SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA compete in the ERP software category, with SAP S/4HANA having the upper hand due to its real-time processing and advanced integration capabilities.
Features: SAP ERP is designed for middle to large enterprises to increase business efficiency by integrating finance, inventory, production, sales, and customer service. It offers industry-specific database customization and the ability to combine multiple company databases to reduce costs and data redundancy. SAP S/4HANA focuses on real-time transactions and offers advanced in-memory processing, strong finance and procurement management features, and extensive reporting capabilities. It supports modern technologies and provides strong analytics for large organizations seeking scalability and advanced functionalities.
Room for Improvement: SAP ERP is noted for a complex user experience and interface that may not be user-friendly for non-technical users. Its integration with third-party solutions can be challenging, and technical support is often viewed as slow. SAP S/4HANA, though noted for its advanced capabilities, is considered resource-heavy and expensive, with integration challenges and demand for better technologies and cloud enhancements. Its user interface complexity remains a concern.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA offer on-premises and hybrid cloud options. SAP S/4HANA provides a wider range of deployment models including public and private cloud solutions. SAP ERP traditionally requires significant upfront investment for on-premises deployment. While SAP ERP's technical support is considered reliable, response times can be slow. SAP S/4HANA's support is generally good but inconsistent across regions, with both products facing deployment and integration complexities.
Pricing and ROI: SAP ERP is often seen as costly due to high licensing fees and substantial maintenance costs, but its comprehensive features can justify the expense for large enterprises. SAP S/4HANA, while also expensive with added cloud subscription and hardware costs, offers more pricing flexibility with its cloud-based models. The ROI for both solutions is considerable if well-implemented, with automation and integration driving efficiency over time, though initial investment is significant.
We have observed a good return on investment, with calculations based on a five-year ROI plan.
There is an ROI, otherwise I would not buy it.
It's not the best, primarily since the significant investments and the timeline it takes to recover those investments, but it's better than many alternatives.
A traditional challenge with SAP support is that SAP teams only support the standard functions, which are part of the product.
Establishing the right channels was a challenge, as BTP was new to everyone, including our SAP contacts.
The quality of technical support from SAP can be rated as eight out of ten.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
It is very easy to scale within businesses, especially when a new business falls within the range.
Scalability is a key strength of SAP, especially for HANA, compared to all the other ERPs.
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.
We relied on a private cloud, and accessibility became literally impossible whenever the cloud service provider experienced downtime.
In comparison to ECC, definitely, because of some of the simplification and eliminating some moving parts, it is better.
Organizations face challenges like adapting to new technologies rapidly, and whether customers are early or late adopters influences their experience.
I can perform a lot of data manipulation directly on SAP using S-One, without having to resort to Excel, unlike with View ID.
The performance of the SAP interface could be improved.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
It's not easy to have a clear understanding of the price and the value, especially if I talk about the business transaction platform.
There is always a push from clients saying that the total cost of ownership is quite high compared to other products.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
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.
The insights given help us make strategic decisions.
SAP S4HANA is an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system that uses sophisticated technologies including machine learning and AI. It is most commonly used to integrate and manage business functions and is an ideal solution for large enterprises. The platform includes supplier relationship management (SRM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and product lifecycle management (PLM) functionality.
SAP S4HANA offers three different deployment options:
SAP S4HANA Features
SAP S4HANA has many valuable key features, including:
SAP S4HANA Benefits
Some of the benefits of using SAP S4HANA include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by SAP S4HANA users.
A Mechanical Engineer at a construction company says, “It is a very powerful, highly customizable tool. The most valuable feature is that the reporting is fast. We can see the results from that in that our commissions come in fast. That is the main advantage.”
Another reviewer, a SAP Technology Manager at a financial services firm, mentions, "It is more or less a very, very smooth and seamless product. Day by day they are increasing their technology features and they are keen to resolve the issues. India has a complex business scenario and SAP is thinking about that and resolving the issues day by day. In terms of the features I have found most valuable, I don't think that there is any lack or any gap process-wise. SAP is a very good tool."
A Project and Service delivery Manager at a tech services company comments, "One of the most valuable features, which we used the most, was the FI module, for finance. It involved controlling, account receivables, account payables, and complete financial steering."
A Senior Architect at a construction company states, “The POD applications are very useful to us. There are a few POD apps which we are using for different business scenarios. They are quite interesting.” He also adds, “The initial setup is pretty straightforward. The documentation is very good. The solution can scale well. The solution is stable.”
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