SAP-ECC, HANA and Beyond : Mukesh Munka Siva Shanmugam

This is a discussion with SAP evangalists about SAP-ECC, HANA and Beyond :  Mukesh Munka Siva Shanmugam

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Transcript

 We are live on the Kelly Wellan podcast with makash monka and Shiva Shan Mcgan gentlemen how are you this morning.

00:07.70
Mukesh Munka
So we are doing very good Kelly how are you thanks for asking.

00:11.13
kelly99
doing fantastic yeah yeah doing great thanks for thanks for joining me guys. Um, tell me about Ecc in s four hana I'm talking to a lot of people right now that are trying to decide if they.

00:12.44
Siva
Thank you Kelly.

00:18.82
Siva
Like.

00:25.91
kelly99
If they want to go um to s for Hanna if they should upgrade to s for Hanna what are the reasons to to do it or to not do it what what are you seeing in the market.

00:36.86
Mukesh Munka
So I will take a peek at it like you know what I see in the market is like definitely there is a lot of questions that is going on with every company like you know they have lot of confusions going on in their mind saying hey. Is there any value of going to s for Hanna because everything come with a cost you know, but definitely success comes with a change. There is a reason why sep has come up with this new innovation software as for hana. Because the market is kind of demanding it and the way the market trend is going to be in the next few years every company so has to come to this new environment. Whether or not they like it or or it's by choice or by by any need. So what I feel is like you know the sooner they do it the sooner they will see the advantage coming out of it. You know, definitely cost is None thing but with all the innovations all the new automations and new airons that is it is going to provide. It is going to indirectly give the company a lot of advantages and benefits you know which if they indirectly look at it is going to give them a better roi in in the next few years that's my thoughts.

01:54.84
kelly99
Um, in mckesh just continuing on with that. What's an you know, specific example of how S4 is better as a product than Ecc for those people that are using Ecc and saying hey it's working fine for me. Right now. Why would I change what what is S4 going to bring to them is it is it performance is it infrastructure cost reduction. What why is it better right.

02:22.47
Mukesh Munka
I would say it is both definitely. Performance is None thing you know Ecc works on you know dix dixie space where you need to have everything on-prem on your hardware. You know s 4 haa comes with. The Hanna database which can be on-prem or it can be hy with it or it can be on cloud. So definitely you know there are different choices that you have and at the same time you know, um, with a lot of and new functionalities that is coming up. You know with Ecc. You have to go and kind of try out. Ah all the different enhancements and customizations to achieve those functionality. For example, like you know if you have to go and get the new Gl functionality if to have to go and get the the enterprise. Ah, ah. Ah, supply chain functionity. You know all those things comes you know in build with S 4 Hanna and not only that with s 4 hanna the things have comes up so simplified like you know with 20 screen that you have to serve in the Ecc. It all boils down to like you know a couple of screens. And for example, like if a process takes 20 minutes you know in Ecc it's going to take None nute or 2 minute in s forhana so imagine like you know if you have a volume that you are running every month it is going to give a lot of cost savings. In terms of saving the number of hours that your guys have to spend on those processes and they can utilize those time in doing something more productive. So so definitely a lot of new simplification performance and not of new air-ons that you can do because as for Hanna. Also comes with a prepackage in a business technology platform that sep provides along with it where you can enhance and add on lot of new things that you currently are doing by lot of custom development and creating lot of problems for your system.

04:30.12
kelly99
Sure, um, you know, many people that went to Ecc. There was a lot of pain in in cost overruns in the implementations we know that because we hear about it all the time ah is it is it getting better when you upgrade. For example from Ecc to S4 do do. you anticipate or have you been seeing in the market that that there are lessons learned that can be implemented for people when they make this upgrade so that as it goes on in an implementation. It's It's not as painful from a cost and time perspective. Yeah.

05:06.30
Mukesh Munka
Yeah I know everything comes with a risk. Kelly I know if you are doing anything new. You know you don't know there are a lot of hidden truths but definitely with the time when the s four scp started. S4 they started with simple finance in 2013 and since then it's been getting matured with every version that they are releasing and with every version like they are coming up with lot of simplification list and approach that every companies have started following up and if you just kind of go. And make sure you know you follow those approach then definitely the risks have come down drastically and if you ask me, you know in in in my company in my company I 4 what we have done is like you know, based on all the lessons learned in know in the last few years with myself involved. In a lot of Sphana Migrations and in my team involved in there in those migrations we have captured all the gaps that we have found in all those migrations and then kind of developed you know a few you know internal tools. You know, ah that that definitely kind of helps you in a better planning.

06:14.45
Siva
Um.

06:20.80
Mukesh Munka
You know? So for example, like you know we have a tool called Calvin that we have developed where what we do is like you know the none thing that we do is like we run a quick check in the current Ecc environment that the client has based on that it gives us a complete list of all the custom process that they are following. And then we take all of that data and we run this tool and it kind of gives us like what are the top 20 key processes that is utilizing 80% of your usage in the company. That means if you take care of those top 20 process in the most optimized way. And plan a very good schedule along it and plan all the right data to bring it to the s four hanna then your 80 person success is already achieved now you have just have to worry about kind of taking all those small small pieces and you know, kind of consolidate everything together package. Everything. And get a successful go live so we have seen that happening very well that Kelvin with the top 20 key processes based on the usage based on the users using it, you know and who are the people whom we should be training more What are the things that we need to look at more closely and kind of plan a better schedule towards it. It's all kind of helping out which is definitely improving your success rate by say 60 to like 85 to 90% and at the same time. Your overall timeline is reducing. By None to 35% which overall gives you a very good cost benefit and a high rate of success.

07:59.16
kelly99
You know everything you're saying makes sense their plan on the front end make sure there's a strong tie to business. Ah roi before you do it and make sure that that business objective is front and center for the entire implementation. So what you're saying there makes makes good sense. Um. You know since covid came in. Ah there's been a lot of supply chain issues forecasting and planning is has been something a lot of people are talking about does s 4 address anything within supply chain or forecasting and planning ah or or is that a pretty still. Ah, similar to the the module that was in Ecc.

08:40.25
Mukesh Munka
No definitely I think you know it it actually takes care of you know, a lot of things which sep currently is is like kind of not addressing that we certainly needs to have a external applications to connect with Ecc for most of those data in S4 definitely most of those are been covered but I would say like you know, ah shiva who is my expert like who is in the call you know actually can take us about some of the details that you know ah helps companies with some better forecasting and planning with S4 and then definitely. Some airons that they can bring in through the business technology platform which will give them the complete package about how they can optimize their overall supply chain. So see why do you want to take that.

09:28.40
Siva
Yeah, um so Kenny S four haana itself comes up with the newer version of Mrp which is the um rp live um rpmrptwo. Um, so that along with that there is an embedded ppds production planning and detail scheduling. That's also another option to bring in um, detailed scheduling functionality into s forhanna but apart from that there are other vendors who have developed anons that could be directly installed on top of spu harna but within the 4 harana itself. There are a lot of improvements that has been done on Mr Mrp and also on the detailed scheduling features. So it's in the the other use cases using bdp which mackesh just explained using bdp business transaction platform where we can bring in. Um. External softwares and features that could be developed on btbs of um so that that's another option for companies that want to enhance their functionality instead of developing.

10:33.66
kelly99
How long shiva how long does it take for a company that that hasn't addressed forecasting and planning if they if they start that process and that you know they know that they're probably behind and and so they've been using excel spreadsheets and a lot of manual process and phone calls to vendors and. Um, is it ah is it a None ar process to get something working if you want to if you want to automate that as much as possible with forecasting and planning or or can something be done within you know 3 to 6 months right.

11:06.92
Siva
Yeah, definitely something within None to six months can be addressed using functionality that is already existing within for. But then if you go with an external tool such as like g I be. We could shorten that time much further and. Bring something useful to the clients ah within a period of None to three months

11:30.46
kelly99
That's great. Okay, well on our next. Um on our next installment of this conversation. We'll talk specifically about none d-party tools in a in. Not how they can be a benefit to customers and potential users that's coming up next. Ah, Shiva and makesh. Thank you for your time on it. This first part of the discussion and we will see our viewers next time on the Kelly Welland Podcast thanks Shiva hey guys guys mckesh.

11:52.89
Mukesh Munka
Thank you so much Kelly for having us. Thank you really appreciate. Thank you have a nice day. Yeah, yes.

11:57.60
Siva
Thank you.

12:03.31
Siva
Um, yeah, um.

12:05.40
kelly99
Yeah, let's let's let's actually talk. Let's have a quick conversation. Let's let let it go quiet for a little bit and let's just have a quick conversation about None party tools since we're on yeah, it's recording. But our our fabulous our fabulous audio engineers are going to cut all this out.

12:15.90
Mukesh Munka
It's already the easy recording like you know? Oh ah yeah, and got it that sounds very good.

12:17.89
Siva
Um, yeah, anything.

12:24.80
kelly99
So everybody be everybody, be quiet, 3 seconds and then I'll start talking all right and you are back for episode None of the Kelly willlet podcast we are talking about sapecc to s four hanna implementation upgrades. I have Shiva Shaman again I'm sorry I said that wrong shiva you'll have to correct me on that. Um and makesh manka send mogam said I apologize for that shiva.

12:47.22
Mukesh Munka
Send is it Yep send send send mu him. Yeah.

12:52.62
Siva
Um, shamu. Yeah yeah.

12:56.70
kelly99
We've known each other a long time So I shouldn't I should know how to pronounce your last name. My apologies for that. No no, oh yeah, well but let's let let's let's restart. Yeah.

13:00.45
Siva
But should we restop again.

13:02.50
Mukesh Munka
No.

13:09.96
kelly99
And welcome to episode 2 in the Kelly Oneland Podcast we're talking Ecc to s 4 hanna upgrades on the call I have Shiva Shanamagan and makesh monka gentlemen thanks for being on the show. Yes, of course. So.

13:23.10
Mukesh Munka
Thank you Kelly.

13:24.30
Siva
Thank you for? Thank you for having us.

13:29.79
kelly99
So guys I want to talk about something that I know is near and dear to both of your hearts and that's how to lower costs within an a implementation and and so I'll just start out with that question for people that are considering an Ecc to s for hanna or upgrade or they are running those. Tools. Ah, but they want to add some modules. Are there any anything you recommend um to customers for for lowering costs when they're looking at new modules or looking to expand sap within their environments.

14:04.23
Mukesh Munka
So yeah, with that with ecctwo s four Hanna migration and like you know once they are on the s four s 4 actually gives them in a lot of flexibility to kind of enhance with the s se p. Btp platform that scp provides which is called business technology platform which allows you know the companies to do lot of ai ml stuff lot of analytics. You know the real-time analytics the predictive predictive analytics and you know any sense or process. That they currently have which they need to kind of enhance and kind of make it more robust for their needs. They can actually do that customization and development there without even writing a single line of code. So definitely with the s four hana there is a lot of flexibility that comes along with it but the whole question is like is the company ready for s four hanna if they are on Ecc then definitely there are lot of you know, none d-party tools. You know, ah that they could probably utilize you know which could probably bring a lot of ah new functionality and kind of bring down. Lot of cost for them that they are currently spending doing things manually. So but again it all depends on what areas that they are looking For example, you know, ah for any companies where they don't have a good you know, forecasting and planning process today you know? ah. There are a lot of tools that aree in the market for forecasting and planning as a None d-party toolssep itself has a tool called spiibp you know? Ah, but you know we recommend like you know? Ah, but there is a couple of tools which we have seen is to be like more effective. Then what sp brings to the table and which is like almost one third or onefour of the cost of ssep one of the tool being called giibgiib is a very specific forecasting and planning tool. You know that kind of provides the company who is specifically on ssep you know. Provides the company. The functionality to sit on top of sep utilize all the data that they are managing inside the Sep platform so they don't have to worry about any external integration. They don't have to worry about you know any errors that they could bring in any wrong data from outside. It will you absorb the data from your system you can create all the different algorithm that goes with your company can put all those calculations there and it will do everything that you need to do and kind of give you about what you should be following for the next three six nine twelve months

16:52.13
Mukesh Munka
And how much of a septi stock that you should be managing based on the twelve month history that you had in your company in terms of sales in terms of back order and what are the different market trends that are currently going on. It takes data from the external system as well. Based on that. And it kind of takes everything into consideration and then gives you you know Ah the the complete picture about what sort of forecast you should be looking at and how much of his talk that you should be maintaining in terms of your components or materials the same goes for the labor scheduling. Same goes for the capacity planning. But I think shiva you can add more details to it because I have just added the high level but I know there are few specific use cases that would certainly help Kelly to understand more about it. So.

17:44.84
kelly99
Yeah Shiva I know you you spent a lot of time in different None party tools as part of your efforts to lower costs for people when they're implementing and we can stick with with forecasting and planning because I know you're doing a lot of that these days with with what's happening with Covid and supply chains. In your experience does the the None d-party tools that are a approved like GIb. Are they effective for for your customers and in ah, planning and improving their ability to to work with their customers and suppliers to get product in the door and. And out to their customers in a timely manner.

18:22.78
Siva
They are effective. Um, in fact, any tool within Sap is is is useful for the customer but a tool like gib just speeds up the whole process of achieving that functionality. Um, with Gid it it sit's on top of SA. So there's no of building the interface and shuttling data back and Forth. So That's that's a huge plus point and and and it speeds up the implementation time for the customers but with it with a tool like gb. You can build pretty much any. Use case. For example, if you want to um, reduce your inventory or optimize your inventory. You could do that but before covid that that was the use case. But after Covid people wanted to stock up. Um Inventory at ah, different supply Points. So. With the tool like gb you could You could monitor the stock you could forecast her for at at each supply point and ah the tool. Not only helps you achieve these but then also allows you to monitor your supply chain and and keep them at the optimal level. Um, so. Before Covid. The goals were different but post Covid The goals are changing and in a changing environment. You need a tool like Gi Ib that could take care of issues in your supply chain. It's It's not strictly optimizing or reducing inventory which was the earlier case. But now with the changing Scenario. You have to be ready to adapt to any situation and without a tool like Gv. It will be pretty difficult out of the box s a yes you you could do some of these functionalities that Gv does. But it's it's going to be cumbersome to do all these transactions and multiple. Multiple steps and then take the data out into an X excel sheet and then perform some analytics and then bring back the data into Sap So It's It's pretty long process and a tool like Gv just helps customers to achieve that pretty quickly and rapidly.

20:29.77
kelly99
So Shiva For those listening who aren't familiar with these None party tools would you say that the tools that that you're recommending, Um, that are lower costs significantly lower cost than Sap Would you say they're of equal quality equal effectiveness or would you say there're. Better effectiveness or would you say they're not quite as effective but they're so much cheaper that you know you you recommend using them. Yeah.

20:57.15
Siva
So um, more than the cost the the speed in which they could do or analyze the data and come to conclusions. Um, these tools are pretty effective. Um, especially a tool like giv that sits on top of Snp. Where it's integrated into a it just provides the customers a single unified user interface to shuttle information or even jump from None screen to another within sap compared to other tools where you have to switch. Back and forth between these two 2 different user interfaces and make sure the data is moved to the other interface and perform analytics or perform digital analysis and then bring back the data into sap and somehow tie in those. Um. Results that you performed in the other tool and then connect them in Ncp so that those are all gone with the tool like gv so in a way they're they're much more effective than than I say be itself.

22:03.34
kelly99
And so you would both agree that you're part of the process of lowering an a implementation cost is is to look for viable alternatives that are either partners of Sap and they've proven themselves to be valuable and in an implementation.

22:18.59
Mukesh Munka
So.

22:22.66
kelly99
Um, maybe in in conjunction with that that strong emphasis on Frontend planning so that that you're always keeping business objectives front and center as you go through the long process of getting something something implemented and then you actually in use by your users is that is that kind of the 2 ways you you. You you try to save costs during one of these things.

22:42.71
Mukesh Munka
So absolutely Kelly Absolutely and you know as you rightly said like you know it's not just the cost. You know it's the effectiveness you know so with gi ib for the forecasting and planning like you know when we were doing. For a few of our clients like we kind of went through a very robust exercise of kind of going through around None to None different vendors and tools. You know that we kind of did all the comp of pros and cons about what is doing what you know so definitely with Giiv and with s seps. Own tool like you know the features and everythings are all same. You know, maybe with giv like know it was more easier because gi ib sits on top of Sep with other tools like you know Aiva Menson and also the se's own tool. They are all outside. Of that Ecc system. So in that way. There is definitely that integration piece that becomes like a nightmare because there could be some connection problems. There could be some data not aligning well but with giv definitely the functionality. They are not behind on anything what other tools can do. Definitely at par and in some cases because they sit on top of Sep and the datas are real time. You can develop lot of new functionalities which is not very easy to do in some other tools. So definitely considering all of that you know our clients like kind of like that. They've been. Using that and what they have seen is like in in the last six to eight months they have seen that their overall supply chain process had been optimized by at least None to 30% and is still improving every day. It.

24:24.17
kelly99
Well, that's fantastic I want to thank both of you for your time shiva shan magan makesh monka is always great to talk with both of you. You are listening to the Kelly Winland Podcast have a great Friday and weekend. Thanks.

24:36.72
Mukesh Munka
Thank you Kelly for having us. Thank you have a nice weekend. Everyone thanks.

24:40.86
Siva
Thank you.

24:43.52