SAP ERP

What is SAP ERP? 

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system makes it possible for organizations to run within a single system their core processes for finance, manufacturing, human resources (HR), supply chain, services, procurement, and other key business functions. SAP ERP solutions are based on over 40 years of experience across all industries and business sizes. They leverage technology that is constantly updated to build ERP tools that can be constantly updated. 

What is SAP ERP? 

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system makes it possible for organizations to run within a single system their core processes for finance, manufacturing, human resources (HR), supply chain, services, procurement, and other key business functions. SAP ERP solutions are based on over 40 years of experience across all industries and business sizes. They leverage technology that is constantly updated to build ERP tools that can be constantly updated. 

The first official SAP ERP solution was the introduction of mySAP ERP in 2004, although this was based on much of the functionality and experience SAP had gained with the SAP R/2 and SAP R/3 business application software suites. While the mySAP ERP solution was targeted at a smaller audience, SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) was introduced in the same and provided all the core business processing capabilities along with data warehouse and enterprise management capabilities in a single system. 

The most recent SAP ERP system, SAP S/4HANA, was introduced in 2015 and was a significant shift for SAP as it runs exclusively on the SAP HANA database. A software-as-a-service version of the solution, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, was introduced a year later in 2016. There is a new major release of the on-premise version of SAP S/4HANA each year, while the cloud editions are released quarterly. SAP has announced that they will end the mainstream maintenance and support of all ERP systems other than SAP S/4HANA at the end of 2027.  

SAP started to shift their strategy in 2020 to focus more on the cloud-based software-as-a-service ERP system SAP S/4HANA Cloud. This has been done in conjunction with a shift in messaging toward cloud ERP. While most SAP ERP customers are still running older solutions such as SAP ECC, this focus on cloud ERP has been done in conjunction with RISE with SAP. 

The biggest factors impacting organizations in their move to newer SAP ERP systems include the opportunity to re-engineer processes or correct configurations from an older systems, the upcoming end of maintenance of existing ERP releases, and a desire to transform existing solutions and create a centralized model and structure.   

SAP has many implementation partners that will assist organizations with either their initial SAP ERP deployment or a move to SAP S/4HANA from an earlier ERP release. These range from global solution service partners like Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, and T-Systems to smaller partners like smartShift and SoftwareONE that offer solutions and software to help with migration, as well as partners specializing in the migration process itself like Lemongrass.