Create SAP Convergence Instead of Business to IT Alignment

By |April 4th, 2011|

This is part of an ongoing exploration of creating an SAP or Technology "Center of Excellence" within your enterprise. For the background and key insights on this approach, see the Series on SAP Competency Center or SAP Center of Excellence . ------------------------------ The real future of technology is for IT to integrate with business, or in other words, to converge business and technology. The idea of aligning with business is too weak to define what IT and SAP must do within the enterpris [...]

SAP Project Fraud Allegations in Marin County v Deloitte, SAP Services

By |March 28th, 2011|

While many people from companies such as Deloitte are incredibly talented, even those companies may have a few bad apples that can and sometimes do spoil the whole entire bushel. In this article, we explore such an occurrence. ===================== The Marin County California Lawsuit against Deloitte Consulting took an interesting turn. The initial complaint was filed in mid-2010 against Deloitte only for fraud in providing inept and incompetent consultants (for background, see my previous post [...]

Industry Specific SAP Consulting vs Deep SAP Application Experience

By |March 21st, 2011|

The need for industry-specific SAP experience is probably one of the most overrated ideas in the SAP consulting field. The most successful SAP implementations require integration of the business requirements with application functionality. To do this well requires three separate domains of expertise: industry expertise, application expertise, and consulting skills. One of those domains, consulting skills, is based on skills in change management, communication, process engineering, people skills [...]

Using Your SAP Steering Committee for Business Transformation

By |March 14th, 2011|

How Long-Term SAP Steering Committee Integration Changes the Enterprise One of the biggest benefits of an SAP implementation is the business transformation it can bring. At first, the changes and challenges are uncomfortable, even downright painful. However, in the mid- to long-term, SAP brings about a business culture transformation. When ongoing steering committee involvement enables that transformation, business to IT convergence occurs. Over time, this convergence of business and technology [...]

More on Stupid SAP Vendor – Partner Selection RFI-RFP Processes

By |February 14th, 2011|

This is a follow-up from last week's post on Why SAP Vendor – Partner Selection RFI Processes are Stupid. Next week's post will provide insight, suggestions, and ideas on how to ensure your SAP RFI or RFP processes achieve the best possible results. SAP is a COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) business software application. In the COTS world, solid financial statements may indicate an SAP partner or vendor who has mastered the art of "squatting" or "lock-in." They may routinely custom code non-miss [...]

Global SAP Instance Consolidations

By |January 24th, 2011|

Over the last several years, a number of companies have undertaken a global instance consolidation. And it's no wonder why-- a global SAP consolidation presents opportunities for significantly reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). However, this type of system consolidation also brings numerous change management issues to address. As you embark on your consolidation, you will find that some major issues are easier to resolve, because the hard decisions around processes and scope were resolved [...]