The majority of SAP users (93%) find optimising their SAP landscape a challenge, according to research released today by the UK & Ireland SAP User Group.
When asked about the barriers they face towards optimisation, lack of budget (60%), lack of time (53%) and lack of knowledge/skills (47%) were cited as the biggest obstacles facing users.
The survey also highlighted that nearly two-thirds (63%) of organisations had moved or planned to move to SAP HANA – half of which said they would do so in the next three years.
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A further two in three organisations said that their underlying infrastructure would reflect a hybrid cloud approach in three years’ time.
“It is clear that many users are looking move to SAP HANA and run SAP on a hybrid infrastructure,” said Paul Cooper, vice chairman of the UK & Ireland SAP User Group. “However, in order to ensure a smooth transition and fully realise the benefits, users need to optimise their existing SAP landscape.
“The findings of our survey show that optimisation remains a challenge for the majority of users, both from a resources and technological perspective. Nearly half of our respondents (47%) stated that customisations to their existing landscape had hindered the speed at which they could implement enhancement packs or adopt newer platforms from SAP, such as cloud and HANA.”
Managing growing data volumes is one area where many SAP users face a challenge when it comes to optimising their landscape, with two-thirds of respondents (65%) saying their organisation’s data volumes have increased in excess of 40% over the last three years.
At the same time, as the cost of storage has come down, the majority of organisations (57%) admitted to storing and archiving more of their data. This has led to many organisations facing challenges around data accuracy and consistency (53%) and governance (53%), as a result of data being spread across multiple platforms.
The majority of users stated that they looked to SAP’s partners and services organisation to provide them with the insight or project support to help them optimise their SAP landscape. And 91% thought SAP could do a better job of making customers aware of the products and services it offers.
Three-quarters of users said they had used SAP Solution Manager in the past three years, but nearly half (45%) were unaware of SAP’s workshop-style, multi-day remote sessions with experienced service engineers.
Meanwhile, nearly three quarters (72%) of respondents stated they didn’t know if S/4HANA would help them ‘run simpler’ in the future.
“While this is understandable considering it is a recently launched product, it highlights a knowledge gap that will need filling,” said Cooper. “When it comes to helping customers optimise their landscapes, it’s apparent that SAP still needs to do more to educate and help customers take advantage of the services it offers.”
