Your Competitors Are Migrating to SAP S/4HANA & EWM
4 min. read
Support for SAP ECC and SAP WM is soon ending. Many companies have already made the switch and are reaping the extensive benefits of SAP S/4HANA and EWM. In this article, Daniel Nurzai, Managing Partner at Noor Vision, an IT consulting firm specializing in SAP Logistics, presents three business-critical reasons for your migration that you may not have considered yet.
Sound familiar? Inventory levels are inaccurate, deliveries are delayed, and your employees spend hours on manual corrections. Such inefficient warehouse processes can result in up to 20% additional costs for companies. The reason: outdated systems and manual processes that cause delays and errors.
While you’re grappling with yesterday’s problems, your competitors are pulling ahead with smart warehouse logistics: “Automated processes, real-time analytics, and integrated systems are not a vision of the future – they are already a reality for your competitors thanks to their early adoption of SAP S/4HANA and EWM.”
– Maiwand Noor, CEO of Noor Vision.
The Clock is Ticking – Literally
Many companies are still using their legacy systems – SAP ECC and SAP WM. However, time is running out, as support for these systems will end in 2027 and late 2025, respectively. Clinging to outdated systems is not only technically risky – it becomes a cost trap. Companies pay high maintenance costs for obsolete software, have to use inefficient workarounds, and lose market share due to lack of real-time data.
At the same time, SAP experts are already booked out for months. Companies that only start migrating in 2026 will struggle to find qualified consultants – or will have to pay a high price. Those who act now, however, secure the best experts and a smooth implementation.
From Theory to Practice: A Firsthand Account
A mid-sized mechanical engineering company faced a challenge: Before migrating to SAP S/4HANA and EWM, delays in order picking were common because employees had to manually search for items. This led to incorrect deliveries and dissatisfied customers. After implementing SAP EWM, the company significantly reduced order picking times and improved delivery reliability. In addition to the migration from SAP WM to SAP EWM, the focus was on reducing error rates and increasing process efficiency through modern technologies and automation solutions. Within a year, innovative solutions such as mobile data capture, automatic storage location assignment, and optimized pick-and-pack processes were implemented. This drastically reduced picking errors and accelerated the entire packaging and shipping process. The result was higher delivery reliability and a significant reduction in the workload for employees. The CEO of the company summed it up like this: “Only after the migration did we realize how much inefficiency we had previously accepted.”
An EWM migration typically takes between 9 and 24 months – depending on the complexity and customizations. Those who start now can still take full advantage of all opportunities before bottlenecks in consulting and rising costs limit their options.
3 Risks of Delay
- Cost explosion: Patches for old systems become more expensive each year, as SAP charges high fees for additional maintenance support.
- Talent loss: SAP experts switch to new technologies – companies that do not migrate in time will later struggle to find qualified consultants.
- Customer frustration: A retailer lost customer satisfaction because its inventory, production, and procurement were not aligned – the customer expected quick delivery, but some products were unavailable. Lack of transparency can result in direct revenue losses.
“Cost explosion: Patches for old systems become more expensive each year, as SAP charges high fees for additional maintenance support.”
The Benefits of SAP S/4HANA and EWM
- Automation: SAP EWM facilitates integration with classic automation technologies such as material flow systems, as well as IoT and robotics.
- Transparency: Warehouse managers can see in real-time what inventory movements are taking place at any given moment. This allows bottlenecks to be identified early and warehouse orders to be processed more quickly.
- Scalability: SAP EWM has been designed for companies with high order volumes and supports growth without bottlenecks – provided that processes are set up correctly.
Your Next Step to Migration – Risk-Free
Unsure how to start your migration? Noor Vision’s checklist gives you an overview of your current status. Six key questions cover the most important aspects of a migration and show you where you can unlock potential with your migration.
Our team has over 15 years of experience implementing SAP S/4HANA and EWM across various industries, including machinery, automotive, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, retail, and food. With our international team working across multiple time zones, we enable faster and more cost-effective implementation.
Don’t wait until the 2025/2027 deadline. Download the Noor Vision checklist now and conduct a straightforward assessment of your company to uncover the potential of your migration to SAP S/4HANA and EWM.
Source image: Adobe Stock / Login
Read more on MyBusinessFuture
MyBusinessFutureAI in Business: What the Hype Hides – and What SMEs Need to Do NowMyBusinessFutureOpus 4.6 vs. GPT-5.3 Codex: The Technical Differences That Matter for Your Tool SelectionMyBusinessFutureValues, Impact, Brand: Why Companies Aren’t Yet Leveraging Their Most Important ResourceFrequently Asked Questions
What does “From Theory to Practice in Practice” mean?
A medium-sized mechanical engineering company faced a challenge: Before migrating to SAP S/4HANA and EWM, delays in order picking frequently occurred because employees had to manually search for items.
Also available in
