Category: SAP

Quais são as principais dores da integração de sistemas na indústria e como resolvê-las?

Posted on December 2, 2024 by - IT, Legacy systems, SAP

dores integracao industria

A transformação digital na indústria está cada vez mais espalhada em todas as áreas de negócio, e a integração de sistemas é uma das chaves para impulsionar essa revolução. A Indústria 4.0 exige uma troca constante de informações entre sistemas e dispositivos para otimizar a produção e reduzir custos. 

No entanto, muitas empresas ainda enfrentam grandes desafios ao integrar seus sistemas antigos com novas tecnologias.

A falta de uma integração eficiente pode resultar em falhas operacionais, baixa eficiência e aumento de custos. Soluções como o iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) podem ajudar a resolver esses problemas, oferecendo integração rápida e sem complicações.

Neste artigo, vamos explorar as principais dores que as empresas industriais enfrentam na integração de sistemas e como soluções como a Digibee podem ajudá-las a superar esses desafios.

>> Agende uma demonstração personalizada com nossa equipe de especialistas e veja como o iPaaS da Digibee trará eficiência à sua operação. 

A importância da integração de sistemas na indústria moderna

A integração de sistemas é o processo de conectar diferentes tecnologias para que elas funcionem juntas de maneira harmoniosa. Na indústria, isso envolve conectar sistemas de controle de produção, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), sistemas de logística (como WMS) e dispositivos de IoT (Internet of Things), entre outros.

Com a digitalização e a ascensão da Indústria 4.0, a integração de sistemas se tornou ainda mais crucial. A necessidade de ter sistemas que se comuniquem de maneira eficiente e em tempo real nunca foi tão grande. Para as empresas, isso significa melhor rastreamento de processos, maior visibilidade, aumento da produtividade e redução de erros humanos.

Os sistemas de TI não são mais compartimentos isolados e precisam se conectar a uma variedade de plataformas externas e dispositivos. Além disso, sistemas legados precisam ser integrados aos mais recentes avanços tecnológicos, como a automação de processos e o uso de dados para análises preditivas.

A integração eficaz de sistemas resulta em maior controle sobre a operação e permite que as empresas da indústria 4.0 se adaptem rapidamente às mudanças, melhorando a competitividade e reduzindo custos.

>> Acesse a página especial da Digibee sobre integração para indústrias

As principais dores da integração de sistemas na indústria

Embora a necessidade de integração seja clara, as empresas industriais frequentemente enfrentam dificuldades quando tentam integrar sistemas variados. A seguir, exploramos as principais dores enfrentadas pelas empresas ao integrar seus sistemas.

1. Sistema de controle de produção

O sistema de controle de produção é essencial para gerenciar as operações de fábrica. No entanto, integrar esses sistemas com outros (como ERP ou sistemas de logística) pode ser um desafio, especialmente quando há dependências de sistemas legados. 

A falta de visibilidade em tempo real dos dados de produção e a comunicação ineficaz entre diferentes sistemas podem prejudicar a eficiência e causar erros que impactam diretamente a produção.

2. Sistemas de engenharia

A engenharia e a produção estão frequentemente conectadas, mas os sistemas que gerenciam ambas as áreas não são facilmente compatíveis. As empresas enfrentam dificuldades ao integrar sistemas de engenharia com sistemas de controle de produção, resultando em dados desconexos e dificuldades para tomar decisões informadas. 

Isso pode prejudicar a capacidade de adaptar rapidamente os processos de produção às mudanças de demanda ou aos avanços tecnológicos.

3. Sistemas de logística e expedição (WMS)

A integração de sistemas de logística, como WMS (Warehouse Management System), com outros sistemas de TI e de produção, muitas vezes é um grande desafio. O fluxo de informações entre o estoque, a produção e a expedição precisa ser contínuo e preciso. 

Se esses sistemas não estiverem integrados adequadamente, problemas como excesso de estoque, atrasos e erros de expedição podem ocorrer, afetando a eficiência e os custos.

4. Integração com plataformas externas

Na indústria moderna, muitas empresas dependem de plataformas externas, como fornecedores, transportadoras e clientes, para garantir a entrega pontual e precisa de produtos. 

Integrar esses sistemas externos com os sistemas internos da empresa é uma tarefa complexa, especialmente quando se lida com APIs de diferentes fornecedores e sistemas legados. A falta de uma integração eficaz pode levar a falhas de comunicação, atrasos e aumento de custos operacionais.

Essas dores podem afetar diretamente a produtividade, a eficiência e a competitividade das empresas no mercado. A boa notícia é que existem soluções para resolvê-las, então continue lendo o post!

dores integracao industria

Como a Digibee resolve essas dores de integração

A Digibee é uma plataforma iPaaS que oferece uma maneira fácil e eficiente de integrar sistemas e plataformas diferentes. Com ela, as empresas podem superar as dores da integração de sistemas e otimizar sua operação industrial. 

Vamos explorar como a Digibee resolve os problemas mencionados.

1. Automação e integração rápida

A Digibee facilita a integração de sistemas legados com novos sistemas e tecnologias, permitindo que as empresas conectem suas soluções de TI sem a necessidade de processos manuais e demorados. 

A plataforma oferece automação rápida e integração sem complicações, permitindo que a indústria foque em suas operações, em vez de se preocupar com processos técnicos complexos.

Conte com funcionalidades como o AI Pair-Programmer, que atua como um desenvolvedor para cada pessoa de uma equipe de TI oferecendo sugestões proativas de integração, e como as Cápsulas, que são componentes reutilizáveis ​​validados que podem ser criados por qualquer usuário da plataforma.

2. Flexibilidade e escalabilidade

Com a Digibee, as empresas podem integrar uma ampla gama de sistemas, desde ERPs e WMS até dispositivos IoT e plataformas externas. A plataforma é altamente escalável, permitindo que as empresas cresçam sem se preocupar com limitações de integração. 

Ela suporta arquiteturas híbridas e multi-cloud, o que significa que a Digibee pode se adaptar às necessidades de qualquer empresa, independentemente da sua estrutura tecnológica.

Você pode, por exemplo, fazer uma migração para S/4HANA e acelerar a transformação digital com nossa integração SAP pré-construída.

3. Integração entre ERP, WMS e sistemas de engenharia

A Digibee permite que os sistemas de ERP, WMS e sistemas de engenharia se comuniquem de forma eficiente, eliminando as barreiras de integração. A plataforma oferece uma maneira simples de conectar esses sistemas, otimizando os fluxos de dados e melhorando a visibilidade em tempo real. 

Isso resulta em maior controle sobre as operações de produção, logística e expedição.

4. Redução de custos e aumento da eficiência

A integração ágil proporcionada pela Digibee não só reduz o tempo de implementação, mas também os custos associados à manutenção de sistemas desconectados. A plataforma ajuda a reduzir erros, melhorar a precisão e garantir que todos os dados necessários estejam disponíveis para tomada de decisões informadas. 

Isso se traduz em maior eficiência operacional, menor tempo de inatividade e redução de custos ao longo do tempo.

Benefícios adicionais da integração com a Digibee para a indústria

Além de resolver as dores de integração, a Digibee oferece uma série de benefícios adicionais para as empresas industriais. 

Alguns desses benefícios incluem:

  • Aumento da agilidade: A integração rápida e sem fricções permite que as empresas adaptem suas operações mais rapidamente, respondendo de forma eficiente às mudanças de mercado e demanda.
  • Visibilidade e controle de dados: A Digibee oferece uma visão centralizada e em tempo real das operações, o que melhora a tomada de decisões e o controle de processos.
  • Suporte e segurança: Com a Digibee, as empresas têm acesso a um suporte contínuo e a uma plataforma segura, garantindo que os dados permaneçam protegidos e que os sistemas operem sem interrupções.

Para ver por si mesmo a nossa plataforma em funcionamento, faça um tour virtual sem necessidade de deixar seu email ou contato.

Casos de Sucesso: como empresas do setor estão melhorando a integração

A Digibee tem ajudado diversas empresas a resolverem suas dores de integração e melhorarem suas operações. Exemplos incluem empresas da indústria de manufatura, logística e automação que passaram a integrar seus sistemas de maneira eficiente, reduzindo custos e melhorando a produtividade.

Essas empresas conseguiram otimizar suas operações, melhorar o controle da cadeia de suprimentos, e, finalmente, aumentar a eficiência operacional, ao conectar seus sistemas legados com soluções modernas por meio da Digibee.

Veja alguns cases de sucesso:

Conte com a Digibee para fazer a integração dos seus sistemas

As principais dores da integração de sistemas na indústria, como a falta de visibilidade, sistemas desconectados e processos manuais, podem ser superadas com o iPaaS da Digibee. Nossa plataforma oferece uma integração ágil e sem complicações, conectando sistemas de TI, ERP, WMS e dispositivos IoT para otimizar as operações industriais.

Com a Digibee, as empresas não apenas resolvem seus desafios de integração, mas também aumentam a eficiência, reduzem custos e ganham agilidade para responder às demandas do mercado. Se você está pronto para transformar a integração de sua operação industrial, experimente todos os benefícios que ela pode oferecer.

Solicite uma demonstração e descubra como a Digibee pode transformar sua integração de sistemas.

Ultimate Guide to Business System Integrations

Posted on March 27, 2024 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT, Legacy systems, Retail, SAP

Graphic depicting different connected systems

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, the need for seamless communication and data flow between various systems within an organization has become paramount. Gone are the days of siloed information and disjointed processes that hinder productivity and innovation. The solution? Business system integrations.

Before diving too deeply – it is important to understand the “before” state for organizations’ lacking system integration and the pain points they often bring. Lacking business integration commonly includes challenges such as fragmented data silos, inefficient workflows, manual data entry errors, and the inability to adapt to evolving business needs swiftly.

These pain points not only hamper operational efficiency, but also hinder strategic decision-making and impede overall growth.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover the intricacies of business system integrations, from understanding pain points driving organizations to integrate different systems, the options for system integration, to exploring the key steps and considerations involved in the implementation process.

Key Points

  1. What is business systems integration?
  2. Types of business system integrations
  3. Benefits of integrating business systems
  4. Steps to follow before implementing
  5. Optimal features to consider when evaluating integration solutions

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

What is business systems integration?

At its core, business systems integration refers to the process of connecting disparate systems and applications within an organization to streamline and simplify data flowing from one place to another.

The ultimate goal is to create a cohesive ecosystem where data flows seamlessly between internal IT systems and third-party applications. This functionality ultimately fosters improved collaboration, efficiency, and decision-making capabilities.

Types of Systems

Business systems integration encompasses various types of systems, including but not limited to:

  • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems: These are comprehensive platforms managing core business processes such as finance, HR, inventory, and supply chain operations. Common examples include Oracle Netsuite and SAP S/4HANA.
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems: Solutions like HubSpot and Salesforce help businesses manage interactions with current and potential customers.
  • Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems: These platforms optimize the flow of goods and services from suppliers to customers.
  • Human Resource Management (HRM) systems: Tools like Workday streamline HR processes such as payroll, recruitment, and employee management.

Role of APIs

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and connectors play a crucial role in facilitating seamless data exchange between these different systems. APIs allow systems to communicate with each other, enabling the transfer of information in a standardized data format, while connectors act as bridges between incompatible systems, ensuring smooth integration.

Types of business system integrations

While there are numerous integration models and methods – hub and spoke, point-to-point, star integration, and ESB – three primary types are to be considered:

  1. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI): This approach focuses on integrating various applications within an organization using middleware platforms. Examples include Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), like Digibee, and Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).
  2. Data integration: Data integration involves consolidating and harmonizing data from disparate sources to provide a unified view. Solutions like Informatica and SnapLogic are popular choices in this category.
  3. Electronic document integration: This type of integration focuses on automating the electronic data interchange for documents such as invoices, purchase orders, and contracts between systems. Solutions like MuleSoft and Dell Boomi excel in electronic document integration.

Benefits of integrating business systems

The benefits of systems integrations are extensive and should be carefully considered for organizations looking to achieve interconnectivity for a variety of reasons:

Enhanced Data Accuracy:

By eliminating manual data entry and minimizing errors, integrations ensure that data remains accurate and consistent across systems.

Improved Efficiency:

Integrations streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks, boosting productivity and reducing turnaround times.

Scalability:

Integrated systems can easily scale to accommodate growing business needs, retire legacy systems, and keep pace with new technology requirements.

Reduced Operational Costs:

By streamlining processes and improving efficiency, integrations help organizations lower operational costs and optimize resource utilization.

Improved Customer Experience:

Seamless integrations enable organizations to deliver personalized and timely experiences to customers by providing businesses with a 360 customer view, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Risk Mitigation:

Integrations facilitate regulatory compliance by ensuring data integrity and security – thereby reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.

3 simple steps to take before implementing a business systems integration

Before embarking on a business systems integration journey or any integration project, organizations should undertake the following steps:

  1. Pull in relevant stakeholders: Engage stakeholders from across teams and external partners to define project goals, identify risks, and develop a comprehensive plan.
  2. Analyze current systems: Evaluate existing systems – legacy systems and modern – to understand their capabilities, limitations, and compatibility with potential integration solutions. Identify the integrations that would need mapping to understand what solution would provide the best compatibility.
  3. Consider scalability and future growth: Anticipate future business needs and scalability requirements to ensure that the chosen integration solution can adapt and grow alongside the organization. New technologies are constantly emerging. Ensure you choose an integration solution that easily integrates with modern solutions, staying innovative and maintaining future growth.

Key features to consider in evaluation

While organizations have the option to build integration solutions from scratch, there are plenty of vendors, like Digibee, that offer a best-in-class SaaS solution. When evaluating purchasing integration solutions, consider the following key features:

  • Complexity of implementation: Choose a solution that aligns with your organization’s technical expertise and implementation timelines.
  • Integration capabilities: Ensure that the solution supports seamless integration with a wide range of systems and applications.
  • Day-to-Day management: Evaluate the ease of managing and maintaining the integration solution, including monitoring, troubleshooting, and updating. You don’t want a solution that is more time-consuming than productive.
  • Support: Look for vendors that offer responsive support services to address any issues or concerns that may arise during implementation and beyond.
  • Data governance: Prioritize solutions that provide robust data governance features to ensure data integrity, security, and compliance.
  • Cost: Consider the total cost of ownership, including upfront licensing fees, implementation costs, ongoing maintenance, and support fees.

How Digibee can help

As organizations navigate the complexities of business systems integrations, partnering with a trusted integration platform provider like Digibee can streamline the process and drive success.

Product Overview

Digibee is a powerful iPasS that simplifies the integration of disparate business systems and applications. The most efficient, scalable way to facilitate integration projects is with an integration platform as a service, or iPaaS, such as Digibee.

An iPaaS is a platform developers use to build and manage integrations on scalable architecture—it replaces outdated integration options like ESB and includes features like reusable components, a low-code interface, managed infrastructure, prebuilt integrations, and enterprise support. 

Unlike some of its predecessors, Digibee’s iPaaS doesn’t require specialized training or a long implementation. On the contrary, it speeds up digital transformation projects by automating and simplifying the development workflows needed to connect legacy systems and cloud applications in one unified system. 

Digibee is different in that it is the only integration platform that scales application integration workflows while reducing cost, technical debt, and the burden on development teams. It allows developers to quickly build, test, deploy, govern, and monitor integrations across on-premises systems and cloud environments—they can then use the platform in tandem with API management and ETL tools for full synchronization across the organization.

Digibee is a born-in-the-cloud integration platform, that modernizes how enterprises connect applications, data, processes, and people. The integration platform includes:

Digibee in Action

Digibee has helped numerous organizations streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and drive innovation through integration across a multitude of industries including retail, manufacturing, and hospitality:

  • Helped a hotel chain reduce guest wait times by 80% and operating expenses by 300k annually
  • Integrated a new secure e-commerce platform for retailer Payless across more than 200 stores, in 15 countries, in less than 30 days
  • Enabled an ERP cloud migration for Bauducco – simplifying and modernizing existing legacy systems and integrations while saving $2 million on project costs

Take a Tour

In conclusion, business systems integrations offer a myriad of benefits, from improving efficiency and data accuracy to enhancing customer experiences and ensuring compliance. By following the key steps outlined in this guide and evaluating integration solutions with care, organizations can embark on a successful integration journey that drives growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.

Ready to revolutionize your business systems integration journey? Schedule a demo or, if you prefer, take a tour of Digibee’s platform to discover how it can help with system connectivity in your own organization.

Choosing the Right Tech Stack: Single Vendor Ecosystem or Best-of-Breed?

Posted on February 29, 2024 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT, Legacy systems, SAP

As a business and technology leader, some of the most critical technology decisions you face center on whether to broadly adopt an integrated suite from a single vendor or assemble a “best-of-breed” stack of specialized tools.

The associated set of decisions is the underpinning of your technology strategy, and the decisions you make will profoundly impact the flexibility, innovation and costs of your tech stack as you grow, scale and evolve your organization.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

What is a Legacy System and Why is Everyone So Worried About Them?

Posted on February 23, 2023 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT, SAP

Are legacy systems really the end of the world? For many companies, they are business-critical technologies that keep operations humming and revenue flowing. But for all the bad press they get, you might think they’re set to be the downfall of business as we know it. 

Are they? Not necessarily. Can they be? Absolutely.

But to fully understand what legacy systems are and why everyone is so concerned about them, we’ll have to dig a little deeper. This post will look at what a legacy system is, provide some examples, and examine the value, risks, and challenges associated with them.

Before we can discuss the risks and challenges associated with a legacy system, we have to establish what we’re talking about. It’s surprisingly difficult to find a widely accepted definition of legacy systems – which can make it challenging to determine if it’s an issue at your organization. 

monitor-with-code-developer-computer-programming

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

What is a Legacy System?

Legacy systems include computer systems, programming languages, applications, processes, or hardware that are:

  • Inefficient to support or maintain
  • Based on outdated technology
  • Not compatible with more modern technical solutions
  • Typically no longer available for purchase
  • Often essential for day-to-day operations (more on this later)

Pro Tip: Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a system or tool isn’t “legacy” because it’s only a few years old. Any technology that fits the above criteria is considered a legacy system.

Legacy Technology Examples and Use Cases

Legacy systems are everywhere. Any business that existed before fully-digital companies began emerging has had to – or will have to – update older systems if they want to compete in today’s digital space. Aging infrastructure and outdated technology comes in all shapes and sizes, but here are four more well-known legacy technology examples:

1. On-Premise SharePoint

Microsoft has announced the end of life for its 2013, 2016, and 2019 SharePoint Servers, with the final lights set to go out in July 2026. Research suggests that a significant percentage of finance, government, healthcare, and manufacturing organizations in North America are still using this tool – and many have no plans to migrate to something else.

Once considered ground-breaking, the on-premise version of SharePoint has become challenging (and expensive) to customize. It doesn’t scale well and lacks many reporting and oversight capabilities that are now considered standard.

2. COBOL

If you’re connected to the financial sector, you’ve probably been hearing arguments about COBOL for at least a decade. This programming language has been around for over 60 years and powers billions of ATM and credit card transactions annually.

COBOL’s age is not the issue. Skilled developers are already in short supply, and those with the expertise to translate COBOL code into more widely used modern languages are even more scarce. Even experienced developers can find it challenging to translate COBOL because of the unorthodox way it uses some standard coding statements.

3. SAP’s On-Premise ERP

Like SharePoint, SAP has announced plans to sunset support for its on-premise ERP in 2027. The existing model requires companies still using it to invest heavily in the development and maintenance of customized code to adapt it to today’s business processes. 

91% of SAP users say they are dependent on custom code, and  90% of the code in use falls somewhere between “important” and “extremely critical.” The costs to keep using the tool are already high and will only increase as new technologies and trends emerge.

4. Blackberry Phones

There was a time when 43% of smartphones in the US were Blackberries. Although the brand’s downfall was swift when it failed to adapt to changing consumer expectations driven by new models from Apple and Samsung, the company only finally announced the end of support for its operating system in January 2022.

Limits on Blackberry hardware and the company’s refusal to embrace tools that customers wanted – think keyboard in place of touch screen – cost the company market share and ultimately made the once-iconic phones obsolete.

Why Do Businesses Use Legacy Tech?

The need to replace systems that are outdated, challenging to support, and inefficient to maintain and use may seem obvious. So why do businesses resist legacy system integration and hold on to platforms and tools like the legacy technology examples listed above?

There are a number of reasons:

  • “It still works!”

This is a common refrain among executives who resist digital transformation in favor of the tools they know and trust. It can be hard to recognize (or justify) the need to overhaul major systems when the existing solution – which employees are used to – appears to be getting the job done.

  • “We can’t afford to change!”

Balancing revenue and costs is always a consideration. The price to upgrade, or worse, replace, business-critical tech is often high. In many cases, companies have invested substantially in existing systems, so bearing a slow rise in maintenance costs may seem preferable to scrapping it all and starting fresh.

  • “Changing will disrupt operations!”

Legacy systems often play a vital role in day-to-day operations, so the prospect of shifting to a new solution (whose reliability is unknown) can be daunting. If sticking with older tech might be disruptive eventually, companies may take their chances rather than endangering operational continuity with a major change.

“Replacing legacy applications and systems with systems based on new and different technologies is one of the information systems (IS) professional’s most significant challenges. As enterprises upgrade or change their technologies, they must ensure compatibility with old systems and data formats that are still in use.”

Gartner

Legacy System Risks and Challenges

Concerns about transitioning away from legacy systems are not unfounded, but the risks of sticking with outdated architecture – however “tried and true” it may be – are not inconsequential either.

Businesses that continue to rely on legacy technology will see problems related to:

  • Maintenance 

The cost of maintaining outdated systems will only rise as time goes on, support is discontinued, and fewer IT experts with the skills to keep legacy systems working – and connected to more modern tools – are available.

  • Performance

The speed at which technology evolves is increasing exponentially. Legacy systems that don’t fail outright still won’t be able to keep pace with rising standards and rapid changes to market trends and consumer demands.

  • Integration

The pandemic only accelerated an existing shift to doing business online, and a dependence on legacy systems can hamper digital transformation efforts and make adopting new solutions more challenging.

  • User Experience

Reliance on aging or outdated platforms can negatively affect the experience you offer your customers. And the brand loyalty you’ve built can only carry you so far when you can’t meet expectations.

Digibee Can Help

Digibee’s innovative low-code enterprise integration platform-as-a-service removes the roadblocks legacy systems put in the way of your company’s growth and success. 

Our reusable integrations let even junior developers connect legacy systems to new technologies and tools to modernize your architecture and accelerate digital transformation without downtime or disruption to your operations. Book a customized demo and discover the Digibee difference for yourself today.

SAP S/4HANA Transition: What’s the Rush?

Posted on November 2, 2022 by - Cloud Migration, Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT, SAP

It’s been two years since SAP announced it would sunset support for its on-premise ERP. There are five years until the current deadline. In business terms, five years seems like a comfortable window for change – in the technology world, five years is practically an eternity. With what seems like all the time in the world to migrate, is starting your SAP S/4HANA transition really that urgent?

The short answer: Yes.

The longer answer: Seriously, what are you waiting for? There are several reasons not to put off an SAP S/4HANA migration, no matter how daunting it may seem.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

Other Systems Depend on It

Any unanticipated shift to a new technological system is a challenge. But your ERP isn’t just any old system. It’s a core system with many dependencies. You’ll need to examine the relationship between SAP and each solution or tool it interacts with before you can make the move. 

Data migration is a crucial factor to consider when evaluating your SAP S/4HANA integration options. Overlooking a dependency before your migration begins can result in data loss and significant disruptions to your operations. Starting your S/4HANA transition now ensures you have as much time as possible to examine and address dependencies in your system.

Sometimes Things Go Wrong

Your SAP modernization efforts may well be your organization’s first real foray into the world of cloud, and preparing for the worst (while hoping for the best) is the smart move. 

Even if your company has already embraced cloud-based solutions for other aspects of your business, it’s never wise to assume that everything will go exactly as planned. Something as simple as a lack of stakeholder alignment on the goals and priorities for your SAP S/4HANA transition can derail the entire process. The responsible move is to begin planning for the shift while the old system is still there as a reliable backup.

S/4HANA Migration has Benefits

It’s easy to think that your SAP S/4HANA transition is a massive evil task you’re being forced to undertake against your will. But migration can serve as a catalyst for your digital transformation journey and transform your ERP into a more strategic partner for other lines of business. 

It can:

  • Unlock potential for cost savings
  • Reduce technical debt
  • Improve efficiency
  • Empower your team to innovate

Do you really want to delay that?

Simplify Your SAP S/4HANA Transition

Recognizing the benefits of moving forward now with your SAP S/4HANA migration doesn’t mean that all the challenges associated with doing so will simply vanish into thin air. Still, there are ways to simplify the process.

1. Learn from those who’ve already made the move

  • You’re developing a strategy for SAP modernization; you’re not reinventing the wheel. S/4HANA didn’t just appear when SAP announced its 2027 ECC sunset date. Plenty of companies – some with more complicated dependencies or niche legacy systems than you – have already made the transition. Learn from their experiences, mistakes, and successes as you develop your SAP S/4HANA roadmap.

2. Take time to inventory and understand your environment

  • One of the major arguments for mapping your journey to SAP S/4HANA now is that you’ll have more time to get things right. Every single system touching your on-premises ERP may also need modernization. Invest time in documenting systems and their dependencies, and carefully determine:
    • What should be modernized as part of your migration
    • What you can “lift and shift” for modernization in the future
    • What can be eliminated or streamlined for greater efficiency

3. Find or build an SAP S/4HANA roadmap

  • Digital transformation isn’t a destination – it’s a journey. And there are plenty of guides available to help make the transition more manageable and less disruptive if you’re ready to ask for help.
  • Find an existing framework or process with a proven record of success that will serve as a roadmap for your SAP S/4HANA transition, or partner with a vendor that has already completed the journey before and knows what to watch out for.

Choose Digibee for SAP Modernization

Available-on-SAP-Store-imageDigibee’s low-code iPaaS can help simplify and accelerate your S/4HANA transition. We empower you to implement integrations 40% faster to decrease costs, reduce disruptions, reduce technical debt, and completely eliminate downtime. We’ve helped many organizations develop an SAP ECC to S/4HANA roadmap that works for them, and we’re proud to be a featured vendor in the SAP Store.

Download your copy of Digibee’s 6-step process to de-risk and speed up your SAP S/4HANA Migration to learn how to make your migration easy and risk-free.

For more information, visit our SAP resource page.

How to Align Your Stakeholders for S/4HANA Success

Posted on October 10, 2022 by - Cloud Migration, Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT, SAP

The success of any IT project that involves the migration from established, foundational technology to contemporary, cloud-based technology, is often determined by how well you integrate the old with the new.

Case in point is the impending SAP S/4HANA migration, which for many organizations will be the largest IT project they’ve undertaken in years (if not decades). This mammoth task requires enterprise integrations across multiple systems and data stores in support of a more agile, resilient, and competitive business.  

Along with a solid project integration strategy to support your SAP S/4HANA migration, success is also defined based on the time and resources consumed, as well as any downtime to the business. But even with the best project strategy, achieving your desired outcomes is difficult (if not impossible) if your internal stakeholders are not aligned on the objectives of the project. 

For example, your CIO may expect that your impending SAP S/4HANA migration will immediately improve data security, whereas your CFO may expect an overall reduction in operational costs. Perhaps your Sales leader expects a faster time to market for new offerings, while your IT team is aiming for business process optimization and improved system reliability. 

While each of these objectives is achievable, delivering all of them on day one is not. Aligning the priorities and expectations of internal teams is a critical factor in the success of your SAP S/4HANA migration strategy.

success-team-successful-group-at-work

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

A Meeting of the Minds

An international study about SAP S/4HANA transformation by LeanIX bears this out, with 66% of SAP users describing the alignment of teams (business, project, IT) as the biggest hurdle they face in migrating to SAP S/4HANA.

This lack of alignment impacts all aspects of your migration strategy, including enterprise integration and how internal teams prioritize these critical connections. 

The Digibee Enterprise Integration Report sums up an in-depth survey we conducted of business and technology leaders. For the report, we solicited input from respondents who had already implemented an enterprise-level integration initiative of a scale similar to the S/4HANA migration. We asked these leaders to identify three aspects of the project most likely to impact budget and spend. 

Everything is a priority

Top of the list was competing priorities, clearly reflecting a lack of alignment in how these important connections are ranked by internal teams:

SEI-2023-top-integration-objectives-for-transformation-graphic

*This blog post, originally published in October 2022, was updated above to reflect data from the 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report published in April, 2023.

While the variety of desired use cases reflects the broad scope of enterprise integration in supporting your S/4HANA migration, lack of clarity in prioritizing the work results in conflict amongst stakeholders, delaying implementation and increasing costs as everyone marches to the beat of their own drummer. 

System downtime and resourcing were the other aspects leadership called out as most impactful to project budget and spend. 

3 Steps to Plan (and Align) for Success

These steps will guide you in creating an effective integration strategy that will help drive alignment amongst your internal teams, while ensuring the success of your S/4HANA migration strategy.

  1. Organize your integration strategy in stages. Focus on a single objective as an initial stage, socializing the strategy with stakeholder groups before any work occurs. This serves as a dry run and an initial exercise in project prioritization for internal teams. Implement additional objectives in subsequent stages, increasing workloads as the IT and project teams gain momentum.
  2. Build a cost-effective integration strategy. While business and technology leaders have valid concerns around budget, time, and people, with enterprise iPaaS technology, you can easily leverage in-house resources and other efficiencies to ensure your integration strategy delivers results in record time and on budget.
  3. Include the medium- and longer-term benefits of enterprise integration in your migration business case. While a successful integration strategy is imperative to your SAP S/4HANA migration, eiPaaS technology delivers continuous, ongoing value and innovation to your business:

Digibee Supports Business Process Optimization

Digibee works with organizations globally, supporting SAP S/4HANA migrations with flexible and fast integration strategies. 

With our low code integration model, Digibee customers implement integrations 40% faster, decreasing operating costs with fewer incidents, faster recovery times, and zero downtime. These efficiencies help free up resources to focus on the higher priority S/4HANA migration work. 

Visit our SAP S/4HANA integration page to learn more or request a demo with our team to discuss your upcoming migration plan.

Migrate to SAP S/4HANA and Eliminate Your Technical Debt

Posted on September 27, 2022 by - Cloud Migration, Enterprise Integration Solutions, SAP

The SAP S/4HANA migration train is still at the station, and — thanks to industry feedback — it’s there to stay. At least until 2027 when support for SAP ECC ends. However, this welcome respite is just a pause in what for many enterprises will be their most significant infrastructure upgrade in decades.

For some organizations, SAP S/4HANA may be their first serious foray to the cloud and an important step in their ongoing digital evolution. With the agility of the cloud and truly digitized processes to power them, these companies are now able to support new and innovative ways to do business. 

While it’s a given that the shift from SAP ECC vs SAP S/4HANA will require significant investments in time and resources, one of the biggest impacts on enterprises is the technical debt accrued over the years (and even decades) that SAP ECC architecture has been in use. 

1992The first SAP ERP was built based on the SAP R/3 software with various applications on top of SAP Basis (a set of middleware programs and tools). All applications were built on top of the SAP Web Application Server, with extension sets used to deliver new features and stabilize the core.
2004A complete architecture change occurred with the introduction of mySAP ERP with ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) replacing R/3 Enterprise.
2006The latest version (SAP ERP 6.0) was released, with subsequent updates using SAP enhancement packs. The most recent was SAP enhancement package 8 for SAP ERP 6.0 (released in 2016).
2015SAP S/4HANA launched.
2027Support for SAP ECC will end.

Based on the SAP ERP timeline, it is likely there are SAP customers out there who have been using the software for almost 20 years. During this time, an untold amount of customized coding has occurred to better align out-of-the-box SAP capabilities with the specific requirements of the business. Unfortunately, customized coding comes at a cost.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

SAP Customizations: The Price We Pay

The need for customized coding is attributed to the rigid model imposed by SAP tools requiring additional development work (and subsequent maintenance) to adapt the technology to the processes of the business.

“Custom code is the biggest barrier in migrating or upgrading to a new SAP environment.” 

80% of organizations surveyed
Pillir ASUG Report, 2021

This is borne out in the numbers: 91% of SAP users rely on custom code with 90% of the code that’s in use considered to be “important” to “extremely critical”. In fact, 80% of organizations consider SAP custom code to be their biggest barrier in migrating or upgrading to a new SAP environment.

These customizations are woven throughout the business, facilitating important functions including CRM, ordering systems, inventory management, invoicing, accounting, and many other business-critical processes. In addition, almost half of the applications in question were developed more than six years ago, which means these systems and associated business logic are no longer contemporary.

Then there are the resources needed to maintain this model. In particular, the reliance on the same experts who built the customizations to manage any transitions every time a new or different platform is enabled within the existing environment. This siloing of expertise complicates efforts to innovate, especially when these experts leave the company. 

The numbers
– $800K annual spend (average) on the most important (2-3) custom applications
– 1000+ custom applications for a typical customer
– 20-30 SAP instances running at any one time for some Fortune 500 companies

Such heavy technical debt must be reconciled. Not only does it offset profit margins, it also delays the implementation of modern technologies, which are critical to the company’s ability to compete and succeed in the market.

Eliminating SAP Custom Code with iPaaS

Custom code is most typically used to tie two systems together (also referred to as custom coded point-to-point integration). But what begins as a fairly straightforward “connect point A to point B” exercise quickly devolves into a confusing mess with overlapping connections that are difficult to maintain and impossible to scale.  

The SAP S/4HANA migration is a perfect starting point for enterprises bogged down by the spaghetti-like architecture resulting from SAP custom code. Instead, organizations can leverage enterprise integration platform as a service technology. This model uses API integrations that seamlessly connect current systems and the new SAP S/4HANA platform.  

Bauducco migrated from its legacy ERP system to SAP S/4HANA, integrating 14 systems with the new platform and precluding the need for costly customization work. Learn more →

Although data migration is a critical step in the shift from SAP ECC to S4/HANA, by leveraging iPaaS technology, there is no need for SAP customers to accommodate the customized coding that’s been created over the years, essentially eliminating their technical debt while fast-tracking their SAP cloud migration strategy.

Digibee helps enterprises evolve from customized to simplified integrations. Our iPaaS technology bridges the gap between current systems and new technologies, connecting data and platforms that have never been connected before, regardless of underlying silos or legacy infrastructure.

Accelerate Your SAP S/4HANA Migration

Instead of viewing the extension of SAP ECC end of life to 2027 as a reprieve, Digibee customers are accelerating their migration timelines to more quickly eliminate the ongoing accrual of technical debt. With spending on customized coding reaching (and often exceeding) $1M annually, the faster their migration to S4/HANA, the sooner they can reconcile the technical debt they’ve incurred (and which continues to grow). 

With Digibee’s low code integration model, our customers implement integrations 40% faster, decreasing operating costs with fewer incidents, faster recovery times, and zero downtime. These efficiencies help free up resources to focus on the higher priority S/4HANA migration work. 

Book a demo with us to learn more.