Customizing SAP S/4HANA with SAP Cloud Platform

Designing a Future-Ready Enterprise Architecture

Paresh Mishra, Vipin Varappurath

• Publisher: SAP PRESS
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781493220090
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

Part I

Foundation

1 Future-Ready Enterprise Architecture

Technology-driven digital transformation for enterprises has been the big story lately, and it allows organizations to open doors to many markets. The next stage of enterprise evolution is not just to be resilient in difficult times, but to demonstrate agility, speed, time to value, and achieving the ultimate nirvana state of being future ready.

Our world is changing continuously, and enterprises are facing new business and technology models. The legacy systems and ERP systems of the old world simply cannot keep pace. To drive the transformation journey with SAP S/4HANA, technology plays the role of key enabler, and SAP Cloud Platform is the common fabric and the tool that plays a part in all the stages of this journey.

In the past, enterprise transformation meant different things to different organizations:

• It could mean reimagining business processes, thus using technology to reinvent and create flexible and responsive systems to enable current and future business models.
• It could also mean to streamline and simplify operations, thus using technology to increase efficiency through process and task automation.
• It could improve the experience of your key stakeholders, thus using technology to create new ways for buyers and suppliers to reach each other and collaborate in an interconnected digital network. This could facilitate consistent, accurate, and timely communication via contact centers, portals, and mobile applications.
• It could enhance access to accurate information and make integrated, enhanced data available for informed decisions by internal and external stakeholders in real time, thus using technology to provide data-driven insights.
• Finally, it could help a company achieve regulatory compliance every time and always, thus using technology to adapt to every changing regulatory requirement while being cost-effective.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain how to use technology to build a future-ready enterprise, what stages and realms exist when considering the technology architecture-to-be, and how SAP Cloud Platform has a role to play in building such architecture.

Specifically, in the following sections, we’ll start by helping to define what a future-ready enterprise is. From there, we’ll discuss SAP Cloud Platform’s role in creating a future-ready enterprise. Finally, we’ll end the chapter by providing you with the stages, or realms, of becoming a future-ready enterprise. We have organized the book around these stages, so pay careful attention!

Note

You shouldn’t look at SAP Cloud Platform as only an integration and extension toolset during the actual SAP S/4HANA project implementation. SAP Cloud Platform also has a role to play when building your business case for SAP S/4HANA transformation—not only mapping existing business processes, but also reimagining those business processes (for example, evaluating how to structure your project or considering the technology options that are available to you today).

1.1 What Is a Future-Ready Enterprise?

The idea behind a future-ready enterprise is the need to create an enterprise in which the technology platform provides the ability to withstand internal and external disruptions and further enables the agility to adapt and respond to changes in market dynamics. Thus, the enterprise continues to innovate and improve the performance of the company with the help of the technology platform.

Note

There are multiple transformation models to support innovation coming from strategic consulting firms, such as McKinsey’s three horizons of growth:

1. Horizon 1 describes the need to keep the lights on for the business, with slight adjustments to the existing process.
2. Horizon 2 describes the need to extend your current business model.
3. Horizon 3 describes the need to introduce new elements to your existing business model.

For more information, see https://www.executestrategy.net/blog/mckinseys-three-horiz...

Table of contents

• Dear Reader
• Notes on Usage
• Table of Contents
•   Preface
• Part I   Foundation
• 1   Future-Ready Enterprise Architecture
• 2   Understanding Your Current Business Processes and Landscape
• Part II   Future Aware
• 3   Architecture and Design Considerations for a Future-Ready Landscape
• 4   Master Data Distribution
• 5   Process and Data Integration
• 6   Business Process Automation and Optimization
• 7   User Experience and Mobile Consumption
• 8   Security
• Part III   Future Creation
• 9   Developing SAP S/4HANA Extensions
• 10   Continuous Integration and Delivery
• 11   Continuous Monitoring
• 12   Developing Cloud-Native Applications
• Part IV   Final Steps
• 13   Trailblazing Enterprise Innovations
• 14   Measuring Success
• The Authors
• Index
• Service Pages
• Legal Notes