Integration of SAP Applications is Causing Widespread Complexity for IT Teams, New Report Finds

Over a third of IT teams currently run between 26-500 SAP applications, with an additional 34% of businesses in the process of planning to implement SAP S/4HANA

(London, UK, and Philadelphia, PA) - February 16, 2021 – More than half (52%) of IT teams believe their technology systems are extremely or very complicated, which is stunting their business opportunities to innovate. This is according to an industry report from Avantra, a leading AIOps and automation platform for SAP, and research partner ASUG.

The findings of the report, which have been detailed in a white paper titled ‘How Automation Accelerates Innovation for SAP Operations Teams’, concluded that an overwhelming 87% of IT professionals indicated they experience system complexity at their organizations, with reasons for these difficulties varying, depending on a combination of SAP-driven, internal, or external factors.

Driving this complexity is the integration of SAP and non-SAP systems, with 59% of respondents citing this as an issue. In addition, the report found that the top challenges for teams in running SAP projects are a lack of resources (52%); high costs (45%); a lack of consistency in managing, configuring, and onboarding IT systems (35%); and human error (32%).

“SAP implementations once signified wholesale business transformation, we now see more and more businesses integrating unmanageable levels of complexity and teams are beginning to suffer”, says John Appleby, CEO, Avantra. “The challenges mentioned in the research create the conditions that lead to the vicious cycle some SAP operations teams are experiencing today. They are so busy keeping up with the growing complexity of their existing systems, that they are struggling to innovate.”

While SAP project teams struggle to stay on top of integrations and the introductions of new applications, the need for effective automation has never been more important. Growing complexity and tighter budgets brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic means businesses must act fast. 

Appleby added: “With 34% of businesses in the process of planning to implement SAP S/4HANA, organizations must determine a plan to manage their new SAP systems to continue to benefit from the promised innovations long after the consultants finish the implementation. Given the current economic conditions, it’s unlikely that IT teams will be able to hire more team members or increase their budgets. Increasingly strained team members are likely to approach projects inconsistently or make more errors than normal. Automating the delivery and maintenance of these important SAP projects may be the only way for IT operations teams to solve these challenges now.” 

“In order for SAP customers to increase their corporate intelligence and agility, they need to remove all the legacy barriers inside their technology portfolios, including persistent integration challenges,” says Geoff Scott, CEO of ASUG. “This imperative is further amplified due to the fact that many SAP customers are now charting their future with a planned move to SAP S/4HANA. Reducing complexity and IT disconnects is a perfect place to get started.”

For more information about the report and to download the ‘How Automation Accelerates Innovation for SAP Operations Teams' white paper, visit Automation Accelerates Innovation for SAP Operations | ASUG Whitepaper (avantra.com)