NTT DATA Business Solutions Accelerates S/4HANA Transformations via Partnerships and Legacy SAP licenses Buy Back Program

Earlier this week, PAC spent the day with NDBS at their annual Transformation NOW! in London, an end-user focused conference and an excellent opportunity to learn more about SAP S/4HANA, market challenges in the UK&I, new offerings, and how its partnership with SAP and Microsoft is contributing to driving growth and customer value.

The event kicked off with a panel session comprised of Justin Brading (NDBS EVP Western Europe & MD UK&I), Norbert Rotter (CEO NDBS), Abhijit Dubey (Global CEO NTT Ltd.), Celine Cazali (UK&I Chief Partner Officer SAP), and Orla McGrath (Global Partner Solutions Lead Microsoft).

Panelists discussed the impact of the volatile economic situation in the UK&I on current IT investments. According to Norbert Rotter, NDBS expects investments to continue despite visible economic challenges. A view aligned with PAC’s SAP services figures for the UK, where we expect double-digit growth until 2027 for new SAP S/4HANA products-related consulting and system integration.

New investments are not surprising, given the end of mainstream maintenance for ECC6 in 2027. However, PAC was surprised to learn that the vast majority of businesses present at the event are yet to start their S/4HANA migration. According to PAC’s 2023 CxO Survey for the UK, only 29% of CxOs stated to be in a preparatory phase without a concrete schedule. To learn more about PAC’s CxO Survey insights for the UK, please visit our SITSI platform.

For those leaving the migration until the last minute, things can become more challenging – NDBS predicts a significant S/4HANA migration acceleration between 2024 and 2026. In PAC’s view, businesses should not underestimate the duration of S/4HANA migration projects. Nevertheless, certain businesses can have an extended ECC maintenance window from 2028 to 2030, with extra charges applicable.

Associated costs are often one of the main reasons businesses delay their S/4HANA migration. Speaking to PAC, Andy Steer (VP & CTO NDBS) said the firm offers to buy back legacy, non S/4 deployed software licenses from customers, i.e., NDBS will calculate the original license value and trade that against the new S/4HANA project. This makes the project less profitable for NDBS but helps the customer to unblock and move forward in their S/4HANA migration and journey. With the buy back offer, NDBS displays strong confidence in its ability to deliver successful S/4HANA projects (600+ to date) while betting on a lasting partnership.

Another partnership highlighted was the NDBS, SAP, and Microsoft trifecta. Celine Cazali (UK&I Chief Partner Officer SAP) said that SAP is supporting its customers to unlock growth, new business models, and making the journey more sustainable, while equally looking to close its customers’ skills gap through initiatives such as Open SAP (SAP’s free learning platform) and SAP Partners Fresh Faces (career building with SAP & Partners). Celine Cazali further stated that the mix of SAP, NDBS, and Microsoft is a solid investment, as its solutions, capabilities, and services are complementary. For example, this week SAP announced its new Generative AI assistant Joule, underpinned by Microsoft’s AI Copilot, which will be embedded across SAP’s cloud enterprise portfolio.

For NDBS, this partnership means that it has insight into upcoming innovations and releases from both SAP and Microsoft, enabling the firm to expand its capabilities and expertise while leveraging its advisory services to find the best suitable and logical path for its customers’ business and tech journey and ambitions. From a revenue standpoint, according to Norbert Rotter, the partnership is set to become 10% of its revenue.

UK businesses yet to make the S/4HANA transition require IT service providers to make a compelling business case, particularly for those that continue to see value in their ECC environment. For SAP, the strategy is clear “SAP’s newest innovations and capabilities will only be delivered in SAP public cloud and SAP private cloud using RISE with SAP as the enabler” – Christian Klein (SAP CEO).