Blog__Why Applexus for your SAP S/4HANA Transformation
At Applexus, we have an extreme focus on value that’s different than other systems integrators. We focus on value before you put together your business case all the way through after implementation and while you are running the new solution. At the beginning, we help you identify where the solution creates value. We target the exact capabilities that will be improved or created and map it all the way up to free cash flow. Then, we embed in our methodology a requirement to leverage these value drivers to help control scope, ensure new capabilities support the business case and track the expected benefits through build, test, go-live, and beyond.
Our Applexus RunWay approach to Digital Transformation provides a progressive roadmap tailored to your current organization and landscape. All 5 of the core principles (discussed in another blog) of the approach help drive business value. When Applexus helps a client build their S/4HANA transformation roadmap, we make sure each project in the roadmap provides value. This helps future projects get funding from the benefits of the earlier projects in the roadmap. Each project is also scoped to be as small as possible so that should conditions change, only a small effort is put on the shelf while earlier efforts continue to generate value. It also allows for new innovations that might emerge during the program, to be more easily woven into the roadmap without disrupting the overall goals of the program.
Another Applexus differentiator is our focus on speed. The entire Applexus roadmap approach (RunWay) and project methodology (RunningStart) are built around accomplishing value quickly. No one today wants to work on a project for a year or more before seeing results. A recent project of ours stood up the SAP S/4HANA Fashion and Vertical Business solution in only eight months from project initiation. We leveraged the RunningStart methodology which has several speed enhancers built on top of the already faster SAP Activate project methodology.
One category of speed enhancer in RunningStart is our pre-built collateral. Our Industry Focused Solutions are preconfigured for Retail and Fashion and they provide an excellent starting point for the business to see the actual solution before fitting it to their business and then it helps to accelerate the remaining build and configuration. Other collateral includes standard user stories, process documentation, test cases and more. This collateral speeds up the user understanding of the solution and the process of documenting and testing all aspects of the solution saving time and money for our customers.
Several of the project workstreams in RunningStart embrace a “shift left” philosophy which result in projects being 10% to 20% faster while having cost reductions 10 times the additional investment required by “shift left”. For example, in the testing workstream, the “shift left” philosophy pushes test planning and test execution toward the early stages of a project. By testing early and often, a project can reduce the number of bugs, increase the quality of the code and reduce the amount of post build integration testing. In addition, “shift left” reduces project risk by providing better control over the usual critical path activities that often go wrong.
SAP’s cloud strategy has driven a “Fit-to-standard” approach that reduces total cost of ownership while enabling the ability to quickly apply patches or otherwise upgrade the solution. But what good are those benefits if your business users find the solution unusable or worse yet, find the new solution operates less effectively than the legacy solution due to nuances in your industry or even sub-industry? In addition, the benefit to the project timeline from fit-to-standard is often offset by the business users dragging their feet, disinterested in the solution because they feel they were not being listened to. Another differentiator in our methodology is that Applexus takes a “Fit-to-business” approach we call UXFirst. We focus on the business user experience from the screens they use through the processes they follow. We begin by creating an end-to-end understanding of the process before driving down into the details where people often get lost if they do not have the higher understanding. When we design and build the solution, we insulate the user experience from core SAP to protect most of the “fit-to-standard” benefits. This approach keeps the business users engaged and interested reducing change management and training costs. UXFirst provides the business users earlier and better exposure to the solution resulting in a deeper understanding, no surprises, and significantly improved User Adoption.
SAP has added Signavio, a Business Process Intelligence tool to their portfolio. At Applexus, we have already integrated BPI tools into our methodology. This has allowed us to identify process improvement opportunities more easily with high value as well as opportunities for process simplification and automation. We can identify opportunities to leverage embedded analytics for improved decision making and then can establish mechanisms to monitor those processes for variations and further improvements. Signavio and other standard SAP tools are not enough for a successful digital transformation. Applexus has created additional proprietary tools and collateral to help speed up your transformation while ensuring requirement coverage with improved quality. Applexus add-ons, which are our intellectual property, help close some of the more common gaps in Retail and Fashion can also be included to enhance the SAP S/4HANA solution.
Most importantly, Applexus is committed to our customers’ long-term satisfaction. Every customer is important to us. We work very closely with our customers to make sure they are happy with the solution and will work with them to fix anything that doesn’t meet their expectations. We understand that the world changes and as that happens your priorities may change. Applexus has the flexibility to work with you and adjust so that these projects navigate to a successful conclusion.
If your company needs help putting together your SAP S/4HANA strategy and you want a partner to listen and adjust, consider Applexus. If you already have a roadmap and you need a partner to help you execute quickly and efficiently while ensuring you find, design and achieve value from your SAP S/4HANA investment, consider Applexus.