4 ways to build effective change management into your S/4HANA migration

You’ve done the groundwork – aligning the business, assessing processes and mapping out your journey to S/4HANA. But before you set off, take a moment. Even with a clear vision of your destination, without proper change management your journey could run into serious problems.

“Change management needs to be made a key priority from day one,” says Paul Walsh, Director of Programme and Project Management, Expleo. “Most people don’t, which is a problem.”

Neglect this vital aspect and you risk coming up against resistance, leading to delays, cost overruns and, in some cases, failure.

But with careful planning, you can ensure a smoother transition with everyone arriving ready to embrace the change.

“Get this right and you’ll embed more quickly and effectively, and that’s going to save you money,” says Paul.

Here, he outlines four crucial steps to effective change management.

1. Make change management a priority

Change management isn’t an afterthought – you must make it a priority from day one.

Remember, when you’re gearing up for an S/4HANA migration, you’re not just changing software – you’re changing the way your entire organisation operates. If you think about it, hundreds, even thousands of users will be navigating this new system. And it’s not just about SAP, it’s about all the other systems connected to it and the interfaced items like CRM. That’s why it’s crucial to involve your user base right from the start.

From the moment you align the business, make sure there’s representation from all corners of your organisation. Yes, that means having subject matter experts at the table, but it also means hearing directly from the users themselves.

2. Align your strategy with the programme plan

Plan how you will engage everyone involved. Consider what the change management process will deliver in terms of communication, training and user impacts throughout the programme.

A clear strategy means everyone understands how they’ll be affected, what to expect and how the plan will unfold.

You don’t need a big team – we usually advise starting with one person and gradually expanding as needed, especially during important stages like demo rollouts.

In a typical migration, a senior change manager sets the strategy, supported by ‘change agents’ who tailor training plans for each team and provide ongoing support. In some cases, you can enlist employees as change agents if they have capacity.

Taking this streamlined approach helps keep costs down and timings on track.

3. Engage key stakeholders effectively

Identify your champions and potential detractors. And develop a strategy to bring them along, even after the system is deployed.

Remember, the programme doesn’t end with deployment. Ongoing engagement is crucial. The more involved users are from a training and communication point of view, the shorter the ‘hypercare’ phase is likely to be.

Hypercare involves keeping a certain number of people around to fix any defects and make sure everything works correctly. And it’s costly. Effective change management reduces the risk of this phase running over because everyone is well prepared.

Innovative communication and training is key. At Expleo we use cartoons to build a story along the journey. And interactive screen demos help people grasp how the system functions. These methods are far more engaging than endless emails and long PowerPoints.

By tailoring your communication to address your detractors’ concerns and by nurturing your champions, change will embed far more quickly, and that will save you money.

4. Put adequate focus on the transition plan

Sometimes even when change management is in place, things can go wrong because the transition plan fails.

Change management is about business readiness. It encompasses strategy, planning, stakeholder engagement and communication to prepare the business for the change. Transition management deals with technical readiness – aspects like shifting user accounts and supporting the new architecture.

This typically isn’t built into organisations’ change plans, but the repercussions of overlooking it can be huge. At Expleo we’ve seen companies that neglect this type of switch and the impact it has on their technical teams.

Navigating these complexities alone can be challenging. Partnering with a neutral expert like Expleo, with our industry-wide change management expertise, will ensure you’re ready for the journey ahead, across both the business and tech domains.

We involve people early – supporting stakeholders with business readiness planning and training employees to help them adopt the change, so the benefits of S/4HANA are felt from the moment you set off.