be both external and internal and require the implementation of strategic plans, people, processes and systems.
  • Actions – These are strategies that companies can implement to address the drivers impact on the business. These are the integration of people, process and technology. The should be business first but fully leverage technology enabled solutions to be relevant for our focus.
  • Requirements – These are business and process level requirements to support the strategies. These tend to be end-to-end for a business process.
  • Technology – There are technology and systems related requirements that enable the business requirements and support the overall strategies that the company is taking, they must consider the current technology architecture and provide for the adoption of new and innovative technology enabled capabilities

How SAPinsiders Participate in the Research

The SAPinsider research process is an invitation-only quantitative survey and a qualitative interview-based methodology that is focused on the voice of the more than 600,000+ global SAPinsider community members. During the course of a year, we survey and interview several thousand SAPinsiders and synthesize their insights. This peer best practices-led benchmarking research process extracts intricate knowledge of SAP and related ecosystem solutions, migration paths, roadmap and other insights in relation to the business drivers, strategic actions and requirements of end users. The ultimate objective of our research is to enable SAP users adopt and upgrade technology efficiently, based on sound decisions, performance parameters and business value.