SAPinsider EMEA 2023 | SAP S/4HANA

In this session, we will delve deep into the roadmap of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition particularly focusing on the transformative and upcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) features. As AI continues to evolve at a rapid pace, it is becoming increasingly crucial for businesses to understand how it can be leveraged to drive efficiency, innovation, and growth. This session aims to help attendees discern how AI is poised to shape the future of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, and how technologies such as machine learning will be deployed to optimize and enhance business processes in the upcoming releases.

You will:

• Stay updated with the latest AI-driven capabilities in S/4HANA Cloud, public edition
• Grasp the potential of AI and machine learning in revolutionizing business models and processes.
• Discover how AI is shaping the future, leading to unprecedented levels of productivity and process optimization.

Mikal Netteberg SAP

Join this interactive Q&A session with the head of information management of Festo’s global factories. Festo is a diversified multi-billion Euro organization who specializes in automation and technical training solutions for over 35 industries. Festo recently completed its upgrade to SAP S/4HANA and will share some of their key lessons and insights from this critical project.

You will:

• Understand why they chose the selective data migration option and are deciding to keep their implementation on premise.
• Discover how they are applying the fit-to-standard approach and eliminating 70% of their customizations without having to go greenfield.
• Learn how they completed 49,000 test scenarios globally using a combination of technology and dedicated staff.
• Know how Festo dealt with the business case and what specific benefits they hope to achieve as well as their measures for success.

Christian Kammerer Festo Head of Information Management, Global Factories Since October 2018 Christian is responsible for the global manufacturing systems and applications of Festo, the world’s leading supplier of automation technology and technical education. The Festo Group registered sales of €3.81 billion in 2022. Festo is deploying its products and services to meet the challenge of smart production for the future in the course of digitalization. The company also relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning. 300,000 customers worldwide in factory and process automation put their trust in the company’s pneumatic and electric drive solutions. In addition, Festo Didactic provides state-of-the-art training solutions for 56,000 industrial companies and educational institutions throughout the world. As of April 2023 Festo is represented at 250 locations throughout the world with a total of 20,800 employees.

Listen to the story of how Maersk is progressing its Transformation journey towards becoming Global Integrator, offering truly integrated logistics solution that connect, protect and simplify customers supply chains. The New Finance and Tax Platform (NFTP) Program is an integral part of Maersk’s transformation strategy. The Program will change technology, processes, policies, ways of working, as well as behaviors through the implementation of a single, industry-leading standardized platform. With NFTP, Maersk is building the right technological foundation, with SAP S/4HANA at the core, to provide real-time, trustworthy Finance and Tax analytics through a standard model for data capture, in one enterprise-wide platform.

You will:

• Learn how to build a case for change for a large global transformation program leveraging SAP S/4HANA.
• Learn about managing large complex change program with focus on value delivery.
• Understand agile ways of working while delivering with Insourced Technology Team.
• Explore how to build future proof technology architecture aligned to enterprise tech strategy.

Tapan Dash Maersk Engineering Director Senior Tech Leader at Maersk responsible for design, build and run of Corporate Finance Applications. Deep expertise over last 20+ years in leading large global tech enabled transformations while operating at the at the intersection of technology, people and process. Within Maersk Technology, Tapan has successfully delivered on roles of managing the SAP Center of Excellence, managing the corporate portfolio (including Finance and HR), Program Management and Technology track leader across Order to Cash, Procurement to Pay and Accounting to Reporting and technology (Analytics, Integration, Development and Infrastructure) areas. Tapan has been managing globally distributed teams out of Copenhagen. From his past consulting experiences with PwC and IBM Business Consulting, Tapan has gained extensive experiences with large scale complex IT and business transformations implementations projects, enterprise application management covering countries around the globe.

RISE with SAP will be instrumental to your transformation journey if you are an SAP customer running SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA on-premise or a first-time SAP customer. This session explores how RISE with SAP bundles products, tools, and services into one contract and provides SAP customers with business-transformation-as-a-service.

You will:

• Understand how RISE with SAP provides customers with new capabilities and support options.
• Unpack the components of SAP RISE and examine how to optimize your SAP S/4HANA journey with SAP ERP options, the Business Technology Platform, and more.
• Get a deeper understanding of S/4HANA Cloud private edition and SAP S/4HANA Cloud public edition as well as their differences.

Anurag Barua SAP Digital Transformation Leader Anurag Barua works for the S/4HANA North America Center of Excellence at SAP America. He has spent the last 25 years of his career in the SAP eco-system in a gamut of roles & responsibilities & has partnered with over 100 global enterprises in their SAP journeys. His expertise includes Financials, Supply Chain, User Experience, Data Management & Analytics, Cloud applications, AI technologies, business process optimization & re-engineering, and program management. He is a prolific thought leader & has spoken at nearly 70 SAP conferences globally, multiple SAPInsider events, written over 100 articles & white papers for SAP publications, and 5 SAP books.

You can only move as fast as your critical SAP systems allow. For this major automotive manufacturer, finding ways to streamline and accelerate change and release management was business critical. But there were major concerns about how to achieve this without putting commercial operations at risk.

Enter the Basis Platform, designed to allow companies to make SAP changes at the time when they’ll have the greatest impact. Actionable insights guide companies through the perils of SAP change, while automation accelerates the rate of change and drastically reduces human error from manual workflows. From migrating to S4HANA, to moving to the cloud, to making ongoing operational adjustments, the Basis Platform helps businesses unlock the true potential of their SAP investments.

In this session, get a blueprint for your own transformation projects by seeing exactly how this major automotive manufacturer challenged the status quo of SAP change. This is a masterclass on how to move at the pace your organization needs, built from the experiences of a global automotive giant that’s already achieved it.
You will:

• Learn which IT challenges they identified as growth blockers.
• Explore how they implemented the Basis Platform solution.
• Discover what the short, medium, and long term impacts looked like
• Understand how to build a business case for overhauling your SAP change management

David Lees Basis Technologies CTO David Lees joined Basis Technologies in January 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer and now holds the role of CTO, responsible for technology and engineering, leading product strategy, development and customer support. David has more than 20 years of SAP domain experience and expertise, most recently with Procter & Gamble where he held the role of SAP Supply Chain (S/4HANA) Platform Transformation Leader and Global SAP Platform Architect.

SAP S/4HANA is a unique chance to revitalize your digital business processes, but most companies fail to archive even basic returns on the investment. Join this thought-provoking talk on how to frame and realize digital transformation with SAP’s latest business suite offering, examining why companies are failing to adapt the mindset at the core of it and learn how to rise above “business as usual” and set the sail for a unique value-driven journey. Utilizing SAP BTP and SAP Fiori to its fullest potential isn’t a technical challenge, so set yourself and your team up for success with your SAP S/4 HANA Transformation and find out what the fuss is about Clean Core. It is never too late to challenge the mindset of the drivers behind this transformation and during this talk you’ll get a chance to reevaluate how you ensure value in your IT investment on a continuous basis – the gift that keeps on giving. Starting with the almost legendary example of the Carriage and the Sportscar it will take you on a unique journey across self-reflection into a mindset that will facilitate fundamental changes in how you approach your SAP Business Suite.

You will:

• Understand the importance of adopting a transformative mindset at the core of your SAP S/4 HANA implementation.
• Explore the concept of a “Clean Core” in your SAP S/4 HANA journey.
• Gain insights into fully leveraging SAP BTP and SAP Fiori to maximize their potential.
• Delve into the benefits of transitioning to the cloud and the role it plays in reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Henrik Secher Jarlskov Gavdi A/S CTO Henrik is an experienced evangelist within the SAP Technology world, with a focus on modern cloud technologies. Longtime Technology Advisor for large companies and an excellent communicator, known to turn complicated tech-speak into understanding.

Curious about SAP S/4HANA but uncertain where to begin or how to maximize your return on investment? This insightful session is designed to guide you through constructing a tailored business case and mapping out your SAP HANA implementation journey. By analyzing your existing as-is situation, the session will showcase techniques to derive fact-based insights from your present SAP landscape, aimed at pinpointing and quantifying enhancements in performance, database space reduction, and various other potential areas for improvement. The discourse will further address prevalent questions such as: How can we quickly and efficiently document our comprehensive As-Is status if we are unsure of what and how we use our current system? What’s the optimal path forward (Brownfield, Greenfield) when utilizing numerous SAP systems, and how do we articulate a persuasive business case for S/4HANA to convince stakeholders? Lastly, with an array of tools and offerings at your disposal, how do you select the right ones, and in what order should they be used?

You will:

• Learn to understand the use of various SAP systems within your business.
• Select the optimal approach (Brownfield, Greenfield) for your SAP implementation.
• Build a compelling business case for S/4HANA to convince stakeholders.
• Get insights into the multitude of tools and offerings available, along with advice on the quantity and sequence of use to maximize ROI in your SAP S/4HANA journey.

Get to know the embedded BI content delivered in SAP S/4HANA including analytic models and SAP Fiori tiles. Explore their use cases, applications, and technical prerequisites.

You will:

• Learn SAP best practices and get tips on custom modeling.
• Understand SAP S/4HANA embedded analytics through SAP Fiori, SAP BusinessObjects tools and SAP BW.
• Explore how and when SAP BW is useful to cover your BI needs.
• Learn how to extend SAP-delivered core data services (CDS) and build your own.

Dmitry Kuznetzov Independent Consultant Dmitry is a pioneer in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics space and an author of a book “First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics”. He has a long track record implementing operational reporting systems and data warehouses based on SAP S/4HANA , SAP HANA-native, business warehouse and SAP Analytics Cloud technologies. He has accumulated knowledge in the BI area by completing most of the projects as hands-on modeler; therefore, any architectural and way-of-working advice comes from practical observations.

Whether you are starting your SAP transformation journey to S/4HANA or are in the middle of the path, Coop Denmark A/S give their take on the finance migration approach and leverage SAP standard functionality to migrate financial transactional data and Master data. Gain insight into the important lessons learned related to your finance migration to SAP S/4HANA.

You will:

• Identify the existing financial landscape and prepare the finance migration.
• Leverage SAP standard migration tools.
• Learn about Master Data Migration with focus on the different data structures of business partners.

Trygve Grundesen Coop Denmark SAP FI-CO Solution Owner Degree in Finance and Economics (Cand. Merc.)Worked with SAP since 1996. External consultant until 2012, since 2012 internal at Coop. All round knowledge of the financial and their integration with other modules within SAP. Knowledge of SAP data model, abap workbench and possibilities for usage of various options for extending a solution (user-exit/ enhancements / BTE / BADI etc.). Substantial knowledge of finance accounting and related business topics.

In this session, you will understand the various warehouse options when support for SAP WM ends at the end of 2025. This is an important decision that relates to your move to SAP S/4HANA and overall business transformation. Which option you choose depends on a number of factors including the complexity of your current warehouse management operation and the degree of digitization you are after. In this session, we will layout the options and possibilities so that you can make an informed decision

You will:

• Understand Stock Room Management, embedded EWM (Basic or Advanced), and decentralized EWM.
• Discover the main benefits of using EWM over WM and Stock Room Management.
• Understand when you should be using EWM as part of your SAP S/4HANA Centralized Implementation.
• Know how EWM can be extended and integrated using SAP Business Technology Platform.

Isaac Mazliach S.D.M. Information Systems Ltd. Mentor, Warehouse Management Since 1997 I gained hands-on experience, consulting and architecture management assisting many companies (North America, Europe and Israel) to improve and extend their SAP processes and activities. I built up special expertise in the WM, EWM, Sourcing and Supply-Chain arena, Platforms and Software, together with the integration with SAP modules in S/4 and ECC. My skillset includes the following: Experience from Agile development and DevOps methods including understanding of end-to-end Software Delivery Lifecycle processes ; System thinking with comprehensive knowledge of SAP platforms & associated technologies including documented experience of enterprise software and API oriented architecture ; Documented experience from applying digital technology creating business effect ; Demonstrated business acumen and relevant experience of business, customers and functional area.

Gain practical insights to build a business case and a roadmap of your SAP HANA implementation. Identify and quantify performance gains and reduction of database space, business process and other potential areas of improvements. How do we get a comprehensive As-Is documentation fast and efficiently? We use many SAP systems. What is the best path forward (Brownfield, Greenfield) and how can I build a business case for S/4HANA/how can I convince my stakeholders? There are so many tools/offerings.

You will:

• Take home a methodological approach to collect strategic goals, requirements, and technical input to build your business case SAP S/HANA.
• Discover where SAP S/4HANA will have a real impact on your current real life SAP usage.
• Gather Best Practices how to identify areas of improvements which should be part of your SAP S/4HANA ROI calculation.
• Review common challenges and lessons learned from our assessments in the last 5 plus years.

Heiko Hecht IBIS America Inc. COO Heiko serves as a subject matter expert for Financial Accounting, System Upgrades/Transformations, Compliance, Process Discovery/Mining, ESG and Solution Documentation with SAP Solution Manager. Heiko is responsible for the collaboration with SAP and the roll out of SAP TRAC (Total ROI Analysis Campaign) and SAP STAR (System Transformation via Alignment and Reassessment). TRAC is part of SAP’s MOVE program to implement S/4HANA systems more efficiently and faster. Heiko earned his PhD in Business Administration in 2003 and is a regular speaker at SAP events in the US and Europe. Prior to joining IBIS America, Heiko worked 10 years for IBIS Prof Thome AG in Wuerzburg, Germany and was directly involved with the development of RBE Plus, Solution Manager, ByD and other offerings of IBIS and its partners. Since 2004, Heiko has actively supported the rollout of RBE Plus and SAP Solution Manager with focus on customers in the US and Canada.

Learn the necessary skills for your Fiori journey from 50+ S/4HANA projects focusing on value creation, rollout strategy, user experience aspects, change management, architecture, performance, and development approaches.

You will:

• Understand the role of SAP Fiori in SAP’s user experience strategy.
• Learn how to build your Fiori roadmap for your S/4HANA migration project.
• Discover how to increase adoption of SAP Fiori and S/4HANA.
• Understand how to make your Fiori architecture scalable, performant, and secure.
• Get advice how to build the necessary skills.

Tamas Szirtes SOA People Group Innovation Director Group Innovation Director at SOA People, SAP Mentor, SAP HANA Distinguished Engineer, Chairman of VNSG User Experience, Lead of the Center of Excellence for S/4HANA at United VARs, Lecturer of Business Processes based on S/4HANA at the University of Mannheim and for an international group of students, 25 years in the SAP business, 150+ customer projects in 10+ countries.

In this session, you will explore and reflect on over 100 successful SAP to Cloud and S/4HANA conversion engagements. The focus will be on how you should prepare for your SAP S/4HANA transformation journey or Cloud Migration, what are your options, and the best path for success.

You will:

• Acquire essential insights and valuable lessons that you can readily integrate into your project for immediate application and success.
• Understand the core areas of preparation for SAP S/4HANA transformation journey or Cloud Migration.
• Review tangible actions in the areas of licensing, infrastructure, data, customizations, business processes, and stakeholders engagement.

Pierre-Francis Grillet SofwareOne Global Lead, SAP Services Pierre-Francis (PF) has been associated with SAP for more than 30 years, first as a customer, building and rolling out an SAP template as Group CIO of the world leader of small home appliances, as an SAP employee setting up the Business Consulting and Value Engineering practice for SAP Australia and New Zealand, and as a partner with leading GSSIs, responsible for serving customers and growing their SAP services practices. PF is passionate about deploying technology to create better business outcomes, with a focus on optimising the use of technology to deliver tangible business benefits. Pierre-Francis leads SoftwareOne Global SAP Services practice, with presence in 30 countries across North & South America, Europe and Asia Pacific with a focus on helping SAP customers in their journey to the cloud and to S/4HANA. Pierre-Francis holds a Master Degree in Nuclear Engineering and a Ph. D in Nuclear Chemistry.

The session will explore approaches that will enable you to leverage SAP S/4HANA to overcome complexities in the pharmaceutical industry and streamline reporting into the street processes. Explore the transformative power of S/4HANA in simplifying operations, discuss the criticality of a governance model for major programs, and delve into the changes brought about by DevSecOps. Additionally, the session will showcase the significance of establishing a steady-state organization and ensuring up-to-date Application Lifecycle Management (ALM/TLM) in the pharmaceutical landscape.

You will:

• Learn the strategies used for navigating and overcoming complexities faced by top pharmaceutical companies globally, enabling more efficient reporting processes.
• Understand the benefits and implementation considerations of S/4HANA in simplifying operations and optimizing reporting workflows.
• Explore the best practices for implementing a governance model to ensure successful execution of major programs within the pharmaceutical industry.
• Know the role of DevSecOps in driving change and enhancing ALM/TLM practices, along with practical insights on its adoption in the pharmaceutical context.

Gustavo Costa Tech Services S4 Finance Director I am the leader for the Technology Services team on the new Finance transformation (Digital Transformation). First new S4 implementation, Enterprise Hana and Forecast and Planning (Anaplan). Bringing J&J to top best in technology for financials management. In my portfolio of over U$ 2+ billion in business transformations and benefits, I had the opportunity to lead and deploy across 18 countries with diverse processes and technology across all markets.

The session will showcase the experience and things to consider for DRC to work after an SAP S/4HANA brownfield conversion. H. Lundbeck A/S has implemented the eDoc, SAF-T, and other statutory reports for various countries in ECC and will share lessons learned and practical advice from their experience.

You will:

• See the solutions built in ECC for eDoc, Advanced Compliance Reporting (ACR) reports and more.
• Learn about the errors encountered in eDoc, ACR reports, and more in S/4 conversion.
• Understand how to bridge the GAP between ECC solution, and S/4 solution for DRC.

Mae Wang H.Lundbeck Senior Solution Architect Mae Wang has been working with SAP FI/CO/SD for around 15 years in pharma and shipping industries. She is the senior IT solution architect in Lundbeck for finance application. During the past 10 years in Lundbeck, she has been working with SAP Roll-out worldwide, implementation of product costing, cash management, eDoc, etc. The most recent project is S/4 conversion where Lundbeck is undergoing a brown field conversion from ECC to S/4.

Ken John Medalla NNIT Philippines Advanced Consultant Ken has been working with SAP FI/CO for 4 years in life sciences and manufacturing industries. Prior to his SAP career, he worked as an audit associate in the Philippines for 2.5 years. He is an advanced consultant in NNIT Philippines for finance applications. During his time in NNIT, he has been working with AMS support for Lundbeck and Orifarm for various FI areas. The most recent project is SAP S/4 conversion where Lundbeck is undergoing a brown field conversion from ECC to SAP S/4 with focus to SAP Document and Reporting Compliance.

Gain insights into successful strategies and tactics employed by Girteka Group to ensure a smooth ERP implementation by maximizing user adoption and training effectiveness. A successful SAP product implementation relies on technical aspects, as well as adoption and training of end-users. We will showcase the real case example of Girteka Group’s modernization program highlighting their use of EnableNow, a product developed by SAP, which offers innovative capabilities to simplify user adoption and training.

You will:

• Gain insights into successful strategies and tactics.
• See the real case example of Girteka Group’s modernization program.
• Learn about innovative capabilities to simplify user-adoption and training.

Ausra Gustainiene Necessis Programme Manager for Digital Tranformation Aušra is an independent consultant, working closely with client organizations to help them understand the implementation and transformational opportunities presented by SAP. She started her professional career in the Information Technology field within Big4 consulting firm Ernst & Young. Developing IT strategies and governance procedures while working in an IT advisory area, set the right foundation for implementing and running SAP. Embracing over 20 years of progressive experience, Aušra is a proactive, dedicated, and peak-performing Senior IT leader with extensive international experience ranging from program and project management of complex SAP implementations to business transformation initiatives. Aušra is also actively involved in promoting the tech industry to women.

This session will explore why SAP has adopted a user-centric approach that revolves around gathering insights and feedback from its user base. By closely observing user interactions and preferences, SAP can identify pain-points and opportunities for improvement. This continuous learning process serves as the foundation for enhancing the user experience throughout SAP’s cloud journey.You will:

• Learn about solutions that can leverage data to make informed decisions and streamline operations effectively.
• Discover how a user-centric approach can improve user experience.
• Discover how continuous learning will allow for observation into user interactions and preferences.

Understand the transformative power of Machine Learning, SAP Process Automation, and Situation Handling. Drive innovation, optimize operations, and remain at the forefront of intelligent ERP solutions. This research sheds light on the planned enhancements in the realm of Generative Artificial Intelligence and offers a glimpse into the future of intelligent technologies in SAP S/4HANA.

You will:

• Learn how embedded intelligent technologies enhance end-to-end business processes leading to improved functionality and operational efficiency.
• Discover the integration of Machine Learning, SAP Process Automation, and Situation Handling.
• Optimize planned enhancements in Generative Artificial Intelligence for SAP S/4HANA.

Explore the end-to-end approach to building and maintaining a secure cloud environment, while emphasizing the collaborative efforts between SAP, customers, and partners in safeguarding data and processes. Ensure security measures are properly executed and learn the steps SAP takes to secure customers’ SAP S/4HANA Cloud instances.

You will:

• Learn how to safeguard data and processes.
• Ensure security measures are properly executed.
• Learn the steps SAP takes to secure customers’ SAP S/4HANA Cloud instances.

In this session, you’ll learn how to make an informed choice between the public and private editions of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The session will showcase the various migration paths that can ensure your company’s move to the Cloud ERP aligns seamlessly with your business objectives. The session will also outline essential decision criteria, planning aspects, and the array of related tools designed to support your project planning and execution.

You will:

• Understand that the transition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud represents a pivotal decision for companies seeking to embrace the next-generation Cloud ERP.
• Ensure that your company’s move to the Cloud ERP aligns seamlessly with your business objectives.
• Look at the essential decision criteria, planning aspects, and the array of related tools required.

Explore the cutting-edge modular architecture on ABAP and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and experience the transformative power of their composable architecture to integrate and orchestrate applications within their digital ecosystem. Moreover, this session will present the revolutionary extensibility options that allow businesses to maintain a clean core, enabling tailor-made customizations of SAP S/4HANA Cloud to suit unique and evolving business needs.

You will:

• Explore the cutting-edge modular architecture on ABAP and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).
• Use composable architecture to integrate and orchestrate applications within their digital ecosystem.
• Open new avenues for growth and efficiency.

Gain an in-depth overview of the diverse array of SAP tools designed to facilitate a seamless transition to SAP S/4HANA. From SAP Readiness Check to SAP Cloud ALM, Database Migration Option, DMOVE2S4, Data Transition Validation, Cloud Integration Automation service, and other service offerings, the session will guide you through the features and benefits of each tool.

You will:

• Gain valuable insights into when and how to leverage these tools effectively for your specific project needs.
• Utilize SAP’s “Coordinated Lifecycle Management”.
• Acquire the knowledge to ensure a consistent and efficient migration journey.