Retailer Saves Millions on SAP S/4HANA Support

Download PDF (UK)
Download PDF (US)

The Problem

This retailer faced significant financial pressure and a critical crossroads for its IT infrastructure following its re-emergence under new ownership in 2024. The organization was running SAP S/4HANA on-premise, but SAP’s RISE and GROW strategies were pushing customers toward expensive cloud migrations. With 10,000 employees and outlets globally, maintaining a stable, compliant payroll and ERP system was mission-critical. However, the business lacked the appetite and budget for a multimillion-pound S/4HANA Cloud migration that offered little ROI. The retailer needed to drastically cut operational costs without sacrificing the Tax, Legal, and Regulatory (TLR) updates essential for its operations. Staying with SAP support meant high annual fees and a forced roadmap, while losing support posed a massive risk to business continuity.

The Solution

The retailer conducted a rigorous evaluation of leading third-party support providers and ultimately selected Support Revolution. The decision was driven by Support Revolution’s technical depth and commitment to a collaborative, long-term partnership. A core component of the solution was the creation of a comprehensive software and SAP OSS Notes archive, which included entitlements for future releases like S/4HANA 2023. This ensured the retailer maintained future upgrade options without vendor lock-in. Additionally, Support Revolution’s global delivery team provided a clear methodology for maintaining TLR compliance and offered replacement software for SAP’s Solution Manager through partners like Avantra and REALTECH.

The Benefits

• Significant cost avoidance and financial stability: By transitioning to Support Revolution, the business achieved immediate hard cost savings on annual support fees. More importantly, the move provided millions of pounds in soft cost savings by avoiding the forced migration to S/4HANA in the cloud. This allowed the new ownership to stabilize the company’s financials without the burden of non-essential, high-risk IT projects and provided a safe harbour while the retailer determined its future IT plans.
• Operational continuity and technical assurance: The partnership guarantees 24/7/365 support for Priority 1 issues, backed by a binding two-hour resolution SLA. This level of responsiveness, coupled with guaranteed TLR updates, ensures that the retailer’s business-critical systems remain compliant and operational. Additionally, Support Revolution provides interoperability and compatibility support, securing the SAP estate as the retailer updates its broader technology stack, such as browsers and operating systems.
• Strategic flexibility and roadmap control: The business regained control over its technology timeline. The retailer can remain on its stable S/4HANA 1909 platform indefinitely while retaining the right to upgrade to newer versions using its created archive whenever it suits the business. Support Revolution is also assisting in the transition from classic SAP Warehouse Management (WM) to SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), proving that third-party support enables innovation.
• Values and ESG alignment: Support Revolution’s values align with the retailer’s “business as a force for good” philosophy. Support Revolution is carbon-neutral and committed to gender diversity. This partnership supports the organization’s broader dedication to social and environmental responsibility.

Transitioning our S/4HANA estate to third-party support was a significant strategic decision, and the proof of concept allowed us to move forward with absolute confidence. We have secured the high-level technical expertise we need to maintain our existing environment while gaining the resolution guarantees and flexibility required to support our future operating model. – IT Service Manager