Moving CPG ERP Systems to AWS Cloud Using Deloitte’s SAP/HANA Solutions

If you’re a CIO, you know that worrying is part of the job, especially when it comes to the performance of your IT systems. In today’s digital business world, your IT capabilities can be the deciding factor in whether your company thrives or falls short of its ambitions. If your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems end up holding your company back, then all eyes are on you and your IT team to provide effective solutions and strategies to put your company and its technology efforts back on track.

Deloitte sees this every day while helping global industry leaders make a bigger business impact. When it comes to major transformation efforts, such as migrating your core ERP solutions to the cloud, your company expects you to “get it right the first time.” Your senior IT leaders worry about security, stability, costs, business outcomes, and being left behind by competitors. Add in the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, brittle supply chains, and rising human expectations—and everyone in your organization has plenty to fret about.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to address the IT concerns and worries that keep you awake at night. It’s time for your organization to embark on a transformation path that leverages intelligent SAP solutions running on AWS cloud, with broad capabilities in cloud innovation, integration, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).

Modernization

If you’re like most CIOs, one of your biggest worries is that your IT ecosystem may become outdated in just a few short years. Organizations are constantly changing, and with that change comes the fear that your IT environment can’t keep up with rapidly evolving business needs and technologies. Your company requires intelligent solutions that give you the flexibility to make quick and easy changes to your IT environment and your business tactics.

The SAP S/4HANA core ERP system lets you easily adapt your business models, handle changes at disruption speed, and maximize resources. Moreover, the SAP Business Technology Platform provides a hosting environment for analytics, intelligent technologies, and app development and integration. Together, these solutions support constant insights, rapid responsiveness, and ongoing innovation, thereby helping you continuously evolve IT and market strategies, lead your industry, and future-proof your business.

In addition, AWS cloud offers a set of constantly updated applications for digital commerce, ML, analytic insights, customer dashboards, app development, and mobility. SAP on AWS ensures that modernization is built-in, extensive, and sustainable.

Cost and Complexity

Moving your core ERP and other critical business solutions to the cloud inevitably brings up two questions: How much will this cost? And how difficult will the migration to the cloud be?

Selective Transformation by Deloitte features a set of AI, automation, and cloud-powered tools that make the leap to AWS Cloud easier. This solution uses a super-enhanced brownfield approach powered by ML that identifies and moves only the selected data and processes that matter most to your business. This lets you rapidly upgrade your SAP ECC system to SAP S/4HANA on the cloud infrastructure of your choice. Selective Transformation does the heavy lifting of cloud migration, thereby making the move less costly, less complex, and more impactful.

However, once you’ve made this migration, your company can achieve the benefits that other companies have realized with cloud-based ERP systems, including greater flexibility, scalability, and increased security and stability. Your organization can achieve a lower TCO for your IT systems and switch the focus of your financial efforts from capital to operational expenses.

Business Outcomes and Value

As a CIO, you’re responsible for leading your company’s digital strategies, and for creating systems that will drive growth, reduce risk, and overcome endless business disruption in every corner of your enterprise. It’s a complex challenge, and obviously you shouldn’t try to address it by building an even more complex IT landscape.

The key to effective business outcomes lies in using resources to identify growth opportunities, increase business efficiency, anticipate change, and avoid problems and disruptions. Your company must be able to provide your customers with innovative new products and services that enhance their experiences and boost their loyalty, all while giving your employees the tools they need to do their jobs tomorrow.

SAP offers multiple tools and solutions on AWS cloud that extend across all areas of business, including finance, procurement, planning, manufacturing, product innovation, supply chain, employee experience, travel and expense, and customer experience. Each of these AWS-based solutions is connected to the broader SAP suite, including SAP Ariba and SAP SuccessFactors.

In such a deeply interconnected universe, the potential for business value is huge. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons that Deloitte has developed over 60 ready-to-deploy use cases known as “Kinetic Microservices.” Designed to deliver focused business value, each Kinetic Microservice is aligned to industry-specific needs and roles—all leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform capabilities and the cloud to drive greater insights, integration, and innovation. Kinetic Microservices lets you quickly make an impact with tools like a predictive, connected cold supply chain, AI-enabled risk sensing, and intelligently automated “lights out” finance capabilities.

Security and Stability

If your enterprise technology is not secure and stable, then neither is your business. The reliability of your company, the trust of your customers, and the stability of your revenues are all at stake. And the growing number of digital processes, applications, and touchpoints that your organization must handle simply creates more risk potential.

SAP S/4HANA on AWS cloud offers the inherent security features of SAP software, plus AWS cloud’s built-in security. This combination provides multiple defense layers for your network and infrastructure, including controls and monitoring tools that enable you to get a complete view of security for your entire IT ecosystem.

Furthermore, bringing your data, solutions, and central tech stack to AWS cloud provides stability for your IT ecosystem and your business. By moving and connecting seamlessly within a single cohesive and tightknit environment, you can respond swiftly to business and technology needs. You can effortlessly add AWS and digital business capabilities, such as AI-enabled apps, and easily scale software and infrastructure as your business grows and new needs emerge. Additionally, you can take systems offline to address maintenance needs without taking your entire business offline.

When you bring together SAP solutions and AWS cloud, you get business flexibility powered by IT simplicity with a unified set of solutions that work in tandem to unlock greater value for your enterprise. This gives you the peace of mind of knowing that your IT ecosystem is working to support your company, your customers, and your business goals. And, if you’re a CIO, that means less worry and more productive days.

Want more insights that can help you spend less time worrying about the “how” of business transformation, and let you get back to concentrating on the “why” of business value? Visit deloitte.com/SAP to explore ideas for creating a disruption-ready, built-to-evolve Kinetic Enterprise™ with intelligent technologies and responsive cloud solutions.