At SAP Sapphire in 2024, Stefanie Kuebler, global head of Business and Data Transformation Solutions at SAP, and her team announced the eagerly awaited lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA in SAP Business Transformation Center.

Here, she shares about how the pair work together to help supercharge customers’ digital transformations.

Q: Can you give a little background on SAP Business Transformation Center?

A: SAP Business Transformation Center was envisioned as a one-stop shop for customers that want to transition from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ERP) 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA. The challenges to such a transformation are, of course, numerous and daunting. Customers need to cull current data, pull together fragmented tool sets, line up the right human resources, and keep an eye on time to value.

With SAP Business Transformation Center, we’ve done our best to bring together the latest functionality and expert guidance to smooth the way – in a single, powerful software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. And SAP Business Transformation Center is easily accessible, deployed on SAP Cloud ALM atop SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). It comes with any implementation of RISE with SAP or any cloud solution from SAP and can be ready to use in less than half an hour.

Q: Where can customers go for further details?

A: The support materials at SAP Business Transformation Center include a quick summary of features and benefits, along with the introductory video.

Q: What does SAP see as the core mission of SAP Business Transformation Center?

A: Kilian Carolan from the Premium Hub – CoE Ireland Data Management has described the mission this way: “To play an active part in the SAP S/4HANA adoption journey by supporting key data management and data migration topics and to serve as the trusted advisor for our customers.” He continues to explain that we do this through end-to-end support, including hands-on execution, optimization, transformation, upgrade, and migration of Big Data and data platforms. In short, we apply our vast portfolio of enterprise information management and landscape transformation tools, methodologies, and processes to the customer’s unique transformation scenario.

Q: Where are we in the ongoing evolution of SAP Business Transformation Center?

A: Our first step was to help customers fully understand the structure of their SAP legacy systems through the digital blueprint. This supplied the background they needed to begin scoping the transformation project. And now we’ve completed the second step for moving data across to the target system – with lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA.

Q: What exactly does the lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA do?

A: Data transformation is traditionally a highly complex undertaking, and we’ve made a huge dent in that complexity. Right at the start, lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA helps radically reduce the decision-making efforts involved in choosing data to migrate. The underlying principle is to provide smarter suggestions and fewer difficult choices through market-leading services and tools – and end-to-end advice on making the most of them. That approach helps customers ensure that they only move data that will continue to be useful, reducing the volume of data for the testing and go-live phases and accelerating the transition exponentially.

With lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA, customers can pare down SAP legacy data and bring the target system live with a clean data foundation. In combination with the digital blueprint, lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA can give SAP Business Transformation Center the power to do all the heavy lifting of accessing source systems; extracting, transforming, and loading relevant data; and validating data for completeness, consistency, and correctness.

Q: What types of data can customers choose to exclude from the transfer?

A: For example, they could decide to completely ignore obsolete company codes, such as data for companies they have since divested or which are no longer in use.

Q: What does the wider market see as the single most revolutionary aspect of lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA?

A: For the very first time, SAP provides standard functionality not only for complete rebuilds, greenfield implementations, system conversions, or brownfield implementations, but also for projects somewhere in the middle. This is a third path, if you will, and it’s a holistic approach to the big transformation from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Private Edition.

Q: Can you take us a little deeper into how lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA works and how customers can benefit?

A: With the SAP Readiness Check tool for SAP ERP usage and data profiling, we can collaborate with the customer to read the data from the source system and identify legal entities that are no longer in use or will soon be obsolete. SAP Business Transformation Center then can propose that these entities and the associated data are “removed from the scope” before starting the data transition and can provide clear instructions on how to do this. It can also help to identify customer-specific data in the SAP legacy system. Here, too, the customer has the option of leaving this data behind on the way to SAP S/4HANA to support its clean core strategy and move closer to the standard again.

Both these jobs would previously have meant time-consuming manual work for the solution architect – and higher costs and longer time to value for the customer. With the addition of lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA to the already popular functionality for digital blueprinting, SAP Business Transformation Center can now provide optimal support and transparency in each phase of the transformation project. It helps customers analyze the source system, define migration scope, create migration cycles, and finally transform the leaner body of data they’ve elected to move across. From strategy to execution, we serve as a trusted partner, helping to ensure that every step of the way leads to meaningful insights and sustainable results. And that lowers both total cost of implementation (TCI) and total cost of operation (TCO).

Q: What have customers been saying about lean selective data transition for SAP S/4HANA?

A: Long-term partner BMW Group, for example, has told us, “This feature significantly speeds up our evolution into an intelligent enterprise by applying sustainable and efficient solutions and methodologies.”

Karin Baeumler is part of Go-to-Market, Business & Data Transformation Solutions, at SAP.

Datricks, the leader in AI-powered risk mining, expands its relationship with SAP with the launch of Datricks for Risk Mining as an SAP endorsed app. The solution helps empower organizations to proactively detect, prevent, and mitigate risks through advanced technology and streamlined integration.

The strategic alliance between Datricks and SAP Signavio leverages the strengths of both to deliver unparalleled value to customers, revolutionizing proactive risk management to help accelerate business process transformation. Together, Datricks and SAP Signavio aim to provide a seamless and integrated solution for financial business risk mining and process management that supports both internal controls and business transformation. This collaboration underscores a shared commitment to innovation and excellence, driving forward the capabilities of risk management in the financial sector.

Datricks’ cutting-edge, AI-driven technology, combined with SAP Signavio’s leading expertise in business process transformation, helps deliver a comprehensive solution that can streamline operations and empower organizations to proactively identify and mitigate risks before they escalate into major disruptions. The solution can tackle the gap between business processes and compliance and can reduce long and expensive auditing cycles, allowing our customers to maximize efficiency and reduce costs. Risks and controls are identified by Datricks and then integrated into SAP Signavio solutions to access control and process effectiveness, fostering proactive risk management.

Our end-to-end solution enables customers to:

• Uncover hidden risks: Datricks’ AI-powered risk mining solution continuously analyzes 100% of customers’ financial data, exposing unseen anomalies and potential threats to financial integrity.
• Prevent financial and reputational damage: Mitigate risks proactively before they escalate, safeguarding your company’s financial health and reputation.
• Streamline audits and controls: Eliminate error-prone manual work and enhance existing controls with automated and reliable processes.
• Gain real-time insights: Receive immediate answers to audit-related questions, identify the root cause of risks, and make informed decisions with confidence.

Datricks for Risk Mining helps automate risk detection and mitigation, ushering in the era of autonomous finance. It seamlessly integrates with SAP Signavio solutions, offering a holistic view of risk and process management. Together, we provide an end-to-end solution for financial business risk mining and process management, supporting both internal controls and process transformations.

Mani Pirouz is chief business officer for SAP Business Transformation Management.

The intelligent automation revolution has arrived. According to a recent report from McKinsey & Co, this is the third wave of digitization and generative AI, in which businesses can add new unstructured content to analytical AI’s structured data capabilities. This means we see massive productivity gains for businesses, especially regarding their finance operations.

For the CFO and their teams, there is a wealth of opportunity here, but also not inconsiderable risk. The best CFOs are masters of balancing risk with opportunity; those who can do it well right now have an immense opportunity to write a new playbook for AI leadership. That’s because effective AI strategies involve more than just tools. They require a strong sense of where the business value lies and a keen sense for ensuring every technology investment has a clear return for the business — all things savvy CFOs have in abundance.

Two areas that stand out are payments and cash flow management. Recent research from Gartner compared organizations it saw as leading the way with successful AI strategies and implementations with their competitors. The study revealed that 46% of organizations with the most successful AI implementations leverage AI in customer payment forecasting, illustrating the vast potential for AI in this space.

But it’s not just about forecasting accuracy. It has been estimated that as much as $44 trillion is locked in global supply chains at any time. Accessing these funds, or at least ensuring they are working as efficiently as they can for you, can go a long way in helping you invest, expand, or diversify. McKinsey ranks enhanced working capital management as one of the top three areas for AI investment, alongside predictive cash flow forecasting and growth prioritization/M&A targets.

The real game-changer is the natural language-based tools and the capabilities to generate thorough financial scenarios. For example, you could ask, “What are my options to ensure the Board has the $750 million needed to make that acquisition or R&D investment in the year’s second half? What are the three best scenarios to ensure we achieve a free cash flow of $500 million in Q4 of this year?”

Assuming you have the data, the combination of predictive and generative AI will give you the analysis you need and the narrative to provide a clear pathway to your business goal.

Another opportunity is around fraud detection. Electronic payments are standard in many countries and supply chains are increasingly complex, which means the threat of fraud is increasing. AI can detect unusual patterns from typical transaction profiles, minimizing the rejection of legitimate transactions and maximizing the accuracy of fraudulent payments.

Automation is also an area that is ripe for significant leveling up. The future of payments powered by AI strives for complete autonomy, from predicting future incoming payments based on behavioral patterns to independently initiating dispute management in the event of non-payment to automated incoming payment reconciliations.

When we talk about AI’s transformative abilities, the most significant benefit is its ability to support continuous optimization. Whether it’s benchmarking against industry peers, risk modeling, or analyzing supplier behavior to optimize payment, the ability of AI tools to absorb and analyze vast amounts of data and generate scenarios in a multitude of forms gives you the power to act faster, with greater cost efficiency and insight.

Of course, it’s not just the technology that delivers the difference; it’s the combination of technology, financing partners, and processes. AI tools are most effective in the hands of a team that understands how to use them and has the processes in place to enable them to be used effectively. They also require access to vast amounts of data, internal and external.

For many businesses, the most effective and least risky investment is in platforms and technology tools that already have AI capabilities built in and in the people who know how to leverage them.

There is no doubt that the potential for everyone is significant. The early evidence suggests that those who have taken the plunge and are investing strategically are already reaping the benefits.

It points to a future full of incredible opportunities ahead and we are really excited about it!

Scott Russell is chief revenue officer and a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
Cedric Bru is CEO of Taulia.

This story also appeared on SAP BrandVoice on Forbes.