LeanIX Survey Reveals Only 12% of SAP Users Have Finished the SAP S/4HANA Transformation

BONN, Germany and BOSTON – July 28, 2022 — LeanIX, a leading platform enabling continuous transformation of corporate and product IT, today announced the findings of its SAP S/4HANA 2022 Survey. The report reveals that organizations need to view the SAP S/4HANA transformation as more than a technical upgrade — it is a business imperative. The report also found that the inherent complexity of the ERP landscape and its connection to the broader IT landscape complicates and slows down the transformation process. As a result, many organizations have barely started the transformation — and time is running out.

The survey looked at the challenges companies face in the transformation process, the primary drivers of SAP S/4HANA transformation, the phases and timing of SAP S/4HANA transformation, the levels of customization in existing ERP systems, the state of collaboration between SAP & EA teams, and the appropriate involvement of EAs in the transformation process.

Key findings from the report include:

• Over half the respondents (54%) see the move to S/4HANA as a business transformation, not a technical upgrade. Respondents also identified enterprise architect management and business process modeling as the disciplines most critical to the process.
• When it comes to ERP, companies face a lot of complexity. Over 70% of companies run more than one ERP system and more than half of the companies surveyed use ERP systems from more than one vendor.
• About half of the respondents said both identifying interdependencies between ERP and non-ERP landscapes and defining the target architecture as the top challenges faced in in their SAP S/4HANA transformation. These challenges arise in part from the fact that fewer than 20% of respondents can establish an overview of their entire software landscape in under a month.
• To complete a successful transformation, collaboration is essential. The biggest obstacle to transformation? Aligning business, project, and IT teams, say two-thirds of those surveyed. Less than half (38%) of EAs describe their involvement in the SAP S/4HANA transformation as sufficient, which represents a drop from the level of involvement reported in last year’s LeanIX SAP S/4HANA survey (47%).

“Time is running out for organizations that plan on moving to SAP S/4HANA,” said André Christ, CEO and Co-Founder of LeanIX. “With only a third of those surveyed saying they will complete their transformation within the planned timeframe, organizations need to focus on actions that will accelerate the process. Enabling effective collaboration between business, project, and IT teams is the critical step they need to take. This will not only speed things up, but will also ensure that the transformation delivers lasting business value.”

Survey Methodology

In April and May 2022, 100 IT experts from international enterprises participated in an online survey conducted by LeanIX and focused on the transformation process, ERP systems, the importance of collaboration and the challenges faced. For readability, the results in this report are presented as rounded percentages.

About LeanIX

LeanIX's Continuous Transformation Platform® is trusted by Corporate IT and Product IT to achieve comprehensive visibility and superior governance. Global customers organize, plan and manage IT landscapes with LeanIX's automated and data-driven approach. Offering Enterprise Architecture, SaaS Management, and Value Stream Management, LeanIX helps organizations make sound decisions and accelerate transformation journeys. LeanIX has hundreds of customers globally, including Adidas, Atlassian, Bosch, Dropbox, Santander and Workday. The company is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, with offices in Boston and around the world.