Automate SAP with Blue Prism SAP Digital Skills (RPA)

ERP systems are powerful ERP platforms and serve as the backbone of many companies. Still, there are some significant challenges that companies using SAP need to address. Let's have a look at how a low-code platform such as Blue Prism can help you solve your SAP problems and take your ERP platform to the next level. 

Robotic Process Automation and SAP

SAP is an incredibly useful tool that helps companies align around and work towards common goals. It's the world's most used ERP system, and the business benefits of using SAP are numerous.

Still, even after the successful implementation of an SAP system, some challenges remain. In this article, we'll take a look at how these challenges can be addressed with the help of low-code RPA (Robotic Process Automation).

Table of Contents

1. 4 Challenges With SAP – And How RPA and Low-Code Can Help 
2. Support for SAP ECC Will Eventually Be Terminated
3. There Is a Shortage of Skilled SAP Experts
4. High Personnel Costs For Manual Tasks
5. ERP Systems Are Complex and Not Always User-Friendly
6. SAP and Blue Prism
7. How Convedo Can Help
8. Conclusion

4 Challenges With SAP – And How RPA and Low-Code Can Help 

#1 Support for SAP ECC Will Eventually Be Terminated 

Ever since SAP introduced S/4HANA, it has been clear that SAP ECC will eventually not be supported anymore. Migrating to the new S/4HANA is a tricky transition, involving a new in-memory database and new processes. Many companies are concerned about upgrading to S/4HANA due to the complexity of the undertaking. 

How Low-Code and RPA Can Help:

If you're not yet ready to upgrade to S/4HANA®, a low-code platform can help you accelerate your current operations to set a baseline for SAP® transformation in the future. Once your organization is ready to upgrade, it can reuse competencies in future environments.

If you are ready to upgrade S/4HANA®, enabling a team of Blue Prism digital workers will speed up operational business processes and migration activities supporting your digital transformation journey.

Last, if you've already transitioned to S/4HANA®, Blue Prism will help you enable emerging technologies and realize the benefits of intelligent automation.

#2 There Is A Shortage of Skilled SAP Experts 

The scarcity of SAP transformation skills on the market poses a very tangible problem for many companies. There is concern about having enough SAP-skilled resources over the next 7-10 years to support SAP opportunities, which has caused some businesses to hesitate and slow down their SAP initiatives. 

How Low-Code and RPA Can Help:

Intelligent automation will free up SAP-skilled resources. Automating repetitive tasks will enable your in-house team to focus on value-adding activities rather than the system's maintenance and administration. 

#3 High Personnel Costs For Manual Tasks

Companies typically use an average of 129 different applications, many of which are connected to the SAP system. Navigating and maintaining it all requires a lot of time and attention from your team‚ time that is not only expensive, but that could be better spent on more value-adding activities to propel your business forward.

How Low-Code and RPA Can Help:

By automating repetitive tasks to the furthest possible extent, you can significantly reduce your costs and improve overall productivity. A low-code platform with pre-built accelerators for SAP ERP will help you efficiently achieve this. With RPA, you get access to a digital workforce that never sleeps, removing tedious tasks from your people's to-do-lists—so they can focus on works that add actual value instead.  

#4 ERP Systems Are Complex and Not Always User-Friendly

Managing an SAP system requires in-depth knowledge and planning. Creating automations for SAP software from scratch is complicated and takes both a lot of time and specialized skills. This makes customizations expensive, especially if you consider the alternative cost from your dev team working on in-house processes instead of adding business value. 

How Low-Code and RPA Can Help:

With a no-code and out-of-the-box approach, a system like Blue Prism can help you gain up to a 90% savings in time and effort, with pre-built accelerators for SAP® ERP. Its user-friendliness reduces the need for SAP subject matter experts and enables simple customizations. This means you get a resilient and stable system, with no coding or screen scraping required. Blue Prism even offers pre-built automation components that mimic human user interactions.

Blue Prism and SAP

Blue Prism is the global leader in intelligent automation for the enterprise, transforming how work is done. Blue Prism has over 170 countries in over 1,800 businesses, including Fortune 500 and public sector organizations, that are creating value with new ways of working, unlocking efficiencies, and returning millions of hours of work into their businesses. And it's about more than just removing tedious tasks. It's about reimagining what's possible from front-to-back office, creating the most efficient and streamlined processes you can imagine. With Blue Prism, you get access to an intelligent digital workforce that is smart, secure, scalable, and accessible to all, freeing up your people to create great things. 

How Convedo Can Help 

At Convedo, we're experts at helping our clients implement ERP systems and the low-code RPA tools to get the most out of the ERP investment. We can help you choose and launch the right RPA tools for your needs, enabling you to do the following: 

• Keep your data in place no matter where it's stored. No migration needed.
• Build powerful apps through simple visual drag-and-drop tools without touching a line of code.
• Speed up deployment in minutes through a guided wizard and built-in testing capabilities. 
• Easily connect, scale, and future-proof your applications with enterprise-grade security features.
• Maximize and extend your existing technology and systems to make the most out of your investment.
• Operationalize leading technology within your solutions, including AI, Machine Learning, RPA, and IoT, to keep up with constant change.

Conclusion

In this article, we've had a closer look at four challenges that come with using an ERP system: 

• Support for SAP ECC Will Eventually Be Terminated
• There Is a Shortage of Skilled SAP Experts
• High Personnel Costs For Manual Tasks
• ERP Systems Are Complex and Not Always User-Friendly

We've shown that Robotic Process Automation with a platform such as Blue Prism helps businesses address these issues and take their ERP system to the next level. To get the most out of your ERP investment, it's advisable to find a knowledgeable technical partner that can guide you through the options and help you choose the right providers and solutions for your specific needs. If you want to discuss how your business could benefit from complementing your ERP platform with RPA, we'd be happy to have a chat with you.