Over the past few years, SAP users have been confronted with the challenge of how to migrate their systems to S/4HANA in the least expensive and quickest way – while still maintaining a successful cloud journey. When choosing a deployment strategy, many businesses look at Brownfield migrations as just too complex of an upgrade to undergo.
SAPinsider spoke with David Lees, CTO of Basis Technologies, to discuss the role that automation plays in a Brownfield approach and how this addresses some of the complexities that SAP users are concerned about.
When considering a Brownfield migration, a crucial element is whether dual maintenance is handled manually, which can risk important data falling through the cracks. This is where automation can simplify the process.
Lees gave a fitting example of this common issue, explaining that the e-commerce company, VistaPrint, recently utilized Basis Technologies’ automation tools for its Brownfield migration to S/4HANA.
Basis Technologies’ ActiveControl is a change automation tool which enables automation and governance changes in even the most complex SAP landscapes and is an ideal solution for a company looking to switch to automated tasks.
This solution enabled VistaPrint to manage changes efficiently, automate changes on different landscapes and seamlessly transition from ECC to S/4HANA in just seven months, well within range of the SAP ECC deadline in 2027.
Onboarding a solution that is designed for automation changes can simplify a Brownfield implementation and can improve business-wide visibility, compliance, synchronization and business continuity.
With an automation tool, SAP users see substantial time savings and reduced risk of errors, simplifying overall Brownfield project success rates across teams.
Lees said: “Without the right tooling, without the right automation and so on, it would be extremely difficult for a customer to achieve that kind of daily release or release when compared to the previous monthly release windows or projects that go live once every six months.”
Mukul Agrawal, director of technologies at VistaPrint, said: “Our entire digital transformation over the course of the past few years, our capacity to conduct daily deployments: none of it would be possible if we didn’t deploy ActiveControl.”
