Optimizing Global SAP S/4 HANA Implementation for a Retail Enterprise

Project Overview

A global retail enterprise was preparing for an ambitious international expansion and had implemented SAP S/4 HANA in Asia, as the first step. However, they encountered significant challenges with their SAP implementation. The IT operations team struggled to keep up with tickets, leading to frustration among stakeholders. The company aimed to roll out SAP in seven additional countries but lacked a solid framework and encountered performance issues.

Resolve Tech Solutions (RTS) was engaged to perform an in-depth assessment of the SAP implementation, focusing on what was done correctly and identifying areas for improvement. Additionally, RTS evaluated the ongoing SAP implementation in their global rollout, provided support to address high-priority technical tickets, and ultimately designed a global SAP solutions roadmap template. The goal was to ensure a smooth and efficient global implementation while addressing pressing operational issues within their current systems. A high-level timeline and cost estimate were also developed to guide future expansion and ensure long-term success.

The Challenge

The retail enterprise was facing significant challenges in fulfilling customer orders on time, which led to dissatisfaction and a subsequent loss of revenue. Their supply chain was not optimized, leading to delays in product delivery and inefficiencies in inventory management. Furthermore, product innovation timelines were longer than the industry standard, which diminished their competitive edge.

The client also struggled with poor data quality, which hindered their ability to make informed business decisions. Analytics issues made it difficult to allocate products to top-priority customers effectively, leading to further inefficiencies. Integration issues between SAP and their existing systems contributed to these problems, exacerbating their difficulty in understanding why they weren’t realizing the value from their $50 million SAP investment. Without a clear roadmap, their headquarters system was misaligned, and they could not roll out SAP effectively to other global locations. The client needed a strategic plan to optimize their systems and derive measurable value from SAP

The Power of an SAP Assessment:

RTS began by conducting an extensive assessment of the client’s current SAP implementation. This included gathering requirements from stakeholders across the company and tying these business needs to SAP’s technology capabilities. Understanding the global supply chain and its unique challenges became a priority. RTS conducted deep-dive workshops in two countries, where they employed their proprietary Design Thinking principles, which enabled them to bring together diverse stakeholder groups.

By engaging everyone from C-level executives to day-to-day SAP users, RTS ensured that their solution addressed the business’s broader strategic needs while resolving the specific pain points experienced by users.

By analyzing the data from these workshops, RTS identified critical gaps in the client’s capabilities and business processes. They prioritized these gaps to ensure alignment between the business leaders’ objectives and the needs of the users. With this information, RTS developed a high-level architecture for an improved SAP implementation, including a detailed roadmap to guide the rollout across the seven additional countries. The plan accounted for the client’s business goals, ensuring that the SAP system would be integrated seamlessly into their operations across multiple geographies, providing the client with a clear path forward for their global SAP rollout, ensuring that each phase would be completed on time and within budget.

Additionally, RTS provided immediate support by resolving 30 high-priority
issues and helping the IT team address the backlog of technical tickets. This immediate assistance improved system stability and restored stakeholder confidence in SAP’s potential value.