After taking a look at Accenture’s SOAR and Infosys’ ERPaaS, I’m turning my RISE with SAP eyes to IBM. They’ve got a service offering called BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP – which to my eyes verges on silly. I can’t help but think of additional clauses, like:
- BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP for SENIORS with ARTHRITIS
- BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP at NOON on CHRISTMAS
- TOUCHSTONE PICTURES presents BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP featuring STEVE MARTIN with JAMES MASON as DRACULA
Anyway. Enough horsing around.
Funny name stuff aside, I actually found that from the website copy and videos I understood IBM’s offering better than either Accenture or Infosys. It shares the digital transformation-speak, advisory services plugs, and industry-specific templates that the others have. But as a company, IBM can offer an additional piece those other two cannot: its own cloud infrastructure. “BREAKTHROUGH with IBM for RISE with SAP, Premium Supplier Option” makes use of IBM’s Cloud IaaS as the infrastructure layer for all the other pieces. As a one-stop shop, it seems like an attractive option.
They’ve also given what seems to be quite a bit of thought to the move-to-S/4 process. There are (at least) two styles of upgrade/movement they offer, with “IBM Rapid Move for SAP S/4HANA” seeming to focus on more complex upgrades, and “IBM Accelerated Move” looking like the focus is on simplified, t-shirt sized simpler upgrades.
I’m intrigued by all this. Not because of curiosity about huge consulting firms’ offerings, but because somewhere down the line, after all the upgrade dust has settled, everyone’s going to have to get back to the business of innovating. Innovation cycle speed after the S/4 migration is done will be the true test of any S/4HANA project. PM
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