With the deadline for customers to migrate to SAP S/4 Hana only three years away (December 2027) and 36% of senior leaders rating “technology change” as a major challenge over the next five years, there’s no question that an S/4 Hana transformation is front of mind for many C-suite leaders.
Naturally many organisations are now exploring who is the best fit to lead their S/4 Hana transformation and deciding what skills they think are needed to do so effectively. An emerging trend is organisations assuming that to lead an S/4 Hana transformation successfully proven experience is required.
To break down this common misconception we interviewed Dan Kennedy, an experienced finance transformation programme director, Sam Elliott, Data Lead at Ocado Group, Kate Mathias, CPO at Clyde & Co and Simon Cordrey, Managing Director for BIE’s Transformation Practice.
No matter the type of transformation the fundamentals required, revealed in our recent Transformational Leadership report, remain the same, and S/4 Hana is no exception. This is supported by Dan Kennedy who explains that “the fundamentals of transformation will never change the only major difference is the technical knowledge of what is being implemented.”
However, Sam Elliott explained that a technical understanding of S/4 Hana is not always necessary because “big ERPs will always have a system integration partner with a team of functional experts to consult with organisations on the most effective way to migrate their system across.” This demonstrates that a lead with previous S/4 Hana experience is not required because the integration partner will communicate the details of how the migration will work and tailor this to your business. It is then your S/4 Hana lead’s responsibility to communicate this information back to the wider business and put the appropriate structures in place as they would for any other ERP transformation programme.
This was supported by Simon Cordrey as he suggested that “organisations should consider widening their search to include candidates that have a track record of successful start to finish ERP deployments as this naturally requires similar programme leadership skills which can be utilised when integrating S/4 Hana. If candidates can prove that they have delivered successful ERP deployments, they should not be overlooked in your search for an S/4 Hana lead.” If there is a technical S4 Hana delivery lead underneath, the critical programme leadership skills should be transferable.
As mentioned previously there are fundamental skills that every transformation leader needs to be successful. When interviewing for your S/4Hana lead we recommend adding the following traits to your search criteria:
It goes without saying that people are the true success factor for any transformation, not just S/4 Hana. Without the wider workforce willingly adopting new technology and using it effectively, its promised benefits may go to waste.
As Kate Mathias explained at our recent Delivering Finance Transformation breakfast, “If you don’t communicate the business case for change or manage expectations effectively the workforce won’t be fully engaged.” This demonstrates the need for your S/4 Hana lead and wider executive committee to be acutely aware of how the proposed change may impact the wider company and be honest with them upfront.
Ultimately, it comes down to nurturing a culture that is equipped to manage change and has the conditions for success embedded into it.
As Simon mentioned previously, searching for candidates with a proven track record of delivering ERP transformations is an effective strategy to widen your talent pool without sacrificing technical knowledge.
ERP transformations have been going on for some time now and the fundamentals of how they improve overall business functionalities overlap with the benefits of migrating over to S/4 Hana.
Interviewing potential candidates with experience in ERP transformations will allow you to find a technically minded candidate with transferable knowledge and skills that can be applied to S/4 Hana. These individuals will have the capabilities needed to enhance their understanding of S/4 Hana and gradually become experts in this space.
Our recent Transformational Leadership report revealed that “data integrity” was the biggest challenge faced by senior leaders during transformation programmes. This reinforces the need for your S/4 Hana lead to have a deep understanding of the importance of data and how to maintain or improve its integrity throughout the migration process.
As Sam Elliot explains, “Ownership of data is critical for success and transformation leads should formally identify who should be responsible for different elements of data across the business as soon as possible to create effective data management strategies that ensure data reliability is upheld.” Without a high level of data management, effective use of S/4 Hana becomes increasingly difficult for its users. It should be the S/4 Hana lead’s responsibility to evaluate the state of the organisation’s data before commencing the migration and complete any necessary data cleansing processes.
Dan Kennedy supports this by explaining that “well controlled and governed data is critical for business to be successful, data allows businesses make well informed and quick decisions to drive and improve performance.” Therefore, it is crucial that when searching for the right person to lead your S/4 Hana implementation, you keep data skills and understanding at the top of your criteria. Without this major skill, the whole programme could be unsuccessful and cost the business a lot of time and money long term.
Leading the implementation of S/4 Hana doesn’t differ as much from other ERP transformations as some may think. In reality, the basics of a successful transformation programme remain the same.
Your main priority should be identifying an individual with the people and leadership skills needed to nurture meaningful relationships and manage complex senior stakeholders with differing opinions. Keeping these traits in mind will offer an increased pool of talent to choose from, providing the best chance of success for your S/4 Hana migration.
For more guidance on identifying the best person to lead your transformation check out our recent article or reach out to a member of our Transformation Practice.
