SAP S/4HANA Reviews

We've integrated SAP S/4HANA into our implementation projects for customers, not internally. We use SAP S/4HANA for real-time analytics and decision-making. 

It helps us provide customers with better visibility, forecasting, and smart data for decision-making. This streamlines our business processes, enhancing operational efficiency, saving costs, and providing a 360-degree view of our business processes.

We leverage the finance and add-on modules of SAP S/4HANA, including Alibaba integration, CRM integration, and production planning. These features are highly configurable and provide excellent visibility into our systems. While I appreciate the introduction of in-memory computing as a feature, I haven't had the opportunity to delve deep into this feature. 

It would be beneficial if the pricing structure could be made more flexible and adaptable to suit the needs of different organizations. Besides this, the scalability also needs improvement.

I believe support could be improved by providing more specific and detailed answers rather than generic responses.

I have been using SAP S/4HANA for the past six years. 

It is stable.

The scalability could be made easier. While it's theoretically scalable, there are practical challenges and complexities that could be addressed for better flexibility and scalability.

The technical support needs to improve. 

Neutral

The installation is not very simple, rather complex and dependent on the systems. The maintenance can be challenging due to frequent product changes and a lack of subject matter experts for quality support. It's essential to have a strategic approach to understand product changes before implementing them to ensure stability.

SAP S/4HANA has its pros and cons like any other product. It offers a lot of features, particularly the robust finance module and supply chain capabilities. However, there are areas like HR processes that could use improvement. Overall, it's a good product that competes well based on factors such as pricing, flexibility, scalability, and configuration options. I will rate it seven out of ten.

Many companies are currently going for SAP S/4HANA because the maintenance for their SAP ERP or SAP ECC will be over the next year. Even their extended maintenance will be over by 2028. Some companies have gone for mergers and acquisitions and want common processes across their entities. Hence, they chose a good ERP system like SAP S/4HANA.

The solution's most valuable features are performance and processes. Following its integration with cutting-edge modern technologies like SAP BTP, the solution is now better positioned to cater to most of an organization's functions.

The solution’s pricing could be reduced.

The solution has provided good stability to some of our customers. The stability of the solution during one of the big projects we did in 2022 was phenomenal.

About 90% of our customers work with SAP S/4HANA.

The solution's technical support team is fast and knowledgeable.

The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.

I would recommend the solution to other users. It is generally a good option to migrate from non-SAP to SAP solution. Using a comprehensive product like SAP S/4HANA provides many benefits, such as best processes and integration with other technologies.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Customers reach out to me when they have challenges related to licensing and contracting costs associated with it.  

Customer choose this solution because they want to transition away from Oracle or because they are compelled to go for SAP.

Oracle has its own data center, hardware, virtualization layer, and database. They offer a complete solution, which SAP currently can't match. This is a weak point in SAP's proposition.

I have been using this solution for the last 20 years.

It is a stable solution. 

It is a very scalable solution. We have enterprise-level businesses using this solution. 

The customer service and support are average. There is room for improvement in response time. 

Neutral

It is easy to install. Our clients deploy it on the cloud or on-premises.

It's quite expensive. However, it can be expensive to maintain the solution. 

The licensing varies because I serve multiple customers, and there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. There are additional costs for technical support and consulting

I have a background in Oracle, I'm making a few comparisons between Oracle and SAP. I fully understand SAP's strategy to move their customers to S/4HANA. However, when we consider the developments in ERP suites in the cloud, especially Oracle's approach compared to SAP's,  I lean more towards Oracle from a solution perspective. Oracle provides a native cloud solution that integrates everything seamlessly. 

On the other hand, SAP, especially if you're using the right solution, essentially involves deploying older on-premises SAP software on a hyperscaler, which we refer to as a "cloudified" solution. This, in my opinion, isn't as strong in the overall proposition.

I would recommend thoroughly evaluating other options and ensuring a clear understanding of the associated risks and costs before making a decision.

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten because there is always room for improvement and SAP lacks a native cloud solution.

I have implemented many different versions of SAP S/4HANA (since 1511) with the latest version being S/4HANA 2021

Led Transformation Projects covering core processes such as P2P, O2C, R2R, A2R, D2O,H2R, etc.

SAP S4HANA could improve by having a more seamless easier integration, faster integration. The overall implementation timelines can be reduced by leveraging Agile methodology

I have been implementing SAP S4HANA for more than a decade now

SAP S4HANA is stable.

S/4HANA offers one of the best scalability options. It is one of the largest ERP solution globally supporting all Industry verticals.

The technical support could be improved.

Positive

None of the large-scale implementations of SAP S4HANA are straightforward. The ecosystem can be made a little better, to drive faster and simpler implementations, and reduce complexity.

I have been a consultant and an integrator, and I have hired and onboarded consultants and integrators. The number of consultants that are needed depends on the project, size, and scope of the project. It could be anywhere as low as seven or eight consultants and the number can increase to as much as 25.

The licensing models for On-Prem as well as Public Cloud versions are based on no. of users charged Annually. Apart from the Licence cost there is a component of approx 20% Annual Maintenance Costs.

Apart from Licensing costs there is a cost of implementation and associated hardware (in case of On Prem)

I rate SAP S4HANA an eight out of ten.

It is a great product to be implemented for different industries for my customers. Can it be used globally?

The latest version from SAP is highly valued. It is an easily enabled platform from SAP, and represents the next generation of ERP solutions.

There could be a bit more competitiveness in their licensing and pricing.

I have used the solution for three to five years.

I would rate customer service a ten out of ten.

Positive

SAP is not selling on-premise to any customer.

Overall, I would rate the product ten out of ten.

We use the solution for a retail customer. As an administrator, my activities involve system installation, troubleshooting, and performance management.

The tool could improve development, particularly during upgrades or conversions from ERP systems to the solution. Adapting the code to the new standards can be challenging, especially when customers try to keep their old ERP developments.

I have been using the product since 2018. 

I rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten. 

SAP S/4HANA's scalability is good. 

I have contacted SAP's technical support, mainly for incidents rather than during installation. They're about 90% accurate, but sometimes they can be slow or misunderstand the issue.

Positive

The product's deployment is easy and fast. The deployment time varies depending on the scenario and environment. From development to production, it can take a few weeks. Starting the development system doesn't take long if you have all the preparations done - like sizing, setting up the final systems, and accessing them.

The tool's licensing is very expensive. They've changed their licensing model from the old ERP system to a new model using FUEs, which is somewhat better but still expensive.

I'm not directly involved in financial operations. However, from conversations with colleagues in finance, I understand there have been improvements since using the tool. The main challenge is often user resistance to change, as they're used to working with the previous system.

I advise new users to get an overview or take a course to understand the system's capabilities. Preparing the end-users for the implementation is crucial, especially when moving from old systems to new ones.

I rate the product a nine out of ten. It's a really powerful tool that has been improving since around 2016. The improvements in the Fiori interface and its integration with the system are particularly impressive.

Our organization is into the technology stack. Our customers are big companies from around the globe that all use SAP, either hosting it on public cloud, private cloud or on-premise. Personally, I have 22 years of experience. I deal with the operating systems, databases and the installation of the applications.

S/4HANA is an ERP package that runs on HANA database and LINUX operating systems. Most big companies are running their ERP on SAP. 

S/4HANA is an end-to-end solution. It seamlessly integrates with all the SAP Business Suite products such as IoT, AI, Analytics and all other SaaS solutions. The product is very robust and comprehensive.

Small businesses that have a small user base find this solution too expensive. I would like to see the price come down.

I have been working with SAP and ERP solutions for 22 years. The package is very mature.

S/4HANA is very stable. All of the big companies are running SAP, for example, British Airways, and UK Babcock are both using it. The solution is reliable. 

The solution is scalable. We have customers that have a 500 user system with 500 clients, and we have customers with 50,000 users and 50,000 clients. S/4HANA is absolutely scalable.

SAP's technical support is one of the best.

The initial setup is very straightforward. However, we required very specialized expertise to implement S/4HANA as it requires customization for the customer. It takes anywhere from six months to twenty-four months to implement, depending on the landscape of the customer.

SAP S/4HANA is affordable for big companies, but is very expensive for small companies. The implementation costs of SAP are substantial.

For large companies, this is a good solution. I understand that CIOs need to walk a tight rope between time to implement and the budget. SAP as a product requires, to a large extent, business process reengineering. It is important that anyone considering this solution understands the mapping of their business processes and how it will run in SAP. You also need to ensure you have all stakeholders buying into the process.

I have seen many companies buy the product thinking that they will implement it within five months only to discover that after five months, nothing has happened and the stakeholders are not aligned. Further, if you adapt the solution independent to your own needs, it will become difficult to maintain and manage. 

It is important to have a core team that understands SAP, and not only rely on an external consultant.

With the right project plan, execution, blueprint, and fully committed stakeholders, the solution will be successful.

I would rate this product a ten out of ten.

We are consultants who help supervise our customers' implementation projects. Two of our customers use S4HANA. The older ones are on the ECC platform.

We found that the implementing partners themselves are struggling with S4HANA's features. It's not an exact translation of the older ECC, so SAP has taken a new route to do things with S4HANA. Maybe it's a good product, but the implementing partners also like to have an in-depth understanding of the full feature set the product offers. There are areas where even the implementer has to go back to set, which takes time, so that's one of our major concerns.

The older implementations were cloud-based, but one is happening now in one of the larger utilities, which sells services to around 4 million consumers. That's an ongoing project that hasn't gone live yet. This will be the real test. In a year, we'll know, and we can give more feedback.

Another complaint I have is that the screen source is disjointed. When I say this, I'm speaking from a user experience perspective. I don't know the S4HANA database, so I can't say if it's good or bad. I am sure that S4HANA would have certain limitations compared to Oracle, which is the gold standard for databases. Maybe there are some challenges in the backend, but I don't dwell on those because I'm not a technician. But the graphical interface requires improvement, and its flow should be very smooth. 

Also, the Fiori app is very basic. They need to become richer because people tend to use Fiori to access the S4HANA application to save on license costs. Fiori gives you access because it's a web client, and they market it as an app. It's not really a full-fledged app, but the roadmap has to be cleared from SAP. And when its capabilities improve, it gives a native app experience when people use Fiori.

I haven't been using S4HANA for long. It's been two years now.

S4HANA is relatively stable, but it's not as stable as ECC was. ECC had a long time to mature, so S4HANA still has a few years to go before it can achieve the level of stability that we've come to expect from SAP.

We've primarily relied on the local implementers for support, and there are challenges whenever they need to refer back to SAP's own technical support. It usually takes longer than expected in many cases. Sometimes they're pretty fast, but they're usually not, which is a serious concern.

We've worked with three of the biggest products in the ERP segment: S4HANA, Oracle EBS, and Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Dynamics is pretty straightforward. It's not as complex and offers a good user experience, whereas SAP through Fiori gives a certain level of user experience, but that's not as good as what Microsoft offers. But the rich line where you go through the desktop license — that user interface is still cumbersome. It's not as user-friendly I must say. On the other hand, Oracle is the middle of the two. I won't say that it's as good as Microsoft's user experience. However, while it is a bit more complex than Microsoft, it's not as complex as SAP. 

I would currently rate S4HANA seven out of 10. We tell our clients that SAP's roadmap shows us that S4HANA will mature in time. It won't happen tomorrow. They have to make an informed decision whether they want to live with certain delays in getting certain fixes or go with another solution. SAP is such a big name, so half the time, people are willing to live with those delays with the expectation that things will get better in a year or two. SAP is a trusted name, and I'm sure they must be doing something now to get S4HANA up to speed. I hope they understand that.