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SAP S/4HANA vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.1
SAP S/4HANA offers high long-term ROI by enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and providing innovation despite initial investments.
Sentiment score
2.8
SAP S/4HANA Cloud users saw long-term ROI and efficiency, despite high initial costs and varied experiences.
It's not a matter of the solution; it's a matter of the clients and the approach that we follow.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
If we can maximize that, we can get the full price benefit of the solution.
Principal Instrument and Control at PETRONAS
We have observed a good return on investment, with calculations based on a five-year ROI plan.
Account executive at Cisco
The transcript suggests SAP S4HANA Cloud may offer cost and time savings.
Ho Finance Methods and Tools at Airbus Atlantic
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
SAP S/4HANA support is mostly satisfactory, with varying experiences influenced by response times, partnership levels, and team efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.8
SAP S/4HANA Cloud's service is praised for professionalism but criticized for long response times and support channel navigation challenges.
A traditional challenge with SAP support is that SAP teams only support the standard functions, which are part of the product.
Delivery Head- IT Shared Services at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Establishing the right channels was a challenge, as BTP was new to everyone, including our SAP contacts.
Chief Executive Officer at LogicalDNA Solutions
I would rate the support a ten because there are a lot of knowledge-based articles published, and most of them are available online.
Program Director at KloudData Inc.
My experience shows that it often requires another level or two to reach someone who can effectively address the problems.
Managing Director at Global Information Technology Corporation
If tickets are raised to the wrong team, it takes considerable time to be routed to the appropriate team.
DGM (IT) at IndianOil Adani Ventures Limited
SAP is continuously improving the functionalities towards the current versions.
SAP Project Manager at Doha Petroleum Construction Co. Ltd. (DOPET)
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA offers flexible scaling in cloud environments, praised for adaptability but can be costly for smaller firms.
Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is praised for scalability, adaptability, and integration, suiting both large and small enterprises effectively.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
Enterprise Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
It is very easy to scale within businesses, especially when a new business falls within the range.
Project accountant at Montego Upstream Services Limited
Scalability is a key strength of SAP, especially for HANA, compared to all the other ERPs.
Delivery Head- IT Shared Services at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We are evaluating how scalable SAP S_4HANA Cloud has been; moving to the latest version poses not much of a challenge compared to on-prem upgrades, as SAP handles the technical areas.
SAP Project Manager at Doha Petroleum Construction Co. Ltd. (DOPET)
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA is stable and reliable with some challenges in data handling, customizations, and infrastructure-dependent performance variations.
Sentiment score
7.4
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is praised for stability and performance, though updates and customizations can occasionally affect reliability.
The SAP HANA system is not very easy to unlock, and it's something strange as, compared to other databases, when transaction logs are full, you stop the system, run the transaction log backups, and then restart.
Associate Partner - SAP Solution Architect and MDG expert at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Not very often, but it can happen, especially with user load; if many people use the system at the same time, there might be issues depending on various factors.
Enterprise Architect at E.ON
I rate the stability of SAP S_4HANA as fairly stable because we have never experienced any downtime from SAP, and the performance is good.
Head of IT at Genix Pharma (Private) Limited
SAP S_4HANA Cloud is very stable, especially for bigger corporates that are geographically spread out.
Chief Operating Officer at Digital365
It is very flexible and can cater to every industry.
DGM (IT) at IndianOil Adani Ventures Limited
We are using Microsoft Azure connectivity to connect to SAP S_4HANA Cloud system, and from an availability and stability perspective, it is quite stable.
SAP Project Manager at Doha Petroleum Construction Co. Ltd. (DOPET)
 

Room For Improvement

SAP S/4HANA requires better integration, usability, and cost adjustment, alongside improved migration, support, and predictive analytics features.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud needs interface, mobile, and user improvements, with cost, integration, and complexity posing challenges for businesses.
Organizations face challenges like adapting to new technologies rapidly, and whether customers are early or late adopters influences their experience.
Managing Director at a recruiting/HR firm with 501-1,000 employees
I can perform a lot of data manipulation directly on SAP using S-One, without having to resort to Excel, unlike with View ID.
Project accountant at Montego Upstream Services Limited
The performance of the SAP interface could be improved.
Associate Partner - SAP Solution Architect and MDG expert at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The challenge is that if a customer has already deployed the entire solution on-premises, it becomes difficult to immediately convert to the new product and manage new license costs.
Manager, SAP Practice at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
This reliance on ETL experts or data engineers is necessary to ensure clean quality data, which is critical for the effective operation of the SAP S_4HANA system.
Managing Director at Global Information Technology Corporation
It should have features or facilities so customers can get audit-related queries resolved independently without requiring ticket-based service.
DGM (IT) at IndianOil Adani Ventures Limited
 

Setup Cost

SAP S/4HANA is costly, with various licensing models and high pricing, often challenging for smaller businesses compared to competitors.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud pricing is modular and expensive, typically more suitable for larger enterprises than smaller businesses.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
Account executive at Cisco
Most users or IT professionals typically criticize the high price of SAP license costs.
Enterprise Architect at E.ON
It's not easy to have a clear understanding of the price and the value, especially if I talk about the business transaction platform.
Associate Partner - SAP Solution Architect and MDG expert at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

SAP S/4HANA enhances business operations with integrated features, real-time analytics, user-friendly interfaces, and cloud-based scalability.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud enhances business efficiency with integration, real-time analytics, scalability, and global access, supporting diverse platforms.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
Enterprise Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The way SAP has helped our customers is by establishing a discipline where industry-specific operations and SAP's standard processes work hand in hand, improving resource utilization, material movement control, and cost control.
Chief Executive Officer at LogicalDNA Solutions
The insights given help us make strategic decisions.
Technical Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Some of the most important features include data analytics and real-time data analysis capabilities.
Ho Finance Methods and Tools at Airbus Atlantic
The integration between SAP EWM and S4HANA Cloud is seamless.
SAP Business Analyst at Jante
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides integration, controls, efficiency, visibility into business operations, and collaboration, especially for geographically spread operations.
Chief Operating Officer at Digital365
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP S/4HANA
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
125
Ranking in other categories
ERP (1st)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP S/4HANA is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 7.3%, down 15.6% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud ERP, holds 12.3% mindshare, down 13.2% since last year.
ERP Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP S/4HANA7.3%
SAP ERP13.3%
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central5.3%
Other74.1%
ERP
Cloud ERP Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud12.3%
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP16.2%
NetSuite ERP15.0%
Other56.5%
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Deepak Madhavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivery Head- IT Shared Services at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Implementation simplifies ERP management with comprehensive data integration and visibility
A lot of people would say the pricing. SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations. The licensing and pricing could be looked at. In Brownfield migration, the trade-off between greenfield and brownfield means you either keep it clean or match the business requirements. Sometimes, it's not possible to do both. While ValixAPI provides significant support in making those decisions and the SAP consultant is very useful, we are still dependent on past history and how it was originally set up. I wouldn't call that a real disadvantage, yet more accessible consulting would be beneficial. Incorporating all other cloud products, like APO or IPP, into the S/4 house might also help.
Ramesh Pampana - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, SAP Practice at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Extensive real-time analytics and superior support enhance decision making but continued product evolution impacts existing investments
Improvement is needed, and they need to slow down. When I say slow down, they need to do more validation. Things are going rapidly and changing fast. For example, they moved from SAP SRM product to SAP CLM. They bought IBM CLM and marketed it as SAP CLM. Shortly after, they bought SAP Ariba and discontinued the SAP CLM product. Now they state that SAP SRM is outdated and has reached sunset. The challenge is that if a customer has already deployed the entire solution on-premises, it becomes difficult to immediately convert to the new product and manage new license costs. From a consulting perspective, it appears that SAP's biggest competitor is itself, as they sometimes discontinue their own products to promote new ones.
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Answers from the Community

RB
SAP Practice Manager at Data-core systems
Jun 30, 2021
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...
See 2 answers
EB
Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)
Jun 28, 2021
Hello @Terry Jones ​, @Sanath Premachandra ​, @Ben Melchionno ​and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?
PB
Project Delivery Head - MENA at WMS Middle East LLC
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud.  So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per user on the cloud.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise53
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
In my opinion, areas of SAP S/4HANA that have room for improvement would be in AI and insights generation, which would be a good enhancement for the future. Currently, this analytics is still drive...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
My experience with SAP S_4HANA involves working on several projects helping customers prepare their transition from ECC to SAP S_4HANA. My role was to study the gap and technical feasibility by exe...
What do you like most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The manufacturing area is a good feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is very expensive, both to purchase and maintain. It's important to evaluate the costs of recruiting and maintaining trained personnel as it's not just a one-time payment yet requ...
What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The areas for improvement in SAP S_4HANA Cloud could be from the data storage perspective, as we are using it in a limited way and it could be a bit expensive if the data volume increases; that is ...
 

Also Known As

SAP S4HANA
SAP S4HANA Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
La Trobe University, Carrefour Comércio e Indústria Ltda, Delaware Consulting and Corning Inc.
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