A Day at NTT DATA Business Solutions, Transformation NOW! 2022

On October 4, 2022, PAC spent the day at NTT DATA Business Solutions UK&I – Transformation NOW! 2022 in London. This event was focused on SAP (RISE with SAP, S/4HANA, SAP BTP, SAP Signavio, and more), packed with customers and prospective customers absorbing the vast range of services and solutions that NTT DATA Business Solutions has to offer in this space and that may be suitable to their business.

NTT DATA Business Solutions and SAP ecosystem partners were also present to showcase their SAP-related capabilities and services, including AWS, Microsoft, SUSE, Blackline, Tricentis, Turnkey, and the UKI SAP User Group (UKISUG).

Throughout the event, there were many different keynotes and sessions on how NTT DATA Business Solutions can help its SAP customers deliver successful transformation, convert into an intelligent sustainable enterprise, and how to get the most value out of SAP investments, among others.

One of these sessions was, for instance, the introduction of NTT DATA Business Solutions’ Value Acceleration practice illustrating how data, testing, UX/UI, change & training teams are ensuring high usability of SAP solutions and increasing engagement while reducing business risk. In PAC’s view, this is a valuable service, as many companies experience limited adoption in the early stages of a new implementation (i.e., Greenfield) or after a bumpy go-live. When digging a bit further, one of the main causes, as shown by the UKISUG, in December 2021, is that users have stated that SAP is not providing sufficient technical resources and training. This is a valid point considering a migration often involves a substantial number of changes to business processes, and users need that extra support. PAC will dive deeper into this service in an upcoming Expert View, so stay tuned.

A session on RISE with SAP – uncovering hidden gems – showed how customers could achieve quick wins. This was particularly insightful as NTT DATA Business Solutions demonstrated how businesses could extract more value from RISE, for instance, through the SAP Business Network Starter Pack, which is included with RISE at no additional cost. It brings three networks to the customer: Ariba Business Network, Asset Intelligence Network, and Logistics Business Network.

A deeper dive into SAP Ariba Sourcing, a strategic sourcing SaaS solution for RFI, RFP, and auctions with pre-defined rules, workflows, and SAP integration, showed multiple customer benefits. It quickly allows customers to access thousands of new suppliers, collect capability information (eRFI), evaluate proposals (eRFP), and negotiate best terms and savings (eAuction). NTT DATA Business Solutions further states that this RISE-included solution and service can significantly improve sourcing savings on indirect spending. Another valuable lesson that over 90% of the crowd was unaware of when prompted by the two NTT DATA Business Solutions presenters.

However, despite a significant emphasis on RISE with SAP and S/4HANA (cloud) and its clear value, several business representatives indicated that they will continue to use their on-premise SAP environments and will not adopt S/4HANA for the time being. This sentiment continues to be very much present in the wider market. Businesses can still extract significant value from their customized ECC systems and are not immediately persuaded by the cloud proposition.

Overall, PAC believes that attending businesses were able to extract significant value through existing sessions and experience the plethora of solutions and services NTT DATA Business Solutions has to offer in the SAP space. Not to forget, a sense of NTT DATA Business Solutions’ SAP practice performance, with experience of over 520 SAP S/4HANA projects, giving prospective customers a sense of desirability in the market to partner with NTT DATA Business Solutions in the SAP space.