The six-year wait problem

In 2021, a global medical device manufacturer faced a familiar constraint.

Their distributors urgently needed self-service ordering, real-time pricing, and shipment visibility. However, SAP advised that full order management capabilities could not be deployed until the company completed its S/4HANA migration.

The migration timeline spanned 2021 to 2027.

Waiting six years was not viable. Orders were still being processed through fax, email, and phone calls. Customer service headcount continued to grow. Distributor satisfaction lagged behind competitors.

The business needed modern order execution immediately — not after the migration finished.

The false choice enterprises are given

Like many organizations undergoing ERP modernization, the company was presented with a binary choice.

Option 1: wait for S/4HANA
Delay business outcomes for years. Continue customer pain during migration. Maintain legacy processes longer than necessary.

Option 2: build now, rebuild later
Implement new OMS capabilities on ECC. Re-implement everything again on S/4. Pay twice, disrupt customers twice, double the risk.

Neither option aligned with the pace of the business or the expectations of distributors.

A third path: transform during migration

Instead of choosing between transformation and migration, the company deployed viax as a revenue execution layer across both ECC and S/4HANA.

This allowed them to launch distributor self-service immediately while keeping ERP as the system of record. Order placement, pricing calculation, product availability, and shipment tracking were handled consistently, regardless of which ERP instance fulfilled the order.

As sales organizations migrated incrementally from ECC to S/4HANA, viax integrations simply redirected to the appropriate backend. The execution experience remained unchanged.

Distributors were never exposed to the migration beneath the surface.

How the coexistence architecture worked

The architectural insight was straightforward:
order execution does not depend on which ERP fulfills the order — only that execution behavior remains consistent.

viax handled execution logic, including:

• Pricing calculations using ERP pricing records

• Product availability via a viax ATP engine

• Delivery date estimates

• Customer-specific catalog and regulatory enforcement

ERP remained the system of record, owning:

• Final pricing validation

• Credit checks and legal blocks

• Fulfillment execution

As sales organizations transitioned from ECC to S/4HANA, integration endpoints changed — not the business process.

Execution stayed stable while ERP evolved.

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 fully 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.

Why this pattern matters

This is not a one-off success. It reflects a repeatable pattern for enterprises modernizing ERP systems.

Business transformation should not wait for migration milestones. Execution logic should be separated from systems of record. Customers should never experience ERP transitions.

By introducing a dedicated revenue execution layer, enterprises can modernize customer experience, reduce operational friction, and move revenue forward — while ERP migrations proceed safely in parallel.

Waiting years to transform is a choice. Not a requirement.