The six-year wait problem

A Fortunte 500 medical device manufacturer in the Growing & Emerging Markets region faced a classic enterprise dilemma in 2021: their distributors needed self-service ordering capabilities immediately, but SAP told them they couldn't deploy Order Management System functionality until their S/4HANA migration was complete.

The migration timeline? 2021 to 2027. Six years.

Their alternative options were equally unappealing:

• Build a custom distributor portal (expensive, would duplicate ERP functionality, high maintenance burden)

• Heavily customize SAP Commerce (would've disrupted the S/4 program, massive cost and complexity)

• Wait six years and continue processing orders via fax, email, and phone calls

None of these were acceptable. Customer service headcount would continue growing. Distributor satisfaction would remain poor. The business would fall further behind competitors.

The false choice between migration and transformation

Most enterprises believe they face a binary choice during ERP modernization:

Option A: Wait until migration is complete, then modernize business processes

• Delays business outcomes by years

• Continues customer pain during the wait

• Requires maintaining legacy processes longer

• Misses market opportunities

Option B: Implement new capabilities on legacy ERP, then re-implement on S/4

• Pay twice for the same capability

• Disrupt customers during cutover

• Extend project timelines

• Double the implementation risk

This company rejected both options.

A third path: transform during migration

Instead of choosing between transformation and migration, the company introduced viax as an execution layer over both ECC and S/4HANA.

1. Launch distributor self-service immediately - Full order placement through shipment tracking, pricing calculation, and product availability without waiting for S/4

2. Migrate sales orgs incrementally - As each sales organization moved from ECC to S/4 (sales org by sales org over six years), viax integrations simply redirected to the new ERP instance

3. Maintain zero distributor disruption - Distributors experienced no changes as the underlying ERP transitioned beneath them

4. Achieve business outcomes years ahead - By 2024 (50% through the migration), they'd already eliminated manual order entry, reduced CS load, and improved distributor satisfaction

How shared execution enabled coexistence

The key insight: order management doesn't care which ERP system performs the fulfillment, as long as the business process remains consistent.

Master Data In:

• Product catalog from PIM

• Customer master from ERP (ECC or S/4, depending on sales org)

• Pricing records from ERP (ECC or S/4, depending on sales org)

Real-Time Capabilities (viax-native):

• Pricing execution in viax using ERP pricing records (no real-time ERP calls)

• Product availability execution in viax ATP capabilities (by sales org + product)

• Order status and delivery date estimates

• Customer-specific catalog enforcement (regulatory compliance for medical devices)

Integration Pattern:

• Sales orgs on ECC → viax integrates to ECC

• Sales orgs on S/4 → viax integrates to S/4

• During cutover → integration endpoint changes, business process doesn't

Business outcomes achieved before migration completion

By deploying viax at the start of the migration, the company achieved meaningful outcomes years ahead of schedule.

Immediate outcomes (2021–2024):

• Eliminated 100% of manual order entry

• Improved order accuracy and pricing consistency

• Reduced customer service workload through self-service

• Increased distributor satisfaction and visibility

• Lowered ERP load by reducing real-time queries

Migration outcomes:

• 50% of sales organizations migrated to S/4HANA with zero distributor disruption

• No re-implementation required as orgs transitioned

• Business transformation decoupled from ERP timelines

Just as importantly, regression risk disappeared. Once distributors experienced modern self-service ordering, reverting to manual processes was no longer possible.

Key Architectural Decisions

What viax Calculates (not ERP):

• Pricing using ERP pricing records

• Product availability using ATP engine

• Delivery date estimates

This reduces ERP load while maintaining pricing accuracy. When ERP's final calculation differs from viax's calculation, the discrepancy surfaces immediately for resolution.

What ERP Still Owns:

• Final pricing calculation (viax detects discrepancies)

• Credit checks

• Legal blocks

• Fulfillment execution

This preserves ERP as system of record while moving customer experience to viax.

Why ATP Engine Matters: The availability engine calculates by sales org + product without repeatedly querying ERP. During migration, different sales orgs query different ERP instances transparently.

Lessons for Other Enterprises

If you're migrating to S/4HANA:

• Don't wait for migration completion to modernize business processes

• Deploy abstraction layers that support both source and target ERPs

• Migrate incrementally without customer disruption

• Achieve business outcomes during migration, not after

If you're considering custom portals:

• Coexistence requirements make custom builds even more expensive (two ERPs to integrate)

• Abstraction layers designed for ERP coexistence solve this natively

• Focus development on differentiated capabilities, not ERP integration

If SAP tells you to wait:

• Waiting delays business outcomes unnecessarily

• The right architecture enables transformation during migration

• Your customers don't care about your ERP migration timeline

The Six-Year Transformation

This company started their S/4 migration in 2021 with a target completion of 2027. By deploying viax upfront:

• 2021: Launched distributor self-service on ECC

• 2024: 50% of sales orgs on S/4, distributors unaware of the transition

• 2027: Migration complete, all distributors on modernized process for years

The alternative? Six years of fax-based ordering followed by a risky big-bang cutover in 2027.

Why this pattern matters

This example reflects a broader pattern across enterprise ERP migrations. When execution is decoupled from systems of record, business transformation no longer needs to wait for technical milestones.

Enterprises can modernize customer experience, reduce operational friction, and move revenue forward while migrations proceed safely in the background.

Waiting six years for transformation is a choice — not a requirement.