SAP S/4HANA Reviews

We use the solution as an enterprise application. 

The tool's most valuable features are ease of use, high availability, and connectivity. 

The product should improve its cost. 

I have been using the product for two years. 

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

I rate SAP S/4HANA's scalability a seven out of ten. My company has 2000 users who use it daily. 

I rate the tool's ease of deployment an eight out of ten. 

A third-party consultant helped us with the deployment. 

SAP S/4HANA is expensive. 

We evaluated Oracle before SAP S/4HANA. 

I rate the overall product a six out of ten. 

The tool is like a spinning desk mechanism where a lot of data comes from multiple sources of multiple applications using a kind of main single source or an index from a single source through a system of record. For multiple applications holding all their data that pertains to a certain piece of data that is housed in a different application database over here, SAP S/4HANA builds models to basically collect all that information and figure out how to build reports out of each of the applications based on their datasets with a key from one of the datasets. If I have a transaction, but my transaction originates in the system over here, and the system has a lot more information, then the transaction makes its way into our system of record, after which it pulls data from the system of record, but it also pulls information from the other system to get more context to the application.

The most critical feature of the product for my company's operations would be the conglomerate business modeling which is good. I think the clients I work with are very concerned about their own data and the data of others, so they do need things in real-time, but they need more context around it and why it is being used, but otherwise, it is just a bunch of numbers.

I think that the cost is a big area of concern, considering what users get out of the tool. I believe there are some tools and even some cloud-based kind of data modeling tools, which once you start putting applications to the cloud and sharing search services in databases, I think that can kind of buy you what SAP used to put together years ago to sell, and it can be helpful for the power of what you are trying to do with it. In our company, I don't think we are building models constantly, like the real-time decision-making AI models right now with the current tool. In our company, I don't think we will ever be able to get to the aforementioned point with the use of the tool.

I have experience with SAP S/4HANA.

I have no issues with the stability of the product, as everything seems to be fine.

The product's scalability is very good, but again, I think our company's clients don't use it for what it is made for, specifically in terms of its cost. I think it is a more powerful tool than our company's clients need.

For support purposes, my company used to approach the main vendor of the product who helped us with the implementation part.

I work more on the functional side, consisting of reports in Power BI.

In terms of the product's initial setup process, I would say that my company is in a very unique situation with our clients. The product's initial setup process is pretty difficult to handle. On a scale of one to ten, where ten means it was easy, I rate the setup phase a three.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution deployment took a few months because only a few experts knew how to do it. A lot of people were involved in getting the information ready and requirements done, but only a few experts could manage it.

The product is expensive. On a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest price and ten being the highest, I rate the product price as seven or eight.

A few of the products that my company uses are from SAP. My company mostly prefers an application-based or platform-based environment, so we are not on a single source platform. I think we are moving to Azure's cloud services, which will help enable our company to use some of the aforementioned areas. My company uses some NetApp tools to help with our data integration needs, especially since our systems are integrated. There are some API integrations with various applications that we use in our company.

There are some people in our company who deal with SAP S/4HANA set, and then what they do is they replicate data through the models and then expand that to Microsoft Power Apps and Power BI to create reports for everybody.

The tool must handle a lot of analytics and reporting areas like financial information, location information, and other things to support our company's core business processes.

I think because of the size of the data and some of the network support that my company has had on the tool, I can say that many of it wasn't in real-time. The tool hasn't really lived up to what it needs to be, especially from a cost perspective; it is too much, considering what our company gets out of it.

Migrating to SAP S/4HANA has affected our company's data management and reporting in a positive way. The tool gave better access to the information that can then be either viewed or manipulated externally through a different BI or utility. It did give more flexibility in building models. I think we had old warehouse mechanism information many years ago, so I believe that there is a need to do data mining of old transaction journals, which would take a long time, while SAP S/4HANA definitely has helped to speed up the process and actually regenerate the reports. I think sometimes making changes to the tool has been a problem because certain things that are not are just not built the way you want them to be, and so there can be bad information available inside out. I don't think our other tools feed SAP S/4HANA system to have the data in order to actually make it usable without some intervention.

I rate the tool a six or 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.

I have been a consultant for SAP retail, SAP Fashion as well as generic.  I also have been exposed to many business sectors. 

The user interface should be much more convenient and user-friendly. 

In future releases, there could be more use of AI.

I have been using this solution for more than five years. 

The solution offers good stability. 

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. It is reliable. I have a lot of customers using this solution. There are more than 500 end users. 

The customer service and support are fast. SAP addressed my tickets quite quickly.

The initial setup is not complex; it's more at a medium level. Not too easy, but with the right knowledge, you can configure it.

For a migration process, it took around six to seven months, which was the fastest I've done. For implementation projects, it typically takes around one year, sometimes one and a half.

It was implemented in a waterfall approach, and one was brownfield. I would suggest, not from the SAP side, but from the client side, if the hardware components are powerful, the system would run faster. In migration projects, data migration can take a lot of time, so having a reliable server is important.

We recommend annual licensing. It is expensive, but for large-scale companies, it's manageable.

I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I would say that SAP should make the user interface more user-friendly, which would be a plus point, especially in pre-sales.

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.

The POD applications are very useful to us. There are a few POD apps which we are using for the different business scenarios. They are quite interesting.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. The documentation is very good.

The solution can scale well.

The solution is stable.

It's been just one year that we started using this product, due to the fact that we need to have different integrations as well to other systems. With S/4HANA, when SAP started, everything worked in a single SAP system. Slowly then it's been delegated or divided into multiple SAP systems. That's why we have around 25 different SAP products running in our landscape. Yet, at the same time, S/4HANA is the core. It's the core component.

Going forward, I believe more systems could be consolidated into S/4HANA. We need to reduce the number of SAP systems running in our landscape. S/4HANA has the capacity to host many other SAP products, therefore we can discontinue some of the SAP products. Currently, we have now the Global Services, the Governance, Risk, and Compliance, and Enterprise Portal, BW, Supply Chain Management, Warehouse Management, et cetera. If SAP could consolidate many of the systems so that we can reduce the number of systems, that would be ideal.

The solution can be a bit expensive.

We would like to see more DevOps capabilities in the future.

The solution would benefit from offering more serverless features in the sense that when you deploy SAP, it's a pretty big deployment and you have a lot of dependencies or you are closely tied up or you have a dependency with the hardware vendor and the hardware providers and the certified hardware and items like that. At the same time, all these deployed components and these files are possible to deploy without a server as well. Slowly SAP is providing some of the features so that you can deploy this in containers and so you don't have any dependency on the running hardware. That way, you can restart the systems without any downtime or the end-users will not feel the difference. Aspects like that need to be improved. 

We do have here monthly maintenance due to the fact that sometimes we need to recharge the system and we have seen from the end-users there will be certain downtime as well. If there is no dependency with the hardware and if it goes serverless, then we can have zero-downtime maintenance.

We've been using the solution for the past year or so. It hasn't been that long.

The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's very reliable. 

The solution is scalable. At the same time, it depends on where you deploy your systems. If you deploy your systems in Azure, then it would be using the scalability of Azure. If you deploy in AWS, it uses the scalability of AWS. If you deploy in a virtual private environment, then it depends on where you deployed the system. At the same time, it depends on being compatible with all these different hyper-scalers. For the most part, it goes pretty well with the different platforms.

We are deploying the solution in different countries. Currently, we have close to 10,000 users working in SAP. Yearly, we do the deployment in multiple countries. In two months, we deploy in one more country. There will be another 200, 300 more users will be coming. By the end of this year, there will be 2,000 more users. Currently, around 10,000 users are using this application.

The SAP S/4HANA technical support is mainly with the service provider. When you deploy SAP, you have different support teams. Most of the time, you will have a service provider or a supplier that you would be associating with. You will have a kind of application management or infrastructure management support with that vendor. For example, IBM, Capgemini, Accenture, DXC. They are the different vendors. However, then you get the OEM support via the SAP Support Portal for product-related issues. That support has got different priority levels based on the importance. Generally, we know how the SAP support works and it's acceptable. We're satisfied with the level of support provided overall.

The initial setup isn't too difficult. It's pretty straightforward for the most part. SAP has got some good documentation and there are different migration scenarios and implementation scenarios you can work with. With the help of documentation, things are pretty straightforward. 

Most of the time, you do the SAP deployment or the migration with a partner. SAP has got certified partners to help with the implementation.

SAP has got different license mechanisms. It depends on how many SAP products you run and then how do you negotiate with the SAP teams and what kind of offer you get. At the same time, generally, everyone says SAP products are a bit costly. 

Some of the SAP systems are licensed based on the number of CPUs that are being deployed, and some of the SAP products are licensed based on the number of primary users, and some of the SAP systems are based on the database footprint. Different SAP products have different license mechanisms, so there should be a person who is knowledgeable about SAP that can understand and then review the licensing agreement and get the right SAP product - and perhaps help negotiate the price.

We are customers and end-users.

We have around 25 different SAP products. We are using SAP S/4HANA in our company.

The production and the test systems are deployed in the virtual private cloud on-premise, and we have sandbox development and quality systems are deployed in the Azure public cloud.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

My company's clients use the solution as an ERP tool.

The tool's best features are its competitive features and its ability to be used as an integrated solution. SAP S/4 HANA's speed is good compared to other ERPs, and its database can be used at lightning speed.

SAP improves the tool every quarter. I received a certification for cloud products from SAP. My company is also trying to improve the tool's knowledge base. The tool needs to improve its interface and functionalities.

The tool should be more well-integrated or inclined towards AI or AI developments like chatbots or ChatGPT.

I have been using SAP S/4HANA for ten years. I am an SQL consultant working with an implementation company, not the end user or the product user. My company has a partnership with SAP.

It is a full-fledged, stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine and a half out of ten.

My company deals with small, medium, and enterprise-sized businesses. SAP has different plans to support the tool, and it can reduce the number of licenses nowadays by supporting different packages.

The solution's technical support is awesome. SAP's technical staff immensely supports the partners and consultants associated with SAP. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have used Sage ERP in some other organizations. I have also used Tally before it became an ERP tool. Tally was the cheapest tool available in India and the other GCC countries, though we can't compare it with SAP. I prefer SAP products over other tools.

I rate the product's initial setup phase as an eight to eight and a half, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on on-premises models.

The solution is mostly deployed on the cloud, but in the on-premise version, you can use the Fiori app, though it is not mandatory. When it comes to the cloud, there are no other options because the Fiori apps should be used. The look and feel of the tool are pretty good compared to the tool's previous version, which was on the on-premises model.

The time required to implement the product depends on the industry where the product is implemented and the complexities involved in such industries. If there are some complexities, users may need to develop something or customize a few areas of the product. Four to six months will be enough if it is a standard deployment. Four to six months will be enough if it's a standard, and it also depends on the project size.

It is never a cheap product since it is a prime tool in the worldwide market.

I recommend the product to others.

I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

SAP S/4HANA is the predominant solution from SAP, replacing the earlier SAP ECC. It's widely used for overall enterprise resource planning, including running banking operations and other enterprise functions.

My client's organization uses SAP S/4HANA for real-time analytics and decision-making by leveraging embedded analytics that are part of S/4HANA. Some organizations integrate specialized BW layers or their own data house layers for analytics, using SCC or BI for visualization. Others extract data from SAP S/4HANA to other hyperscalers or providers to create visualizations.

SAP S/4HANA supports my client's business processes in finance, procurement, and supply chain management through end-to-end management. This is often done with other IT specialists or independently for smaller customers using SAP S/4HANA.

SAP S/4HANA has been an excellent integrated solution for my clients, technically much easier to manage than the ECC solution. The embedded AI layer helps adopt intelligent AI directly within business scenarios, which has been very beneficial. These features enhance operations and efficiency for my clients.

Extensions to SAP S/4HANA have room for improvement, especially in integration with low-code/no-code platforms. Creating these extensions through Fiori transactions is more tedious than customers would like. Although the SAP build process has become more linear, further improvements could provide a huge benefit.

I have been using SAP S/4HANA since 2013.

It's a very stable system overall, but with new attacks targeting customers' SAP landscapes, the latest patches and versions must be applied. I would rate the stability an eight. 

The scalability of SAP S/4HANA is high, around nine. Typically, my clients are medium or enterprise businesses.

They are not excellent, but they are not bad either.

Positive

I would rate the initial setup of SAP S/4HANA as one because it is challenging. Implementing SAP S/4HANA involves integrating an organisation's processes, including different departments, geographical locations, and compliance requirements. Given the scale of these businesses, such as operations in multiple countries, it's complex and not meant to be simple.The physical deployment of SAP S/4HANA is not a challenge.

The deployment itself might happen within a day or even a few hours, given the accessible hardware. The time-consuming part is identifying the needed components, areas, services, and software. The actual deployment process is simple, but adjusting the software to meet your needs is complex. It's not the physical deployment of the application that is the problem.

SAP S/4HANA is usually deployed on the cloud through its own SAP
mechanism. This allows for deployment on both public and private cloud options.

Regarding pricing, I don't regularly deal with the financial aspects, but it is not a cheap solution.

When migrating to SAP S/4HANA, productivity initially dipped as organizations adjusted to the previous system. This is due to the need for change management and adapting to the new software. However, once the transition is complete, productivity significantly improves due to faster response times, a more mobile-centric approach, and better data handling. Overall, SAP S/4HANA helps users perform their tasks more efficiently.

SAP S/4HANA might not be able to address all business challenges directly, but other products can be integrated to fill these gaps. For example, difficulties like sustainability or energy rating do not have a direct solution within SAP S/4HANA. Similarly, areas like contact centre or customer call centre management are not directly part of SAP S/4HANA, but partner solutions are available to address these needs. 

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten.