Organisations are facing significant pressure to update their IT landscape as the digital world continues evolving at a rapid rate. Additionally, organisations are striving for greater business flexibility and reducing costs in their infrastructure. Although previously reliable, traditional SAP systems on-premises are no longer able to support the demands of real-time analytics, scalability and innovation. Therefore, SAP S/4HANA Migration has now become an area of strategic priority for all businesses, regardless of whether they operate within manufacturing, banking, energy, retail or public sectors.

Migrating to the cloud, from SAP on-premise, is more than just a technical upgrade; it represents the physical transformation of the business using intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as well as automation and data-driven decision-making processes.

^{Why Move from SAP On-Premise to the Cloud?}

SAP legacy systems can lead to expensive ongoing expenses, inflexible operations and complex operation maintenance for the company using that system. Companies running SAP ECC also suffer from reporting issues that can lead to unanticipated delays in reaching conclusions based on delay due to reporting or data not being available from silos, and the ability to easily connect modern technology with the older tech and tools can be difficult. A migration to the cloud as part of a Legacy System Upgrade provides:

• (Increased scalability and performance)
• Lower TCO
• Greater secure compliance
• Faster innovation cycles
• Improved system availability/disaster recovery

In addition, SAP cloud environments allow companies to leverage advanced capabilities such as AI, ML, and real-time analytical capabilities. These types of capabilities will define the way businesses compete with their competition in 2023 and beyond.

^{SAP S/4HANA Migration: The Core of Cloud Transformation}

The core of SAP Cloud Transformation is SAP S/4HANA Migration. SAP S/4HANA is SAP's new ERP Suite that provides organisations with real-time insight, simplified data model, and improved user experiences using the latest technology, Fiori. Organisations currently using SAP ECC have no choice but to migrate to S/4HANA because mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC will no longer be available. The right level of planning can ensure that this migration is seen as a compliance exercise and will instead positively impact digital transformation efforts.

^{ECC to S/4HANA: Migration Approaches Explained}

In an ECC to S/4HANA transition, companies generally have three main options:

1. Greenfield Approach
   This is a wholly new SAP S/4HANA implementation that enables organisations to re-engineer processes, remove legacy systems, and adopt best practices from SAP.
2. Brownfield Approach
   This is a system conversion that allows the user to retain the current ECC configuration and data while converting to S/4HANA.
3. Selective Data Transition
   This is a hybrid approach in which some historical data is migrated while some selected processes are redesigned.

Which of these approaches is appropriate for an organisation will depend on business objectives, system complexities, regulation, and future growth of the business.

^{The Role of SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit}

Robust tools and a systematic approach are essential for achieving a successful migration. The use of the SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit is instrumental in achieving a streamlined and expedited migration experience by offering predefined migration objects, validating data, and providing tools for monitoring the accuracy and consistency of the data during the migration process.

Companies can leverage the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit to eliminate much of the manual work involved in conducting a migration, thereby reducing the number of mistakes resulting from human error and improving their ability to see the overall picture of where they are in the migration process; therefore, this functionality will make the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit an essential element to a successful cloud migration project.

^{Building a Robust SAP S/4HANA Migration Strategy}

An effective SAP S/4HANA Migration Strategy is essential for long-term success through migration. Migration should not only be planned as a technical project, but should also be closely aligned with the business's overall objectives, including improving processes, reducing costs, innovating products/services, etc.

A successful SAP S/4HANA Migration Strategy generally includes the following components:

1. System (Technical) Assessments and Readiness Checks
2. Business Process Analysis/Improvements
3. Data Cleansing and Archive Strategies
4. Cloud Infrastructure Planning (Public/Private/Hybrid

Partnering with experienced SAP consultants will help you complete your migration with as little impact on your business while providing quantifiable business benefits.
The end result of implementing an SAP S/4HANA Migration Strategy will be a more competitive and productive business.

^{Benefits of SAP Cloud Migration}

Organisations that achieve a successful migration from on-premise SAP environments to a cloud-based solution will enjoy many measurable benefits, such as:

• Real-time financial and operational reporting
• Faster month end and year end closes
• Improved performance of systems and user experience

More importantly, cloud-based SAP S/4HANA environments provide leadership teams with information that allows them to make more intelligent and expedient decisions through access to the data they require.

^{Why Choose Prompt Edify for SAP Migration?}

Prompt Edify offers full SAP migration services suited to meet your unique requirements. Our team of experts handles everything from assessing the legacy system to optimizing it after migrating to SAP S4/HANA in a cloud environment, including processing.

Prompt Edify has vast experience upgrading legacy systems, transitioning from ECC to S4/HANA, and implementing SAP solutions in the Cloud, allowing companies to reduce risk and keep costs down while maximizing their returns on their investment in SAP solutions.

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