When done right, SAP implementation provides businesses with streamlined operations, increased revenues, and reduced costs. Yet, to achieve this, you need to know the right path to SAP implementation and avoid the most common pitfalls.

In this article, we’ll discuss SAP implementation, its benefits for your business, and how to build the right path to it, which will allow you to avoid most of the common pitfalls.

What Is SAP Implementation?

SAP Implementation is the process of implementing SAP software into your business. You may install the needed SAP software by using in-house support or addressing a company offering SAP implementation services.

Whatever way you choose, SAP implementation will provide you with the cutting-edge tools to handle business operations like finance, HR, procurement, and supply chain.

Key Steps of SAP Implementation

A successful SAP implementation pathway has a well-defined structure, and it consists of the stages any business should know.

Discovery stage

At this stage, you start preparing for your implementation, define your needs, and outline the possible challenges. You also decide what your first needs will be in implementing SAP.

Exploration stage

This is where you design the system. You can use SAP best practices to guide you. If your business has specific processes, you can involve external services to develop an SAP solution for your business.

Development stage

At this step, you focus on configuring the system, as this is when actual implementation takes place. You test your solutions step by step on the selected use cases, whether it’s finance solutions, customer support software, or something else. Testing the software and training people so that they can use the system completely also takes place at this step.

Deployment stage

Once the system is ready, it goes live. It’s ready for the teams and customers to use and leave feedback. As no software is failproof, it can also break at some point, so it is important to multiply testing efforts at the deployment stage.

Running software stage

At this phase, you ensure that everything works well, continuously check the system for mistakes, and improve it where needed.

It is important to mention here that different companies have different SAP implementation needs. New businesses that mostly run on novel software rarely experience challenges with SAP implementation. Older businesses usually operate on old-school legacy systems that can be rigid and resistant to change, so quite often, it will be necessary to pay attention to the specific business needs.

For example, the LeverX team uses the phased approach when helping our clients with SAP implementation. In this approach, we gradually introduce new solutions to avoid major system breakdowns and interruptions in customer services.

Common Pitfalls to Hinder a SAP Implementation Project

Obviously, SAP software offers numerous benefits. But you can grab them only in case of successful implementation. For that, you have to overcome various challenges.

• Unclear business requirements: SAP implementation teams can use the SAP Activate methodology to avoid uncertainty in customer expectations. This methodology provides structured tools to ensure that business processes are well-defined before implementation.
• Data quality: Poor data quality will definitely lead to flawed results. Luckily, data migration tools in SAP will help clean, validate, and standardize data before migration.
• Resistance to change: The company’s personnel may not be ready to embrace a new system quickly. Comprehensive SAP training programs and change management strategies ensure users will adopt the updates smoothly.
• Long time-to-market: There are pre-configured industry solutions, which may reduce customization time and accelerate deployments, shortening the system’s time to market.
• Integration issues: SAP offers custom APIs that connect with the tools within the existing system seamlessly.
• Considerable implementation costs: When sticking to the best practices (phased rollouts, for example) businesses can optimize resources and reduce unnecessary customizations, making the SAP implementation less costly and more affordable to companies of different sizes.
• Testing issues: SAP offers automated testing tools, like the SAP Test Automation Framework, that ensure system reliability before going live.
• Performance issues: As a solution, you may use the platform’s Post-Go-Live Performance optimization tools to streamline the post-launch experience. Continuous monitoring is also necessary to ensure the system runs smoothly and minimal disruptions occur.
• Lack of user training: SAP Learning Hub can minimize the lack of user training. The in-system guidance provides high-quality continuous education and support for end-users.
• Customization issues: SAP customization issues are usually solved with additional software development. Yet, the fit-to-standard approach opens access to various SAP functionalities that can substitute heavy custom development.

The Final Words

When run successfully, SAP implementation can offer your company the things it needs to survive in today’s business world: speed, accuracy, and better decision-making.

At the same time, the system has numerous tools to eliminate the most common issues, ensuring that a difficult implementation process runs smoothly.