RISE with SAP: More efficiency through clean core

At the start of the business transformation, this was the initial situation: in recent years, the SAP landscape at Deutsche Telekom has grown continuously. New systems, add-ons and updates resulted in heterogeneous, complex SAP environments that were difficult to manage. This will now change: T-Systems is supporting the introduction of RISE in one of the world’s first major RISE with SAP projects. The goal: RISE with SAP and clean core will consolidate and modernize SAP systems across the group – creating the basis for future growth and innovations, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Together with the internal IT service provider Deutsche Telekom IT, T-Systems is taking over the RISE with SAP implementation and providing the delivery model for all SAP workloads on a “multi and hybrid cloud (MHC) platform”. Specifically, Deutsche Telekom’s cloud transformation envisages that SAP systems will in future be operated partly on the Future Cloud Infrastructure (FCI) – and therefore in T-Systems’ private cloud in Germany – and partly on the Google Cloud platform. 

At the start of the project, T-Systems and Deutsche Telekom IT decided that the SAP applications should be operated with clean core whenever possible. You can find detailed information about clean core, including its benefits for companies, in my blog article “Clean Core: Paving the way for SAP transformation”.

For Deutsche Telekom, clean core is an important lever for more efficient SAP operations and cost reductions. This is because customized SAP systems are difficult to update and manage. Clean core, on the other hand, reduces this effort enormously. “This allows us to reduce our infrastructure, operating, and license costs in the long term,” explains Joop Jansen, CFO/Senior Vice President Finance, Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH.

Like many other companies, Deutsche Telekom has previously relied on customizing its SAP solutions to develop its business processes individually. However, a rethink is now required. The SAP systems of organizations that work in RISE with SAP Standard with SAP S/4HANA – i.e. with clean core and without customizing – are more agile than those of companies that make extensive adjustments to their SAP systems. You benefit directly from SAP updates and can react more quickly and flexibly to new requirements. An ability that is increasingly important to keep pace with the current economic and geopolitical changes.

Despite all standardization, however, individual adaptations cannot be ruled out per se. It makes sense to find a happy medium. In our RISE with SAP project, it looks like this: on the one hand, Deutsche Telekom relies on the clean core, in which SAP systems and functionalities are used as standard. On the other, it is also important for Deutsche Telekom IT to be able to adapt SAP S/4HANA in certain areas to meet industry-specific or regulatory requirements, for example. Such necessary enhancements can be realized with the help of the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).

This is how the balancing act between standardization and individualization is achieved. Together with Deutsche Telekom IT, the plan is to migrate Deutsche Telekom’s SAP systems to RISE with SAP by 2030. This will be accompanied by a consolidation of the SAP landscape. The aim is to reduce the number of SAP applications from the current 83 to a maximum of 10 to 30 applications. To facilitate the transformation, T-Systems will ensure that Deutsche Telekom can continue to transfer the necessary specific enhancements to the standard SAP system in the RISE with SAP context to SAP S/4HANA with the help of BTP. 

As part of its business transformation, Deutsche Telekom plans to have only a few central SAP systems in the future, for example, for finance, business warehouse, or merchandise management. This includes all cell phone contracts for end customers and partner management. In addition, there are two central grid expansion systems – PSL Germany and PSL International. These represent everything that Deutsche Telekom handles as a carrier for 5G and broadband expansion.

Moreover, there are numerous workloads outside of RISE with SAP – for example, non-RISE with SAP or non-SAP applications such as archive or HR solutions from third-party providers. We can integrate these via SAP BTP and operate them in the same way as the RISE with SAP workloads.

Speaking of third-party systems: in addition to the grown, heterogeneous SAP landscape, this was another major challenge in Deutsche Telekom’s transformation journey. Like all larger companies, the Bonn-based group does not exclusively use SAP solutions. Therefore, it was crucial for Deutsche Telekom IT that T-Systems can install and manage both RISE with SAP and non-RISE with SAP landscapes from a single source. It was also important for us to be able to integrate non-SAP solutions – such as e-commerce applications or field service management – into the SAP landscape.

We help Deutsche Telekom IT with the connection of third-party solutions – so-called third-party software. As part of the RISE with SAP implementation, customers must agree with both SAP itself and their RISE partner on the extent to which third-party solutions are supported by SAP. So far, we have identified more than 65 third-party applications at Deutsche Telekom. Experience has shown that others are added as the project progresses. We check the extent to which these influence the SLAs and how they can be integrated into the new SAP landscape. “An estimated third of the third-party software we use is already certified by SAP. We will work with T-Systems to find alternatives for the remaining solutions,” says Joop Jansen.

Also important: when business-critical processes are handled via SAP applications, customers such as Deutsche Telekom need secure, robust monitoring of their SAP landscape more than ever. Ideally with closely interlinked processes between Applications Operations (AO) and Application Management and Modernization (AMM). To ensure stable SAP operations, T-Systems therefore offers various disaster recovery or high availability solutions. With them, we can store SAP HANA databases redundantly and restore them quickly in the event of an emergency to ensure that critical SAP systems are comprehensively protected.

As part of the RISE with SAP project at Deutsche Telekom, we designed the financial and merchandise management system as well as the PSL system to be redundant. The latter in particular is business-critical, as orders could no longer be processed on time in the event of a failure. With dramatic consequences, such as financial losses and loss of image. However, such measures are not necessary for all SAP systems. Deutsche Telekom’s SAP Business Warehouse systems were previously subject to the highest level of failure protection with comprehensive disaster recovery. However, as BW systems are not required 24/7, we have lowered the availability requirements, enabling Deutsche Telekom to save around 150,000 euros per month.

In the video, Joop Jansen from Deutsche Telekom IT provides comprehensive insights into our joint RISE with SAP project at Deutsche Telekom.