When most people talk about inefficiency in SAP, the conversation usually turns to system complexity, license audits, or support costs. But that’s not where the real money leaks out.
The real problem sits inside the business processes — the day-to-day workflows that slow things down, create rework, and hide waste.
Across large enterprises, I keep seeing the same pattern: approvals that take too long, manual workarounds that no one’s proud of, and departments that blame each other when the numbers don’t add up.
And because the system technically “works,” these issues often stay hidden for years.
One global manufacturer I worked with had recently upgraded to SAP S/4HANA. The board expected faster, cleaner processes — but order-to-cash was still sluggish.
When we looked closer, nothing was broken in the system itself. The drag came from:
Everyone thought it was an IT issue. It wasn’t. The process had never been redesigned — it was simply lifted onto a new platform.
Once we ran a process assessment, we found hundreds of thousands in potential savings through this one process alone. Workflow automation, better approvals, and small configuration tweaks were instant game changers.
No big bang transformation, just smarter use of what they already owned.
Thi example shows a great process having been analysed by Signavio Process Intelligence showing 98%-99% process conformance.
We will dig into Signavio Process Intelligence in a few months time, but for now know that the idea is to make the invisible visible — try analyse every process execution, you will soon discover those that do not conform and every one of those non conforming flows, has a loop or manual step that represents lost time and value.
If your SAP system runs fine but people still rely on spreadsheets, email approvals, or workarounds, you’re not alone.
Process inefficiency is one of the biggest hidden costs in enterprise systems. It quietly eats margin and speed — and it’s often more expensive than license fees or technical debt.
The good news: you don’t need a major project to start fixing it. Most of the value comes from small, focused changes that make processes flow properly again.
