Why ‘doing nothing’ has been a strategy so far
One reason why companies have not yet migrated to the cloud is the stability of their existing systems. This stability often came at the cost of high costs, integration effort and pain. Until now, there was no immediate pressure for companies to touch this - now well-functioning - architecture, in line with the motto ‘Never change a running system’. Employees were familiar with the processes and systems and had a high degree of familiarity in dealing with them. In addition, many decision-makers were too concerned about creating high costs again in unfamiliar (cloud) terrain through customised integrations in a complex IT architecture and thus risking business success. The lack of added value in switching to the cloud often made the decision easy in the end. These subjective and objective reasons for doing nothing have masked a fundamental core problem: the technical debt based on an outdated technology stack has grown (and is growing ever faster). In the medium to long term, investments will increase significantly in order to remain competitive. At some point, this will no longer be possible.
How IT decision-makers should now proceed
Strategy development and planning
The good news first: there is still enough time to actively develop a suitable strategy for the company. This first involves taking stock of the systems and their migration and integration options. The following exemplary questions should be answered:
- Which technology stack should lead the way for the company? Best-of-breed vs best-of-suite?
- Which systems are already in the cloud? How are these integrated into the IT architecture?
- Which middleware may also need to be migrated (keyword DataHub)?
- Which functions from SAP Hybris should possibly be outsourced and served via external services/applications?
- What integration benefits does the migration to the SAP Commerce Cloud offer in conjunction with other SAP CX components?
At this stage, it is highly recommended to check whether the often historically grown system landscape really still meets all current market requirements. The SAP Hybris PCM was developed for the provision of product data and images in your own web shop. In a dynamic market with different sales channels, a PIM or DAM system has to fulfil different requirements. The same issues also apply to order management, search, personalisation, etc. With our experience and best practices, we can provide excellent support for this process and system analysis and ensure that all aspects of a future-proof architecture are taken into account.
Big bang vs. transformative approach
Anyone who finds themselves in the initial scenario described above will generally want to avoid the complete migration of SAP Commerce to the cloud. Instead, they will opt for a transformative approach in which individual ‘components’ are gradually removed from the on-premise construct and transferred to a future-proof cloud solution. The selection and prioritisation should always be based on commercial considerations. These are, for example
- Maintenance and customisation costs for the WCMS module → Switch to a headless solution
- Long loading times for the PDP, as prices and stock are updated for customers in real time → Providing this information via microservices
- The process of updating product and image data takes a long time → Switch to a modern solution such as a messaging system
In essence, a hybrid architecture is therefore chosen for a transitional period, which gradually removes more and more business-critical processes from the on-premise system and transfers them to modern and modular (cloud) systems without jeopardising the turnover of the online business.
Internal resources and change management
One factor that should not be underestimated in a project of this kind is the willingness of the company's own employees. A migration project is always a challenge for companies and must therefore be managed in the best possible way. Open communication is an essential step in winning over employees for the project and addressing concerns and risks at an early stage. The challenge for managers is not only to give motivational speeches, but also to emphasise the expected improvements in employees' day-to-day work that the result of the migration will bring. Based on the examples given above, these could be Only one-time maintenance of content and immediate display in all playout channels Less waiting time due to immediate display of changed product and image data in the frontends
Consideration of the total costs
Every project must ultimately have a business justification and deliver a positive ROI (return on investment). This calculation can be somewhat more difficult, especially in the case of a migration project, as the costs and added value for a company are not always immediately apparent. Against this background, it is not enough to focus solely on the (one-off) migration costs. Licence costs, operating and maintenance costs of the old architecture must also be taken into account, which become more expensive over time as it becomes increasingly difficult to retain knowledge of the outdated technology. The costs of lost sales, which can occur in extreme cases, must also be taken into account, as must the costs of manual maintenance processes. Any duplicate licence costs incurred can be justified with regard to such an overall cost analysis if this ensures medium to long-term business operations with a modern cloud architecture. As an external service provider, we can also use our experience and best practices to ensure that all factors are included in the decision-making process.
Conclusion
The end of support for SAP Commerce is a wake-up call for companies to review their e-commerce architecture and make strategic decisions. While ‘doing nothing’ was a viable option in the past, it will no longer be a viable option in the future. Companies need to carefully plan their approach to a phased migration to the cloud and act in time to remain competitive and future-proof their systems. The challenges are real, but the benefits of a modern, cloud-based platform like SAP Commerce Cloud can justify the investment in the long term. Companies should take the opportunity now to rethink their IT strategies and plan the best steps for their future business needs.
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