Global Vice President | Managing Partner | SAP Alumnus | Thought Leader | Author | Keynote Speaker
Did you know? To play the role of an agonized and mentally depressed person in the movie "Joker," method actor Joaquin Phoenix prepared by executing a "Lift and Shift" of a SAP ECC system to SAP S/4HANA. Seriously though, the "Lift and Shift" approach has surpassed the "Lean Migration" method as the most detrimental procedure when considering a move to... well, what exactly? What is the actual outcome of a move via Lift and Shift? To understand this, let's review what "Lift and Shift" entails and its origins. When the shift to SAP S/4HANA began gaining traction, especially with the cloud perspective, it became clear that this was a considerable task, particularly for large enterprises with 80+ SAP ECC ERP systems. So, how do you migrate these customers to SAP S/4HANA and the Cloud? The "Lift and Shift" method initially seemed a viable option: first, a SAP ECC system is "LIFTed" onto a SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) infrastructure, and then "SHIFTed" to SAP S/4HANA. This approach promised a low-effort, scalable procedure to modernize large enterprise ERP architectures. However, two significant issues made "Lift and Shift" a double-edged sword. Initially, it was seen as a pragmatic solution, as Dr. Uwe Grigoleit described it in Episode 55 of the #SAPExpertsPodcast, for moving large enterprise customers to SAP S/4HANA. Yet, more non-large enterprise customers began adopting this method. On one hand, it promised quick sales for SAP and a seemingly non-disruptive transition for IT organizations that were never the intended audience. Moreover, the "Lift and Shift" migration path was always highly debated. Firstly, it moved the customer to HEC, which, at best, is considered an IaaS setup—similar to traditional outsourcing efforts by managed service providers—rather than delivering the SaaS benefits of true Cloud ERPs like S/4HANA Cloud. Secondly, much like "Lean Migration" adopters who often halted post-Go-Live and skipped the optimization phase, many "Lift and Shift" customers completed the "Lift" without the "Shift." They ended up with SAP ECC on an HEC setup without transitioning to S/4HANA, falling short of achieving Digital Excellence. So, what lessons have we learned from this? ▪ No Shortcuts to Digitalization: Digital transformation requires abandoning old practices. Anything less results in short-term stagnation and mid-term insignificance. ▪ Strategic Approach is Essential: Success in the complex, multi-crisis environment of the 21st century requires a strategy-centered approach, not just an IT-focused one. Only this can unlock the full value and benefits of SAP S/4HANA. ▪ Right Approach is Crucial: Choosing the correct method is the key to maximizing value from a move to SAP S/4HANA. Quick sales arguments can be detrimental, causing more harm than good. #sap #s4hana #digitaltransformation #risewithsap
Thanks for the good laugh Alexander Greb. Love your ironic posts because there is so much truth in it. The business transformation management portfolio around SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX (and after closing also WalkMe™) are helping our customers with their business transformation to make them depressend like the "Joker". And of course our partners like Westernacher Consulting are on our side along this journey.
You really deserve a LinkedIn TopVoice badge! Your posts are highly insightful and so entertainingly presented! Pure gold!
Arwel Owen
3w
Lift’n’shift to the Cloud, be it to remain on ECC or to eventually migrate to S/4HANA, was never a good idea. You will inevitably find that your cloud spend is far, far higher than you expected, and don’t get me started on the unnecessarily high carbon emissions from carrying too much fat.
Just one word: Brilliant.
I'm sure that this is incorrect ... I heard that he prepared by running Fit-to-Standard workshops with users 😉
This article talks about lift and shift and how it’s perceived as unfavourable, but does not tell me why the method is so unviable. One could argue that pushing a “strategic” approach is another method of introducing more SAP product sales. Or perhaps if the lift is done, but not the shift, the wrong people are involved in the project. More often it’s the process and lack of understanding is the problem, not the Strategy.
The rumor I heard is that he didn’t feel quite depressed enough after the exercise. Thankfully SAP came to the rescue to finally get him to the ultimate state of insanity- they made him move his S/4 system to “RISE with SAP”.
@CHANELDB.IO - DATA on peer-to-peer secure channels
3w3 GOLDEN RULES 4 S4HANA onboarding from ECC : 1. Data discovery how many XY code you have to convert from 16bit>>40bit code page 2. Use DMCockpit v2 with staging tables 3. To use full list of staging tables for all modules use S4HANA on HEC (HANA Enterprise CLOUD) - if you want to save money from using S4HANA on HEC , on your own infrastructure or pCLOUD (AWS/GCP/Azure) you can't use it all (yes SAP want your cash not your knowledge) Once you didn't respect RULES you can be JOCKER or DOGMAN