What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

The system is very heavy and requires a lot of resources and a dedicated team. It is costly to maintain, demanding trained professionals, which adds to the expenses. This makes the overall cost very high. Buyers must evaluate these costs carefully.

The reporting aspect needs improvement, specifically in integrating the EWM and MM modules into a single report. Integration between flexible real estate and sales and distribution needs to be more seamless. Modules into revenue generation should integrate more easily with SD for better operational flow.

We have encountered challenges with integration projects, particularly between SAP and non-SAP systems, which have caused delays. While these issues are being gradually addressed, I recommend improving the user interface of the SAP ticketing portal. Making it more user-friendly and searchable would help submit tickets more effectively and ensure they reach the correct team for resolution.

The product could be improved by enhancing its user interface to make it more intuitive and by increasing the customization options for tracking and reporting, which would better align with our specific needs. They should include advanced analytics features for performance tracking and reporting, as well as improved integration with other tools we use for budgeting and scheduling.

I would like to see some new features added or existing ones enhanced to make the tool even better.

Sales data processing was cumbersome with many mandatory inputs. We normalized this by pulling the data out, manipulating it, and sending it back. We also had unique requirements for controlling product availability, ATP checks, and prioritization for certain customers. These were areas specific to our business model that we handled outside the tool.

It's a continuous improvement process. Maybe right now, as this is evolving, I find it's quite good. The only thing is the pricing of S/4HANA Cloud. It needs to be taken care of. Previously, very small business owners could go ahead and implement it on-premise, separately, according to their needs. Now, the cloud subscription using the SaaS model is quite expensive. It's beyond the reach of small and medium-sized businesses.

Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't provide a quality control module. SAP S/4HANA Cloud does not have its own payroll and HRMS system. The partners develop their own cloud and integrate with the solution. There are certain modules specific to some industries, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't deal with those modules. Every partner of SAP S/4HANA Cloud has to develop its own and then integrate and certify with that solution. We can't say that these modules are part of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. There is a little area of improvement that SAP has to opt for particular types of solutions like QC, payroll, and HRMS. The graphics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are not user-friendly. They don't look like they belong to a branded solution that costs too much. The solution's user interface is not appealing or user-friendly. On a scale from one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I rate the solution's user interface a five out of ten. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has built-in reports that are hard-coated. We have to alter or modify built-in reports in different marking segments, but there are no options for that. We have to build complete reports from scratch, and SAP-developed reports are not used in the market. SAP should provide a tool for customizing its developed reports so that there should not be a process of reengineering or reinventing the process.

One thing that could be better in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, especially in the public cloud, is how easily you can make changes. Clients, especially those with a lot of existing processes, feel a bit restricted in adapting the system to their specific needs.

Their revolving AI should should be better improved.

There is room for improvement in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, particularly in enhancing the application's response time. While it is not problematic, any improvements in this area would be beneficial. Additionally, despite the availability of the BTP for integration, there is a potential for increased flexibility. A more adaptable environment from SAP in terms of integration would be highly valuable for optimizing processes and workflows.

The solution’s reporting could be improved.

It is a complicated solution. So it should be easier to use.

The user interface of SAP S/4HANA Cloud needs to be improved because it is not as good as other applications.

S/4HANA isn't ideal for managing contracts and subscriptions. There isn't a feature to notify us when a contract for a service we need is approaching its end or a product is no longer supported. You need a separate solution for that.

The integration with third-party vendors could improve.

The pricing is way over any of the other ERPs, and the bank integrations are not perfect. There are a lot of costs for other implementations and integrations with Salesforce and other systems. Rather than being a fully-fledged system on its own like most of the other ERPs, it relies too much on developed integrations by the implementation partner. In terms of additional features, the parent portal is a major miss out. There are no HR systems. I don't think any ERP is complete without an HRMS offering, but that's a separate system in SAP. It's missing in the public edition, and only in the private edition, it's available as an optional add-on. It's a huge limitation in the ERP system, and it was almost a deal-breaker for us.

The scalability of SAP S/4HANNA is an area that could be improved.

The scalability of the solution could improve.

The product can be improved by including a module for after-sales service modules. Those modules should make it easier for the people on the floor to register the refund and exchanges because, currently, the setup is too chaotic. Currently, in the after-sales service, people working in the call centers are taking care of a specific SAP session, which is always full of problems. So they should look closely and see what's wrong with that and why it is not always working because we often have problems and errors in those modules.

The solution's speed and dashboard could be improved. The setup offers many integration options but could be less complex.

The implementation time for S/4HANA Cloud could be reduced. The UI could also be improved.

SAP S4HANA Cloud's production planning screens could be improved. In the next release, I would like SAP S4HANA Cloud to include a project team management tool.

It's a huge software, and they need to make it look less complex and more user friendly. They need to work on user stories and user experiences. Better documentation would be great to have too.

We have to deploy add-ons integrated with the B1 when we are on the cloud option, and we face challenges with web integrations. Right now, when we attempt web integration, some of the ports are not open. There are infrastructure issues like IP conflicts and switches that need to be redefined. Integrating SAP with other products like payroll solutions should be smoother. I wish there were some tools a consultant could build according to the client's requirements. For example, say I want to process debit and credits. In SAP, we have to follow SAP terminologies and patterns. I need a template to deploy my structure according to the client's requirements. There is no structure available in SAP that a consultant can mold. This product is implemented in 35 domains across multiple organizations with different structures, so there is a bottleneck in multiple segments. The consultant needs different models to help with the financials.

SAP promotes the cloud, but customers are worried about the security of their data. SAP suggests they have SAP S4HANA with RISE, which is a private cloud environment, but it is difficult to sell many of the customers on the cloud concept because of the privacy issues. Customers definitely look for how their data can be protected in a larger organization. The interface is an area where improvement is needed. From the interface perspective, there are a couple of products which are definitely available only on cloud, like Ariba. In that case, if there's a public cloud, then they need to go for SuccessFactors. There is a combination of SuccessFactors without Payroll, and then you have your ERP on-premise, S4HANA on-premise with finance and the HCM component of Payroll, so that you can have data protected over there. SuccessFactors is a public cloud because they have good connectivity between their systems and the VTP platform. On the other hand, if Ariba is for a very large organization, this is a concern. For the banking and finance sector, SAP S4HANA Cloud has competition with Oracle.

The only thing I would improve is the overall user experience, particularly the mobile app. S/4HANA is a powerful, scalable platform, but the user experience isn't positive. It's a bit complex. The look and feel aren't attractive, and the mobile experience isn't great.

There isn't anything I would want to improve on. It's a good solution. There is a difference between the real-time synchronization of any application or the solution that's provided by the OEM. SAP is providing releases or notes frequently, so it's an ongoing activity. SAP is constantly providing small, small patches to upgrade everything. The release strategy is based on the OEM. It works fine for us, this approach. The pricing is high.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud vs Oracle: In Oracle, for example, you can easily install even Oracle 19c or the latest version in your laptop. You can test it, get it certified, and even look for the application, but it's really difficult to install Hana. It's really difficult to reach any testing environment. It's difficult to test the version. I'm struggling to hire in my team. While I was with Oracle for 15 years as a senior manager for their support solution center in Smart Village, I didn't face that much of a struggle in hiring like what I'm facing now in SAP. This is because Oracle (like Microsoft) made their products available for downloading, testing, etc., but for SAP, it's difficult. I've had sufficient time to evaluate ByD. It is going on the right track in terms of improvement: technical-wise and featurewise. There's nothing you need to improve in this solution's performance. There's nothing major in its essential or core features: in the FI or supply chain or procurement through the cloud. It's doing a great job. Testing is the main thing I'd like to see improved. An additional feature I'd like to see on SAP S/4HANA Cloud is the production application or module. For small to medium businesses, there's only a finance module and the standard non-finance module, e.g. supply chain, but there's no production planning. That is a factor. We need to use the smaller version of production planning with the smaller version of quality management. I hope to see this feature in the cloud application.

An area for improvement is the UX design, which is not flexible and lacks compatibility with mobile devices. In the next release, I would like to see an improvement in the talent management feature.

The initial setup can be complex, depending on the environment.

I feel the solution is expensive when it comes to what can be obtained with open source software. I have not explored all of its components. The price is higher than alternate solutions. There should be greater editing API capabilities, which could help to reduce the overall cost implementation and the OPEX cost for CAD which the end-user would incur in licensing fees. While I give the solution points for its usage and ability to be interfaced with other third-party sites, the costs and licensing fees bring down its rating. Furthermore, when it comes to the SAP PM material's module, it would be nice to see the inclusion of predictive analytics. This would help with the optimization of maintenance processes. Where batch two is involved it should be able to automatically change the frequency of a preventative maintenance schedule. This would save a person from having to invest in a search for predictive maintenance solutions since this feature would already be embedded or there would be machine learning capabilities. Moreover, in respect of the RPA processes, a close look at the entire S/4HANA and SAP process will demonstrate, by its nature, the involvement of many clerks, meaning those who do clerical work that involves checking input, entering a particular system, verifying and getting reports. For some processes, the inclusion of soft bots would minimize intellectual assistance and allow for things to be automated. This would reduce the head count of the people who are needed as SAP administrators. There are other applications which exist that, while employed in the organization, I do not interact with directly. They touch on GIS, which is already embedded and allows for remote identification of assets and interfacing with other process documents. I believe the solution offers this feature, but its implementation takes some effort and it is not very user friendly. Its use requires a certain level of skill-set. This means that when rolled out in the context of an organization which is in the process of upgrading it can pose a challenge to do so without having to incur high costs through the inclusion of parties needed to provide assistance without the use of one's internal results. It would be preferable to be able to rely on one's own internal resources instead of needing outside assistance. From a business point of view, it is better to have something and to undertake upgrades, add patches and make changes and modifications.

They can improve the interface. It has a client-server kind of interface, which is kind of old.

It is my understanding — and not my experience — that they were having problems around the supply chain management. Some of the clients who bought it may have had some problems getting things to work properly, but whether it was the product or the users, I am kind of fuzzy on that. The claim was there was an issue with the supply chain management on the manufacturing side. There were a few hiccups that some customers may have experienced with the newer S/4HANA solution. I think all of that has been resolved over the past year. I have not looked back at that issue much recently, but that is because I have pretty much written off that I am ever going to fall back into that particular space in my business as I go forward.