S/4HANA’s hidden migration challenge: SAP expert retirement
Executive Take
Losing your senior SAP people costs you more than losing the migration deadline. Process mining tools can capture some of that knowledge, but the judgment built over years still walks out the door with them.
Executive Summary
SAP expert Uwe Hartmann, founder of FITS-P GmbH and former CIO at ABB, warns that retiring baby boomer SAP experts pose a bigger risk than the S/4HANA migration itself. Over half of companies have not finished migrating. Hartmann recommends process mining to capture undocumented process knowledge before it leaves with retiring staff.
Why It Matters
Technology and HR leaders running ERP transformations face a double deadline: finish the S/4HANA migration and replace retiring experts who understand undocumented custom processes. GCC leaders staffing SAP support centers should note the push toward process mining over tribal knowledge.
Bizquad Perspective
Most companies treat S/4HANA as a technical finish line, but the real cost shows up years later when nobody left can explain why a custom process exists.