The 6 Problems
S/4HANA programmes rarely fail because of the technology. They fail because the change around the technology is underestimated, under-resourced, or invisible until it is too late. These are the six problems we see most often — and the practical steps that stop them becoming programme-level risks
Most organisations starting an S/4HANA programme know that change management matters. Fewer know where it actually goes wrong.
It is rarely a single failure. It is a combination of small blind spots — change tracked in silos, metrics that measure activity instead of readiness, teams overwhelmed by overlapping programmes — that compound quietly until the board is asking why adoption is so low and nobody has a clear answer.
We have supported businesses through complex SAP transformations for over two decades. These are the six challenges we see derail programmes most often, and the fixes that keep them on track.
1. Visibility
The problem: Change impacts are tracked in separate spreadsheets, by separate teams, with no single view of what is happening across the programme. Leaders only see the full picture when it is too late to act on it — usually at a steering committee when the data finally gets pulled together.
2. Alignment
The problem: IT and business teams are working to different priorities. Design decisions are made without the business understanding the downstream impact. The business feels excluded. The SI is delivering to a plan that nobody on the client side fully owns. Fragmentation slows every decision.
3. Change Saturation
The problem: Most S/4HANA programmes do not exist in isolation. There are parallel projects, operational demands, and BAU pressures all competing for the same people. When testing, training and go-live windows overlap across multiple programmes, staff become overwhelmed. Fatigue sets in. Adoption suffers.
4. Measurement
The problem: Most programmes measure change through attendance registers and defect logs. These tell you whether people showed up and whether the system works. They do not tell you whether people are ready, confident, or capable of working in the new way on day one.
5. Tool Chaos
The problem: Change data is fragmented across disconnected spreadsheets, project management tools, and SharePoint folders. Dependencies are hidden. Priorities are unclear. Nobody has a single view of the programme's change landscape — and the effort required to create one manually is prohibitive.
6. Change Actions
The problem: Too many programmes treat communication and training as the sum total of change management. People are told what is changing and shown how the new system works. But nobody has reshaped the policies, processes and working practices that actually need to change for the technology to deliver value.
These insights are drawn from real-world experience on transformation projects where visibility, alignment and readiness have built positive momentum. Each challenge comes with a practical fix you can apply to keep change on track.
Want more? Watch the full Change Management website HERE
