WHITE PAPER

KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR SEAMLESS

SAP S/4HANA MIGRATION
Table of Contents
1. The Journey to SAP S/4HANA ......................................................................................................................................................3
Migration Scenarios: ............................................................................................................................................................................3
2. Key Considerations & Best Practices for Seamless Migration..................................................................................................4
i. Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................................................................4
ii. Creating a Roadmap for Migration ...........................................................................................................................................6
iii. Skills Requirements ...................................................................................................................................................................9
iv. Organizational Change Management ................................................................................................................................... 10
3. Choosing a Migration Partner ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
4. The Time to Migrate is Now! ........................................................................................................................................................12

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1. The Journey to SAP S/4HANA
Operating a data-driven business is fast becoming a
necessity. Disrupt or be disrupted. It is no longer about “if”
but “when.”
Introduced in 2011, SAP HANA is considered a game
changer in the industry for real-time analysis and
processing. Its in-memory computing platform that enables
organizations to transform their business – and at the same
time, simplify their IT environments is what organizations
need to transform their business. Running on SAP HANA is
SAP S/4HANA, introduced in 2015 as the next generation
suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. SAP
S/4HANA can be deployed on the cloud or on-premise;
it is meant to replace SAP ECC/ERP, but there are
major differences.
SAP S/4HANA’s strength lies in financial management,
accounting and logistics. SAP S/4HANA Finance is
designed to cover the full range of finance tasks – planning,
analysis, accounting, compliance and risk management.
Organizations can perform predictive modeling, real-time
cost and revenue analysis and cash flow optimization
rapidly using SAP S/4HANA. Organizations can also
conduct real-time fraud detection, predict and block future
fraudulent behavior through automating risk and
compliance.
On the supply chain and logistics front, SAP S/4HANA
Supply Chain allows real-time tracking of current
inventory, transportation of goods, production costs and
other data related to sales and procurement, inventory
management and capacity planning. Costs and profits are
instantly reflected in accounting, hence, there is better
visibility into the organization’s finances.
By centralizing data and eliminating redundant information,
organizations are able to obtain an in-depth look at their
financial KPIs. This helps enable them to have better
insight into the health of their businesses in real time.
These differences point to one thing – speed. The speed
in which organizations need to operate in the data-driven
business climate is paramount to their success. In today’s
silo environments, the lack of data sharing and the
inability to collect data in almost real-time has put a
damper on businesses.
While SAP has announced its end-of-life support for their
SAP ECC customers by 2025, the reality is that
organizations no longer have the luxury to take the wait-
and-see approach in today’s data-driven business climate.
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Implementing SAP S/4HANA is a complex process. It
requires organizations to rethink about their current
business model to drive specific outcomes; it is not about
adding more technology to the existing model to transform
businesses.
The migration journey to SAP S/4HANA isn’t going to be
lined with roses, but it can be less arduous if the
organization adopts the right approaches and chooses the
right partners to work with. This journey can begin with the
first step – understanding the migration process.
Migration Scenarios:
SAP ERP deployments are inherently complex as they
are often times critical to enabling an organization’s
fundamental business processes. To begin, SAP
has outlined a deployment methodology that helps
organizations to:
• Manage risks proactively;
• Make implementation projects predictable; and
• Create a viable foundation through transparency of
all activities and tasks.
The SAP methodology consists of six phases – Discover,
Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, and Run – which can
be adapted to these three migration scenarios :
1. A completely new, or ‘green field,’ implementation:
Enterprises that plan to implement a SAP S/4HANA system
‘from scratch’ can migrate data from a legacy ERP system
using the necessary data migration tools. Alternatively, the
enterprise may begin with a new SAP S/4HANA system
and no prior data.
2. Landscape transformation: Enterprises that have
scattered SAP instances and would like to consolidate
them. Some organizations may want to focus on using SAP
S/4HANA for specific aspects or divisions of their business.
3. System conversion: For enterprises that already
have an existing SAP ERP instance and would like to
migrate it to SAP S/4HANA, SAP recommends a
minimum start release of SAP ERP 6.0 for this scenario.
 This white paper offers best practices for organizations that are existing SAP customers - “landscape
transformation” or “system conversion,” or also known as “brown field” migrations. These best practices
are based on CenturyLink’s experience of working on complex SAP migrations for Fortune 500
companies who have migrated to SAP S/4HANA.

2. Key Considerations & Best Practices for Seamless Migration

While SAP has announced the extension of the mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 core application
releases, including SAP ERP 6.0, to the end of December 2025, the truth of the matter is that the entire migration,
implementation and integration process can be a long one. SAP solutions are often closely integrated with every aspect
of the organization’s business. Depending on the level of customization needed, the complexities increase.
While every organization is different, there are still commonalities in best practices that help to simplify a migration.
The following best practices are grouped under the key considerations of (i) Infrastructure; (ii) Roadmap Creation; (iii)
Skills Requirements and (iv) Organizational Change Management, to help organizations migrate with minimal
business disruption.
i. Infrastructure
Determining the right infrastructure – both certified hardware and software – is critical prior to migration.
Changes to SAP’s software architecture for SAP S/4HANA will impact your organization’s software considerations.
Previous flavors of SAP Business Suite ran on different databases such as DB2, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL Server, and on
various operating systems – Windows, HPUX, AIX and Linux. SAP HANA database only runs on Linux, and SAP
S/4HANA only works on the HANA database. With SAP S/4HANA, organizations have to move to a Linux based
environment that caters to the application requirements of running SAP HANA as a database.
There are two considerations when it comes to determining having the right certified hardware -- upgrade existing
hardware, or move to the cloud with one of the SAP-certified cloud providers. SAP S/4HANA shines in the cloud, and a
proof-of-concept (POC) can help flesh out infrastructure requirements whether for on-premise or cloud implementations.
See Figure 1.
The advantages of deploying SAP S/4HANA in the cloud -- public, hosted, or private -- include the following:
• Capex infrastructure expenditure converted to OPEX based expenditure;
• Infrastructure is kept up-to-date as part of a cloud subscription model;
• Easy to scale at short notice; and
• Adherence to the agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA).
Regardless of the type of cloud deployment that your organization decides to adopt, key considerations – including those
related to TCO, SLAs and skillsets – also need to be taken into account.
In deciding on SAP S/4HANA deployment methods, your organization will need to have clear and accurate cost-savings
in return on investment (ROI) calculations.
On-premise implementations often seem cheaper in ROI calculations because many companies neglect to include certain
hidden costs, e.g. facilities costs, management overheads, and maintenance costs. These various components come with
a cost and once that has been factored in, a cloud-based environment might be more economical.
Private and managed hosting cloud deployments offer the additional advantages of fully-dedicated and isolated
resources, with rapid scalability and unlimited access to enterprise-grade storage.
Your organization will also need to decide who manages the SAP S/4HANA environment – an in-house team or
a managed services provider.

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If your organization decides to deploy SAP S/4HANA on-premise, does your existing IT team have the breadth and
depth of skill sets and experience required? And, if you decide to deploy SAP S/4HANA in a cloud deployment, should it
be public or private? Ask what kind of support public or private cloud providers can offer your organization beyond the
migration, implementation and integration phase so that they can grow with your organization and help it adapt to the
changes in business environment and technology.

Figure 1: CenturyLink SAP S/4HANA PoC Framework: Six-week Cycle

Execute Business Processes Present Findings &

Define POC

1 Vision and Scope 3

(Execute Transactions, Generate Sample Data,
5 Go-Forward Plan
(Final Review of POC Results and
leverage your existing data) documented Next Steps)

SAP Accounting S4
Review Results and
HANA Data Model
2 Provision S4HANA
Simple Finance Environment
4 Document Findings
SAP Profitability and Cost (Evaluate against Success Criteria)
Management
Central finance: Corporate reporting Deployment Options
Integrated financial planning
SAP Fiori apps for controllers Additional SAP Fiori apps for A/R accountants Near-zero downtime migration
Month End Close Additional SAP Fiori apps for A/P accountants Migration Plan
Acceleration Processes on semantic one doc (aging, allocation, Data Compression
multicurrency, parallel valuation, extensibility)
New GL Reconciliation Infrastructure ROI
New reporting (cash flow, plan/actual comparison)
Future state Roadmap
Additional SAP Fiori apps for G/L accountants
Completion of real-time close/soft close

The Proof-of-Concept (POC) ensures that the enterprise understands what will be involved in the actual migration,
before full-scale efforts begin. It is critical as it allows enterprises to identify any interdependencies early. This should
take two to three months, and ideally take place in the cloud as it can be shut down very easily when it is over.

POC can take on many forms. At a preliminary level, a standard configuration is used to show what SAP S/4HANA
is capable of. Alternatively, an implementation may incorporate real-world business data and business processes,
perhaps running an actual use case. A more ambitious POC would simulate selected business operations running
on SAP S/4HANA.
Questions to ask include:
• Do the features/functions match with corporate objectives?
• What innovations can SAP S/4HANA offer in the face of business goals?
• What system response times would be acceptable in the Request for Proposal (RFP)?
• Did internal stakeholders receive a better user experience?
• What would an appropriate SLA look like? How do learnings from this pilot shape questions to ask potential
migration partners?
• What else can be done to improve the actual migration?

With all implementations being unique, the POC should model the actual business operations closely. Enterprises
often think they will see the same business benefits as reported for industry benchmarks and customer testimonials,
but results can vary depending on the way SAP S/4HANA is actually deployed.

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ii. Creating a Roadmap for Migration
SAP and a number of third-party vendors have developed migration methodologies and tools to help ease the migration,
as well as supporting services to handle your organization’s environment. For example, SAP has provided the SAP
S/4HANA Migration Cockpit to help enterprises with data migration. It is the preferred tool for data migration, and is
included in the licenses for SAP S/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.2
One of the key advantages of SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit is that no programming is required, and the migration
solution becomes auditable. The Migration Cockpit also provides step-by-step guidelines, and templates for each
migration object are included as part of this tool.
The SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit also provides data cleansing and mass data transfer, as well as mapping between
source and target data capabilities. Since migration results are automatically validated, the testing process and time could
be reduced.
Other frameworks and tools include the following:

SAP Activate
The SAP Activate innovation adoption framework can be applied to all three migration scenarios. The framework offers
a toolkit to assist with SAP deployments, covering everything from the initial project implementation to post-production
environments. The SAP Activate portfolio also includes ready-to-run business and technology processes, configuration
recommendations, as well as a next-generation methodology for migration, integration and configuration for SAP
S/4HANA.
SAP Activate can be used to provide the following guidance during the migration process:
• Identifying custom code that requires re-coding for SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA;
• Integrating the SAP database with existing infrastructure;
• Determining overall project duration;
• Mitigating potential risks; and
• Forming an effective training strategy.
Maintenance Planner
The Maintenance Planner application analyzes the organization’s current environment including its business functions,
industry solutions and add-ons. This makes it easier for both the business and IT teams to evaluate the solutions and
add-ons that can be supported by SAP S/4HANA, and those that require upgrading for SAP S/4HANA compatibility. The
overall system readiness information for SAP S/4HANA can be used to plan the conversion.
SAP recommends that the Maintenance Planner be run in the ‘Prepare’ phase as early as possible in the migration
process to verify if the legacy SAP implementation is ready for SAP S/4HANA conversion – preferably in a sandbox or
test system.
In the past, system conversion meant updating the ERP software, then database migration to SAP HANA, and finally
migration to SAP S/4HANA. The Database Migration Option (DMO) of the Software Update Manager (SUM) has now
changed this into a one-step procedure that accelerates the system conversion. Now, enterprises can run the Software
Update Manager to convert their systems to SAP S/4HANA in a single downtime window.
While SAP has recommended different project phases, the migration should also be governed by the following
considerations to ensure a smooth introduction for SAP S/4HANA. Here are the eight steps to ensuring a seamless
migration.

2For more information about SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit, refer to “Migrate Your Data To SAP S/4HANA:
6 SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit. December 2017.
https://www.sap.com/documents/2017/07/26113ac0-c47c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html
Step 1: Prioritize the data
High-quality data is key to a successful SAP S/4HANA migration. As part of the roadmap, the organization’s data needs
to be segmented, cleaned and then consolidated. This minimizes the data migration time.
The data can be categorized as follows:
• High-quality data that must be migrated to the new system.
• Low-quality data that must be migrated to the new system.
• High-quality data that is needed for analytics and/or auditing.
• Low-quality data that is needed for analytics and/or auditing.
• Data that is no longer relevant.
Care has to be taken to prevent essential data from becoming lost, truncated or corrupted during the migration process,
or from entering low-quality data i.e. data that is redundant, incomplete, or duplicated into the SAP S/4HANA system.
Step 2: Analyze existing business processes
SAP S/4HANA can be customized to meet the goals of your organization, aligning with both the existing environment and
future aims.
To begin with, list your organization’s current internal business processes and possible challenges during migration. Are
there process errors that occur often with the current implementation, or stop-gap measures that have become standard
practice? Process-mining solutions and feedback from employees can be helpful here.
There may be interdependencies to consider as well. The prevailing Operating System(s), which existing SAP ERP
applications run on, and scripts or interfaces that rely on operating system functionality will have a bearing on how SAP
S/4HANA can be implemented. Scripts may have to be re-coded according to Linux functionality and whether there are
differences in command syntax, output sort sequences and access control lists. The project team must include expertise
in analyzing and adapting such changes to ensure business processes run as before.
Existing SAP releases may lack functions that are directly replicated in SAP S/4HANA. For example, requiring
workarounds to get the same functionality. Other interdependencies include integrations with third party platforms that
requires custom coding and APIs.
Clear, detailed documentation is also important to help ensure that knowledge transfer sessions are effective.
Step 3: Map migration objectives to business processes
Key learnings from business processes analysis and from the Proof-of-Concept phase will help sharpen future
business processes. Based on the new SAP S/4HANA functionalities, work-arounds using custom codes and APIs can
be eliminated. Existing challenges that the business teams face where errors occur frequently can be addressed.
Changes should not be made for the sake of change, however. Any SAP S/4HANA migration needs to document
improved business processes that maps to business goals. Deploying pre-packaged SAP Fiori applications, for example,
is less complex, hence, an increased time to return-on-investments. The vastly improved user-experience and training
time needed brings forth productivity gains. Since speed of reporting is critical for organizations these days, SAP
S/4HANA is also known to simplify and speed up reporting due to rapid in-memory data access. This capability is
extremely important for organizations that require real-time data analysis to drive decision-making, or even for legal teams
that require global statutory reporting to ensure compliance with complex and ever-changing legal requirements.

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The potential for organizations to drive innovation through SAP S/4HANA is endless. This is where business and IT
teams need to work together to ensure that the end business goals are met. Look for ways to innovate by asking the
following questions:
• What key elements should be included in the business wish list?
• How does deploying SAP S/4HANA on the cloud dovetail with the overall organization’s cloud strategy?
• What kind of business processes does the organization need to streamline in order to improve the customer
experience?
• From the TCO perspective, how can the organization leverage efficiencies in the Cloud to improve productivity
and deliver cost savings?
Step 4: Flesh out the strategy
With the objectives clear, it is time to work out how to execute the migration.
Some of the key considerations to maximize benefits from the SAP S/4HANA implementation include:
• How and what is required to re-architect your organization’s systems given that SAP S/4HANA adopts an in-
memory platform?
• Develop a ‘Plan B’ if there is no functional equivalent for current capabilities in SAP S/4HANA.
• Checks and balances to ensuring that deployment is aligned with defined objectives.
• Setup of the newly installed SAP S/4HANA. Is one-way migration required, or should the SAP ERP system run
in parallel?
Step 5: Create a timeline and document
At this stage it is important to list out each activity related to the entire migration process. A criteria for satisfactory
completion of each activity and deadlines need to be part of this list. Key considerations at this stage include:
• Key activities in the migration plan that need to be completed before subsequent activities can begin.
• Length of time that it will take to migrate to the cloud environment.
• Minimum and maximum downtime that an organization should allow for the migration of SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA.
• Methods that your organization should use to transport the data from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA, be it on-premise
or cloud, (List examples of the various methods).
• Migration dependencies such as infrastructure readiness, backup/restore policies, security perimeter checks prior to
migration, and disaster recovery (DR) testing.
• Identify and develop performance benchmarks prior to migration to capture system improvements and key benefits,
as well as the IT team’s KPIs.
• Number of testing cycles and gate checks before moving to the next phase.
Step 6: Develop a risk management/mitigation plan
List all the scenarios and accompanying risks that could come into play during the migration. The mitigation plan should
closely align to each scenario. For example, data file sizes could impede migration speed. The plan then is to ensure
that the data is streamlined prior to migration so that the files can be transferred more quickly.
When it comes to transitioning from a legacy system, your organization might need multiple partners to manage different
aspects of the migration, implementation and integration.
At times, the incumbent vendor might no longer be the perfect partner for your organization. This scenario could be
a potential risk, as the incumbent vendor could be uncooperative during the handover period. To pre-empt this,
your organization should ensure that knowledge transfer takes place before the incumbent vendor is informed that
their services are no longer needed. Clear, detailed documentation can also ensure that knowledge transfer
sessions are effective.
There should also be a contingency plan in place in case of failure. The system might have to be rolled back to a
previous version if something goes wrong.

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Step 7: Secure everything
The proper procedures and technologies must be in place to ensure that data is always protected within the organization.
Are there internal policies or compliance requirements that prevent specific data from being stored in certain countries or
in third-party data centers? What are the industry-specific regulatory compliance that companies need to adhere to at the
country and international levels?
Consider whether the infrastructure has perimeter security such as firewalls with IPS, intrusion detection and anti-virus
scanning. Those personnel managing the infrastructure should also have segregation of duties so that an Operating
System Administrator does not have database nor application access.
Many enterprises that host their critical ERP systems in the public cloud are not aware that their systems run alongside
systems from other companies. This may pose a danger to data integrity and from cyber- and/or espionage-related
attacks.
Most private cloud suppliers, however, use a mixture of dedicated compute environment, virtual network and security
measures to ensure your SAP S/4HANA are securely hosted.
Step 8: Testing
Organizations that have successfully migrated to SAP S/4HANA typically do not run a live migration without conducting
numerous rehearsals to simulate a live system. It is best for your organization to test as many different scenarios as
possible using a copy of production as well as the non-production systems. Testing should be conducted in tandem
with your risk mitigation plan. Issues that may happen can be systematically identified and resolved, which will limit the
amount of unforeseen issues during a live migration.
Upon completion of the User Acceptance Testing (UAT), your organization, with help from your migration
partner(s), should conduct a trial run to establish how much time is needed for different migration activities. This
allows your organization to realistically plan for downtime.
Issues encountered during each rehearsal should be logged and analyzed and resolution steps documented.
iii. Skills Requirements
Any migration needs to take into account the need to maintain normal business operations, both in the run-up to
deploying SAP S/4HANA, and also thereafter.
Employees will have little time to devote to handling the migration and innovating thereafter, unless the implementation
allows a reasonable time for skills acquisition.
Your organization needs to evaluate current internal skill sets, to see if they meet the needs for migration, implementation,
as well as operations. For example, there is a need to understand the differences between the legacy system versus SAP
S/4HANA. The legacy SAP Application Server can be enhanced with code written in SAP’s Advanced Business
Application Programming (ABAP) language. ABAP supports stateful applications, whereas SAP Fiori apps in SAP
S/4HANA are stateless.
Many SAP experts are well-versed in procedural ABAP design and development, but not in object-oriented programming
that ABAP also supports. The object-oriented JavaScript language that is used to customize HANA works quite
differently from procedural programming. While procedural programming creates code each time it is needed, JavaScript
creates code that is both reusable and maintainable.
There are also ABAP technologies like Core Data Services (CDS), ABAP Managed Database Procedures (AMDP),
and ABAP Development Tools in the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) included in SAP S/4HANA.
The SAP HANA database within the SAP S/4HANA is also entirely different from traditional relational databases
(RDBMS) like Oracle or DB2. Your existing organization IT teams might not have had the experience working with
these technologies previously.

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iv. Organizational Change Management
Implementing SAP S/4HANA leads to sweeping changes across the enterprise – in the way the business runs, how
business processes work, and -- more importantly, in the way that people work. Resistance to change is to be expected,
and has to be managed in tandem with the migration process to prevent employees from impeding progress on
implementing changes when SAP S/4HANA goes live. To assist in organizational change and jumpstart a shift in
company culture:
• Change the internal view of the organization as a player in a specific vertical. Instead, organizations embarking on
digital transformation need to view themselves as a software company. It does not mean that the organization has
transformed to sell software, but rather, software and analytics are at the heart of the company’s business.
• Get support from senior management. Identify internal stakeholders and involve them in key decisions.
• Emphasize that the migration to SAP S/4HANA is not a run-of-the-mill software upgrade, but the key to surviving in a
digital economy.
• Be transparent about project milestones and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) during the migration, and
highlight the value post-implementation.
• Standardize functions that ‘keep the lights on’ but do not create business value for organizations. Even where
functions do add business value, set the rules on what can and cannot be customized.
• Make sure end-users are familiar with the new, proposed system, and can see how it helps them become more
productive.

3. Choosing a Migration Partner

The biggest contributor to any failure is choosing the wrong partner.
It is critical for the partner to have the appropriately skilled resources available for an initiative that is of such extreme
importance to your organization.
Enterprises may not have the internal resources for a successful migration to SAP S/4HANA, as their in-house teams
typically have experience with other SAP solutions and not SAP S/4HANA. Economically, it does not make sense for
the in-house team to acquire the skills required for a one-off migration.
A service provider with the right expertise and in-depth market experience can deliver more cost-effective and efficient
services and solutions to meet end-to-end migration needs. Look for a partner with an experienced, SAP-certified
migration and support team – they also need to demonstrate a successful track record of performing SAP S/4HANA
migrations. For example, look for a managed hosting service provider that not only offers SAP migration services, but also
provides a single point of contact and a solution-level SLA for everything – from simplifying the technical upgrade process,
and minimizing any migration downtime, to managing and optimizing the platform post-implementation.

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The ideal partner will offer:
• Global infrastructure solutions with ‘follow-the-sun’ support around the world.
• Compliance with a wide range of regulations, both in-country as well as internationally, including HIPAA and
GxP, as well as industry certifications such as the Uptime Institute Management & Operation (M&O) certification
and Service Organization Control (SOC) 1 and 2.
• Stringent SLAs. A single-invoice, single comprehensive solution-level SLA would be simplest.
• An excellent track record of implementing change, including proven expertise with SAP implementations.
• Comprehensive SAP credentials and SAP-certified infrastructure solutions, with established best practices.
• Outstanding, relevant talent and resources. A service provider specializing in SAP workloads will be able to
leverage its experience in solving similar customer challenges, and can also help organizations to better optimize
their SAP ecosystem and environment.
• A business-oriented team. With SAP S/4HANA so closely linked to business goals, there must be IT professionals
with the right business acumen working on the migration. These individuals must have the ability to build a strategic
business case and understand the user case to drive adoption.
• Commitment to partnering with organizations on future SAP roadmaps.
• Industry recognition by independent entities, such as Gartner.

Figure 2: CenturyLink’s Defined Approach for Migrating to SAP S/4HANA

Current State
Assessment-Financial
Business Processes –
MEC ; Reconciliation ;
Planning
Review Current State
Custom Development
and Enhancements
Review Current
Infrastructure and
Landscape
(ECC/HANA/S4HANA)
Review User
Experience and
Reporting Footprint
Approach and
Recommendations
1. Business Scenario Scope
2. IT Landscape
Business Scope and
Roadmap Alignment 3. Proof of concept /Pilot
4. Implementation Roadmap
IT Scope and Roadmap
Alignment 5. Fiori –Process simplification
6. Real-time Reporting
S/4HANA Options and
Deployment Plans and 7. Future state Architecture
Co-deployment 8. Deployment Options :
• Cloud/Hybrid /On-Premise
Technology / Process Workshops – Alignment with S/4HANA Go Forward Plan -
Strategic / Operational / Deployment Options Recommendation

Assessment Phase Analysis Phase Recommendation Phase Final Strategy

Discovery Business and IT Scope Alignment Roadmap and Schedule Executable Strategy

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 4. The Time to Migrate is Now!
Transforming your business with a platform as powerful as SAP S/4HANA will take time. With deadlines looming and
cutthroat competition, this means that organizations need to begin thinking about becoming SAP S/4HANA-ready now.
Additionally, with SAP announcing end-of-life for selected products, (such as the SAP Business Suite 7 by 2025), the
need to move on to a more advanced SAP alternative has become increasingly pressing.
Migration to SAP S/4HANA needs to come with minimal disruption in order to maintain an outstanding customer
experience and to stand out among your competitors. The considerations discussed in this white paper will simplify the
migration process and help to make it a seamless migration. Also, choosing the right migration partner on this journey is
crucial to this journey.

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is the second largest U.S. communications provider to global enterprise customers. With
customers in more than 60 countries and an intense focus on the customer experience, CenturyLink strives to be the
world’s best networking company by solving customers’ increased demand for reliable and secure connections. The
company also serves as its customers’ trusted partner, helping them manage increased network and IT complexity and
providing managed network and cyber security solutions that help protect their business.

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