Amidst today’s challenging and highly competitive market, migrating to SAP S/4HANA calls for a major shift in how organisations consume services and develop applications, as well as how technology is translated into performance and service delivery.
SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s fourth-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. As the German tech giant’s solution to the increasingly complex digital business environment, it has intelligent features, a simplified data model, and the new SAP HANA in-memory database that enables real-time data analytics.
Several organisations in ANZ have already embarked on their transformation journeys, transitioning from highly customised software solutions to cloud-based IT workloads. Among these are oil and gas producer OMV New Zealand and Australian real estate group Stockland — both deploying the cutting-edge SAP S/4HANA solution.
During the SAPPHIRE NOW 2021 online conference, Stockland Chief Financial Officer Tiernan O’Rourke revealed that the company now reaps the benefits of a large-scale core system replacement program in which it consolidated processes onto the S/4HANA platform. Going live in August last year, the project has successfully moved more than 100 disparate, legacy software systems onto SAP’s integrated platform, which includes SAP Ariba along with embedded artificial intelligence and robotics.
“We now have a single source of the truth. I’m absolutely convinced that in time we’ll look back and say that was one of the best things we did in the 70-year history of the company,” he shared.
A “very detailed hypercare process” has been put in place, according to O’Rourke, to aid with the transition challenges that have arisen as a result of the system consolidation and establishment of a new single core. More specifically, hypercare is a stage in SAP migration projects that provides enhanced assistance immediately following go-live to assure that the platform is operational and performing as planned.
Stockland, OMV Reap Business Benefits After Migrating to SAP S/4HANA
Aside from the core system replacement project, Stockland has adopted other SAP solutions to further help with the rest of the business operations. AI and robotics will play a significant role in Stockland’s digital transformation initiatives, O’Rourke said.
“We implemented SAP Ariba as part of our platform, and on the procurement side, we’re automating all of our contracts. That has helped enormously in a very complex supply chain arrangement,” he added.
On the other hand, OMV New Zealand has deployed a brand-new instance of SAP S/4HANA in a span of seven months, enabling the company to manage all aspects of its newly acquired assets from a single platform. With the help of implementation partner IBM, OMV has outlined a long-term business roadmap that includes migrating from its old ERP solution to SAP S/4HANA in order to future-proof its operations.
Since deploying the SAP solution, OMV has improved decision-making, performance, and efficiency in inspections and maintenance by replacing paper-intensive tasks with digitalised and integrated workflows. SAP Plant Maintenance (SAP S/4 HANA), SAP Intelligent Asset Management Suite, SAP Asset Manager, and HoloLens 2 are all used in the company’s integrated workflow management.
Furthermore, Farid Akbari, Functional Lead for Digital Transformation at OMV New Zealand, explained that creating intelligent digital twins using automation and AI-driven technologies is a critical component for global scalability and advances the development of the company’s digital backbone during digital transformation. He maintained:
“Enhancing this technology with an augmented reality experience, including mark-up annotations, provides a solid basis for data insights, data-driven decision making, and performance optimisation.”
Akbari added that the project, which led OMV New Zealand to win the Business Innovator category of the SAP Innovation Awards 2021, has changed the company’s way of working and strengthened its position among digital frontrunners within the industry.
