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Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?
Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?

Will SAP HANA Lead to a Big Data Revolution?

By Bill Wood|December 17th, 2012|

Many people focus on HANA as a competitor to Oracle, and it is. Even if HANA adoption and sales were to completely devastate SAP's biggest competitor (Oracle), that would not be HANA's biggest impact. The HANA product has the potential to disrupt entire industries in the context of Big Data. Unlike Big Data, I have been skeptical about the benefits and use of social media in the enterprise, writing about it in Why Social Media Marketing Success Is Elusive for Business and Social Media Fads and [...]

SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise
SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise

SAP Contract Requirements for a Center of Expertise

By Bill Wood|July 2nd, 2012|

Most, if not all, of new SAP contracts and agreements contain provisions that require customers to create a “Center of Expertise” (or CoE). This is a customer’s, and SAP’s, first line of maintenance support. The CoE terms and conditions define a great aspiration that your organization will support “efficient implementation, innovation, operation and quality of business processes and systems” based on the Phase 6 RUN SAP ASAP Methodology. Good luck with all that! Returning to realistic [...]

There is Life after the SAP Go Live
There is Life after the SAP Go Live

There is Life after the SAP Go Live

By Bill Wood|June 25th, 2012|

One of the areas that academic literature, consulting firms, and most system integrators rarely address is the organizational acceptance, full use, and assimilation of the SAP package. To the extent the system integrators or consulting firms do mention post production support, they generally only do so in the context of managed services or outsourcing. They do little to help companies develop a thriving production environment with your own resources. One of the biggest problems I see anywhere i [...]

3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity
3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity

3 Development Phases for SAP Center of Excellence Maturity

By Bill Wood|May 14th, 2012|

Before we get into the substance of how to build a next-generation IT organization that is integrated with business, we need to take a quick review. Last week’s post on SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity proposed the direct maturity of the SAP IT organization. Here, we discussed the three stages of Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization. These stages create clear distinctions between SAP Service Delivery versus Value Deli [...]

SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity
SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity

SAP Service Provider to Business Peer Through Center of Excellence Maturity

By Bill Wood|May 7th, 2012|

One key pillar of moving Beyond Technology Alignment requires Organizational Change Management Inside the SAP IT Support Organization (OCM inside IT). A key component of that OCM within IT relies heavily on Creating a Knowledge Centered Learning Organization. Within that learning organization, especially with enterprise applications such as SAP, you need to build organizational maturity. A three-tier approach to building that organizational maturity is part of the Series on SAP Competency Cente [...]

SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery
SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery

SAP Service Delivery versus Value Delivery

By Bill Wood|April 30th, 2012|

In my review of academic literature around SAP or ERP implementations, I find some thought-provoking items. Recently, I reviewed a study that helped me to form a more complete picture of important issues in IT delivery. Even though I have been writing about it for years, I gained a new clarity around evaluating some of the existing delivery models [FN1]. What it comes down to is this question: Are you looking for service delivery or business results for your SAP project? SAP Service Delivery or [...]