SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Transformation needs a specifically tailored business case for every large enterprise. It is not a coincidence that Gartner’s research shows that two-thirds of SAP’s customer base has not yet started a migration to SAP S/4 HANA.

Demonstrating business value rather than just IT cost & risk reduction, is the key to producing a winning business case. The is no doubt, that adding AI to the SAP offering is a great move. Company functions such as; Customer Experience, Finance and HR will have enhanced business benefits as SAP AI matures.

However, this still does not address the need for more SAP industry functionality to create value in sectors such as manufacturing, retail and distribution.  Many product-based companies have built unique processes and approaches to run their business, which differentiates them from their competitors. Differentiation is their competitive advantage in a ‘tough’ global marketplace.

The SAP business case for these enterprises, must be based on how SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Transformation can enhance differentiation in competitive product focused markets. We cannot assume that just making efficiency gains in current processes via standardisation, will be enough to make any meaningful change.

There is no short cut here. To start our SAP business case, we need to understand how these companies currently use their unique processes / approaches to drive the attributes and features that underpin their market differentiation. This is where AI powered analysis of these complex sets of relationships, could make a real difference and provide the focus for successful business cases.