SAPinsider Technology Executive Forum Issue 1 2021

Our research drilled down into the specific areas that organizations are looking to invest in, and not surprisingly revenue-generating processes such as sales and e-commerce received the highest responses. Core finance — particularly the processes that relate to working capital — as well as supply chain were not far behind ( Figure 3 ). These pro- cesses represent the foundation of many companies' ERP systems and strategy and were significantly tested during this period of disruption. The data shows that leaders and their teams will continue to balance innovation and operation as they evolve their strategic and tactical plans for 2021. Simplification and automation were identified as two key focus areas related to business processes. Decisions about whether to move to SAP S/4HANA and the cloud have forced many organizations to fully examine the impact of existing, highly custom- ized processes that are difficult to maintain and integrate. As a result, many executives are looking to leverage their current innovation and migration projects to reset user expectations and embrace more standard processes. These conversations are at the forefront of many IT and business agendas, and have fueled, in part, business process analysis and trans- formation being at the foundation of the recently introduced RISE with SAP offering. Companies that may not be making massive moves to the cloud and SAP S/4HANA are still exploring ways to make their business processes Increasing process efficiency Supporting new business models and products Continuing to manage through disruption (remote employees and processes) Providing greater data visibility for the business Lowering the cost of IT/operations Figure 2 — Top priorities for executives (2021) SAPinsiderOnline.com 10