Key lessons from SAP's value transformation

CEO running a multi-year, multi-million SAP S/4HANA program? Zimmer Biomet vs Deloitte is your prelude. A $172M lawsuit autopsy. This isn’t gossip. It’s governance. What happened (public record) - Zimmer Biomet sued its SI for $172M (Sept 2025). - After years of assessments, blueprints, and promises, the SAP S/4HANA program went live in July 2024 and collapsed within months. - Outcome: supply chain chaos, finance disruption, -1% revenue, $2B market cap hit. Old leadership out. New CEO and CIO brought in to clean the mess and to bring the lawsuit. The real lessons (systemic, not personal) 1. Phase 0 ≠ Preparation Most SIs run Phase 0 as a sales stage - glossy ROI slides, toolkits, “accelerators.” REAL READINESS is Phase -3 to -1: entitlements, IAM, 5Rs, governance DNA. Skip that, and you’re not building transformation, you’re staging rollout theater. 2. Checklist ≠ Orchestration A “2-day task” becomes 2 months when entitlements, budgets, and IAM aren’t aligned pre-contract. That’s why “minimal customization” always mutates into dozens of change orders. 3. Trust ≠ Governance 25 years of vendor history feels safe. Until it isn’t. Trust without competitive tension is lock-in by another name. That's outsourcing accountability with blind trust. That’s how “strategic partnerships” turn into ransom. In this case, invoices were paid under protest just to prevent AMS and cloud support from being cut off. 4. Clean Core ≠ Clean Architecture Following textbook “stick to standard” misses critical processes in EA design. or worse, shoves them into the wrong platforms (like BTP) just to tick the clean-core box. Without Phase -3 to -1 sequencing or a 5Rs review, you don’t modernize debt, you repackage it. 5. Escalation Always Has Two Decks When a program slips, the SI always brings two decks: one to “recover the project,” one to protect themselves legally. That’s not cynicism. That’s survival mode. The CEO commandments 1. Phase -3 to -1 first. Governance, entitlements, architecture, culture, before signing an SI contract. 2. Clean architecture > clean core. Sequence the fix or you’re redecorating liabilities. 3. KPI-tether every build. If it doesn’t tie to EBIT or risk reduction, don’t build it. This isn’t about one lawsuit. It’s about a system that sets even experienced boards up to fail - selling theater and calling it transformation. ==>> If your program hasn’t seen Phase -3 to -1, it’s not too late, but it’s already behind. #SAP #S4HANA #CEO #CFO #ProgramRescue #EnterpriseArchitecture #Governance #PhaseMinus3 #5Rs

The “Before & After” Data Transformation Story In the lead-up to our SAP migration, we weren’t just preparing systems — we were unearthing years of neglected, inconsistent, and chaotic data. If we are honest, most of the time, it felt less like digital transformation and more like an archaeological excavation. We were buried in layers of spreadsheets, conflicting legacy reports, and systems that hadn’t seen a clean-up in over a decade. Each click revealed more clutter: customer names spelled five different ways, address fields mixing “St.” and “Street” like it was a coin toss, duplicate records stacked on top of each other, and critical fields left blank or filled with guesswork. It was more than just messy — it was risky - A complete nightmare! Data was being pulled from everywhere and nowhere. No single source of truth. No consistency. Just a patchwork of outdated inputs fuelling vital business operations. The worst part? We had to tackle it manually. A Time Sink: Highly skilled people stuck doing low-value, repetitive tasks. An Error Magnet: Fatigue set in. Errors crept through. Fix one issue, uncover two more. A Business Risk: Dirty data meant dirty output. Reports couldn’t be trusted. Customers were misbilled. Orders were sent to the wrong place. And confidence in the system? Gone. We knew we couldn’t carry that baggage into SAP. Something had to change. At this point, we built a purpose-specific solution which was created to automate and streamline data cleansing and validation, giving us the ability to: Proactively identify and rectify errors with precision. Ensure data consistency across all records. Validate information against business rules before migration. This impacts business by: 🔹Reducing Pre-Migration Data cleansing and validation Effort by Up to 75% Freeing up SMEs for strategic tasks, cutting contractor costs, and accelerating migration timelines. 🔹Delivering >99% Accuracy in Key Master Data Minimising migration errors, de-risks go-live, building trust in the new SAP system from day one. 🔹Reducing Migration Delays and Rework by 20–40% Fewer surprises in load cycles and UAT, protecting timelines, budgets, and overall project momentum. 🔹Achieving 100% Data Auditability and Compliance Ensuring full traceability, streamlining audits, and providing a defensible position on data quality from day one. 🔹Reducing Post-Go-Live Errors by 15–30% Fewer issues like misbilling and mis-shipments, leading to smoother operations, faster user adoption, and trusted SAP insights. If any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone. The good news is that we have built a solution which has already helped others through their migration journey, and we’d be happy to share it if it’s useful. Just drop us a message. Created in collaboration with Pawel Lipko ↗️

Most S/4HANA projects treat finance as a downstream activity. That's backwards. After 15 years in SAP Finance, I've seen what happens when finance isn't driving the transformation from day one. You get technical go-lives that work on paper but fail in practice. Excel workarounds multiply. Finance teams get blamed for design flaws they never controlled. Here's what actually works: **Establish Finance as Design Authority from Phase -1** Before blueprinting starts, map your finance capabilities and pain points. Your S/4HANA solution architecture should reflect finance strategy, not just replicate ECC processes. If finance isn't challenging the design, you're building the wrong system. **Embed Finance integration in every workstream** Procurement, logistics, sales every process generates financial data. If you design these without finance governance, you'll retrofit later at 3x the cost. Finance needs a seat in every design decision, not just FI/CO workshops. **Leverage Universal Journal as your transformation catalyst** Real-time consolidation, embedded analytics, automated reconciliation these aren't add-ons. They're core S/4HANA capabilities that change how finance operates. But only if you design for them in blueprint, not discover them post-go-live. **Lock in quick wins during hypercare** Accelerate month-end close by 30%. Automate intercompany matching. Retire legacy Excel reporting. These prove transformation ROI when the business is watching closest right after go-live. Finance can't be an afterthought in S/4HANA. If you're planning or in the middle of a finance transformation, what's your biggest challenge right now? #S4HANA #SAPFinance #Digitaltransformation

Not all SAP implementations are successful—many have faced significant challenges, delays, and even complete failures. Here are some notable unsuccessful SAP projects and the lessons learned: 1. Lidl – €500M SAP Failure (2018) •Issue: Lidl, a German retail giant, attempted to implement SAP for inventory and finance management. However, they insisted on keeping their existing inventory valuation method instead of adapting to SAP’s standard approach. •Result: After seven years and €500 million, Lidl scrapped the project. •Lesson: Customization must align with SAP best practices—forcing legacy processes into SAP often leads to failure. 2. Revlon – $64M Supply Chain Disaster (2019) •Issue: The beauty brand implemented SAP S/4HANA, but the rollout was rushed without adequate testing, resulting in supply chain disruptions. •Result: Factories couldn’t fulfill orders, stockouts occurred, and the company lost $64M in revenue. •Lesson: Proper testing and phased rollouts are critical for large-scale SAP implementations. 3. Hershey’s – $150M Halloween Disaster (1999) •Issue: Hershey’s implemented SAP but rushed the go-live before peak season without proper system stabilization. •Result: A failed order fulfillment process left millions of chocolates undelivered, causing a $150M revenue loss. •Lesson: Never go live during critical business seasons. Ensure the system is fully stable first. 4. U.S. Navy – $1B SAP Failure (2015) •Issue: The U.S. Navy spent $1B on an SAP ERP system for logistics, but they never properly defined the requirements. •Result: The system didn’t meet operational needs and was abandoned. •Lesson: Clearly define requirements and business processes before implementation. 5. LeasePlan – SAP HCM Implementation Challenges •Issue: LeasePlan, a fleet management company, implemented SAP HCM but struggled with customized payroll processing across different countries. •Result: The system had payroll calculation errors, leading to employee dissatisfaction and manual workarounds. •Lesson: Global payroll rollouts require detailed local compliance checks to ensure smooth functioning. Key Takeaways for SAP Consultants: 1.Minimize Customization – Stick to SAP best practices instead of forcing legacy processes. 2.Thorough Testing is Critical – Rushed go-lives without testing lead to disasters. 3.Stakeholder Alignment is Key – Business users must be fully involved, not just IT teams. 4.Phased Rollouts Work Better – Avoid big-bang implementations unless absolutely necessary. 5.Payroll & HCM Require Special Care – Compliance issues can cause payroll failures, legal problems, and employee dissatisfaction. #saphcm #sapfreshers #sapcareers #sapjobopportunity