Trends & Best Practices in SAP Adoption

The second edition of The State of Worldwide Business Assurance for SAP Solutions is here! In a collaborative effort between Tricentis, Capgemini, and Sogeti, we explored current trends in SAP adoption and implementation, along with organizations’ level of preparedness for digital transformation. The resulting report assesses the current market state and offers real-world case studies and testimonials for illustration.

When we conducted our inaugural study in 2021, we discovered that while SAP customers were planning to test earlier, automate more, and leverage AI/ML, SAP testing maturity was not where it could be. Now, we’ve conducted a second study to gauge how much the needle has moved in two years. Compared to our first report, we have advanced our evaluation of best practices, standards, and technologies being utilized in the industry.

Our 2023 results indicate that today, service virtualization has moved to the forefront of testing methodologies that ensure comprehensive testing across multiple applications and APIs. Organizing testing via service virtualization results in increased speed and efficiency even in the early stages of an S/4 HANA transformation, making it a useful tool. Other benefits like simplified project scope, expedited timelines, and more comprehensive testing further underline how useful simulation is in SAP projects.

Similar to the findings of our 2021 study, respondents say that their organizations are seeking a comprehensive business assurance solution for end-to-end testing, including non-SAP apps and integrated devices, to minimize delays. We also found that integration tools and services like Integration Platforms as a Service (iPaaS) are rising in popularity. Robust business assurance is everything; in our report, we’ve also included real-world case studies from organizations who experienced the negative effects of poor planning, limited resources, and negligence.

Since 2023, there has been a notable upward trend in S/4HANA adoption and an increased number of SAP products. Overall, organizations interested in digital transformation are on the right path. More than half of our respondents agree that testing automation can increase operational efficiency by more than 50%.

Key findings include, but are not limited to:

• The adoption of SAP S/4HANA has surpassed SAP ECC, with 39.9% of organizations currently using it. However, the overall adoption of SAP S/4HANA is still lower than expected due to migration challenges and varying rates of adoption across industries. Nonetheless, over 93% of organizations that haven’t upgraded to SAP S/4HANA plan to do so within the next 24 months.
• Cloud hosting has become more popular, with 59.8% of organizations opting for public or private cloud solutions to reduce costs and eliminate the need for hardware investments. Cloud-based SAP applications, including SAP S/4HANA, are also gaining traction, embraced by 48.8% of organizations.
• More than 81% of organizations believe they are adequately prepared to incorporate frequent SAP changes/upgrades. Data migration is reported as the primary challenge during advanced SAP version upgrades (39.7%), followed by ensuring sufficient resources and capacity planning (34.3%).
• Organizations are increasingly recognizing the benefits of partnering with service providers, acknowledging their contributions such as additional technical expertise (49.1%) and enhanced process efficiency (45.5%). Service providers are seen as playing a pivotal role in ensuring uninterrupted business operations by a significant proportion of organizations (36.4%).

While organizations are increasingly realizing the benefits of deploying SAP S/4HANA, they’re still exploring ways to overcome obstacles. Specialized testing service providers are stepping into the gap, especially when it comes to integration platform/API/component testing and performance testing. Leading service providers are leveraging best-in-class technology to alleviate the pain points in digital transformation journeys.

Want to learn more? Read the full report, or register for our August 15 webinar The business assurance strategies that drive SAP transformation success: Key takeaways from the Tricentis, Capgemini, and Sogeti 2023 report.