"SAP implementations are long, arduous, inflexible and costly, always have been, always will be”. Think again. Brenton O’Callaghan looks at why SAP Leonardo is setting a new level for all SAP implementations.
As I reflect on SAP Leonardo, and the methodology it employs, I can’t help but feel that it was an inevitable evolution of the SAP world. I’d go as far to say that I suspect we’ll soon stop talking about it as a ‘thing’ and simply start living it in all aspects of SAP implementations.
The perception of SAP
For years SAP has just been “different”. Not different in an Apple Inc. “Think differently” kind of way but different like “it’s the way it’s always been” and “SAP is special and doesn't work the same way as other enterprise systems”. That is fine; SAP is different. After all, a customized, fully integrated and well-established SAP system
is special and something that is quite a feat when you consider the intricate complexities that must exist to allow an SAP system to underpin a global organization.
The coming of age with SAP Leonardo
But SAP was always going to grow out of its “I’m special” and “too big to be challenged” phase, and I’m really glad that Leonardo is the poster child that will start transforming the SAP ecosystem, not only in the customers’ perception but also in reality.
Putting the customers center stage
What we’re talking about, when we say Leonardo, is putting both the user and the business before the technology. It challenges us to listen to the user before proposing a solution and to be more imaginative in how we approach those solutions. At its very simplest level it ensures we put the user at the center of our enterprise solutions, delighting them through simplicity and efficiencies that we expect today from any consumer application.
Disruption at its best
Leonardo now gives us a tangible way of articulating a mentality shift that frankly must be applied to the SAP world. This is SAP disrupting themselves before somebody else does - and isn’t that what this is all about anyway! As my good friend DJ Adams would say - disruption to allow disruption - that’s very meta!
So yes, SAP Leonardo is the focus of the SAP world for now and I believe it is going to be a part of every major SAP implementation going forward. However, I also predict that we will eventually start talking less about it and simply start living it instead…. Who knows? Perhaps one day I’ll be writing ‘SAP Leonardo is dead’ because it’s just an everyday part of SAP, and that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Find more of the latest insights on SAP Leonardo, right here on
Bluefin’s SAP Leonardo hub.