There is no one-size-fits-all with HANA: Mark Willford

Pratima H

INDIA: SAP and Accenture recently firmed up their handshake and a longstanding, strategic alliance partnership when they hinged forces in the platform development and go-to-market for SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA). The idea behind this collaboration, as the companies had shared, is accelerated development of SAP S/4HANA as well as industry and lines of business solutions, with a view to simplifying and fast-tracking customers’ journeys to digital businesses.

This could be further augmented with joint value-proposition capabilities and collaborative delivery efforts between SAP and Accenture. It is also being surmised that this co- development, which would additionally focus on developing industry clouds, will bolster SAP and Accenture’s combining of industry and customer knowledge to convert current SAP industry solutions to SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud.

Now both the timing and contours of these two bastions welding in are particularly interesting. HANA has grabbed a lot of attention in the last two years and while it does that, the adoption road undulates between steep turns, rocky edges, cobbled streets and well, some cliffs too.

A 2015 survey by Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) on SAP HANA adoption showed 45 per cent respondents who purchased HANA and when it peeled some planned HANA investments on track, the picture of forthcoming HANA projects was one of mixed shades.

There were 23 per cent with one or more projects underway and also, a 23 per cent who had no more in the works at the time. On one hand, increasing satisfaction with HANA implementations was attributed to factors like delivering HANA on an appliance, but on the other one, ASUG also unveiled signs that members needed more business clarity, specially for those customers yet to purchase HANA, for a better understanding of business cases and cost savings dimensions.

There is also the bit about the ‘why not’ for those who had not licensed the platform – there were about 58 per cent who pointed at a lack of a business case that justifies investment. Other issues flanking the slow-ride were budget issues or timing for funding to support a move to HANA (48 per cent), absence of a full set of optimization scenarios for HANA (33 per cent), a hazy understanding of the SAP HANA roadmap (22 per cent), worries around SAP upgrades or enhancement packs as a predecessor activity (21 per cent) etc.

Incidentally, this is where S/4HANA also found a strong spotlight and it was shown to appear on the radar of respondents s a notable accelerator of overall HANA adoption overall. There were some 32 per cent appearing to plan to invest more in HANA in the near term when quizzed on the connect between the announcement of the in-memory-powered business suite and their plans of migrating from their existing SAP landscape to HANA.

There are these, and then there are those squatted on the fences. Even with a strong anticipation for S/4 HANA, 37 per cent were not sure on S/4HANA’s impact on a move to HANA, 22 per cent cited no immediate plans to increase their investment in HANA, and there was also a three per cent category who was planning to move off SAP rather than make the move to HANA.

Would this portend all the more a good ground and season for the two companies fraternizing strongly now? Mark Willford, Senior Managing Director, Technology Ecosystem & Platforms at Accenture, gives us a view from his side of the alliance and spells out why, where and how Accenture fits in with HANA.

What are the unique capabilities and strengths from Accenture’s and SAP’s lineage that this collaboration will leverage/complement?

This work will accelerate the development of the SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management solution, including SAP S/4HANA Finance with active collaboration with our joint clients. The result will be differentiated solutions with flexible delivery options for bundled cloud deployment of industry-specific solutions. We will enrich the functionality and ease of use of solutions by combining SAP and Accenture’s deep industry expertise, as well as extensive product knowledge.

The companies will co-invest in resources and appoint dedicated executives to bring maximum value to mutual clients. Accenture delivery expertise for core and industry cloud solutions development for SAP S/4HANA will also help clients shorten time to value.

An ASUG survey reveals that 37 per cent are not sure of S4's impact on a move to HANA. What are your views/ apprehensions/ concerns on this?

It’s understandable that clients will have questions about HANA. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Both on-premise and cloud routes to migration are feasible. Additionally, some organizations may elect not to migrate but rather opt for a “greenfield” installation that simply requires data migration from the old system into a completely new SAP HANA environment. The key is to carefully access your organization’s current system, anticipated needs and timeline before choosing a migration route that makes the most sense.

Are there any gaps in HANA's traction so far that Accenture can uniquely plug in now?

SAP Business Suite 4 HANA (SAP S/4HANA) provides a platform well-suited to the demands of the high velocity enterprise in an always-on, digitally-connected and Big Data-driven world.

Accenture’s experience from more than 200 HANA projects has given us unique insights into helping clients choose the most appropriate migration options. We have numerous tools, accelerators, best practices, a dedicated team and standardized processes in pre- and post-migration activities that can significantly reduce the time and risk for a more flexible migration approach.

Can you explain more on the modularity and open-ness part of this new scenario that will shape up? Any lessons picked from the Finance functionality offering that HANA has tried already?

Accenture is using SAP Fiori to build out a new user interface for the S/4 suite starting with Simple Finance. We will expand this collaboration into other S/4 modules including core development and the design and build of new end-to-end industry cloud solutions.

Why does this association make sense for Accenture?

Accenture is SAP’s largest alliance partner, with a relationship that spans over 40 years. In 2014, SAP and Accenture launched the SAP Business Solutions Group (ASBSG) to focus on co-developing innovative industry specific solutions. It makes sense to extend this to an unprecedented co-development agreement that will give Accenture better access to SAP S/4HANA, helping us easily deliver more complete solutions to our clients.