We had the privilege to connect with finance organizations in recent months to discuss their over all feedback on newer SAP innovations in S/4 HANA that is helping them out over traditional ECC based FI module. We learned that, they need more than just a traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to stay competitive in their market and support their complex finance business model. The most common choice they often make is SAP S/4HANA Finance that has proved to be the next-generation ERP suite for them and a game-changer for finance industries. It’s not just a software that runs transactions faster using its in-memory HANA engine; but its whole new design of finance transactions and its automation transforms entire financial operation into a great business advantage for them. They runs business differently in S/4 HANA than on traditional ECC based FI module.
After months of research and collecting client feedbacks, we found below S/4 HANA Finance advantages over traditional ECC based FI module.
Streamlined Financial Processes in S/4:
S/4 based finance simplifies and automates many financial processes that used to be manual in traditional SAP ECC FI module which now leads to improved efficiency and accuracy. S/4 includes Unified Ledger that consolidates all financial and managerial accounting data into a single source of truth, which eliminates data redundancies and increases consistency. Faster Finance Reconciliation in S/4 with real-time data updates, makes a reconciliation processes between different financial accounts and subledgers way faster and accurate than before. Reconciliation is a lifeline for finance teams in their day to day operations.
Real-Time Finance Reporting:
One of the most significant advantages of S/4 is its ability to process large volumes of data in real time using its HANA engine. For a finance company, this means instant access to up-to-the-minute financial data presented in a real-time reporting. Especially for month-end and year-end closing which are very crucial for their business. Large volume of finance data worth millions of record is presented in minutes in the finance report when is really needed by business users all the time.
Advanced Analytics:
The embedded Advance Analytics of S/4 HANA Finance Cloud gives deeper insights to finance companies for financial performance, profitability, and risk analysis that empowers finance teams to make quicker, efficient and data-driven decisions with all the facts on the table. This helps with faster service delivery to customer inquiries. Predictive Analytics feature of S/4 allows finance team to identify the trends, forecast financial outcomes and simulate various finance scenarios in advance to help plan for the future and respond to changes in the market.
Integrated Ecosystem of new S/4 Finance:
SAP S/4HANA Finance Cloud offers a fully integrated ecosystem that connects loan management with other banking services, financial accounting, and customer relationship management, providing a 360-degree view of the business that matters the most to the Finance industries.
SAP Consumer Mortgage Loan (CML) has now transitioned to S/4 HANA Finance Cloud:
Many finance companies are using traditional SAP tool in ECC called SAP Consumer Mortgage Loan (CML) for mortgage loan products and its tracking. CML has now transitioned and merge into its new version of S/4 HANA Finance Cloud with following enhance feature.
- Architecture: CML was built on traditional ECC architecture with complex data model which often leads to slower performance in its batch job processing. Where S/4 HANA Finance Cloud has brand-new architecture based on HANA in-memory database power with simplified data model and higher performance.
- User Interface: CML used SAP GUI based traditional user interface where as S/4 HANA Finance Cloud is built on new Fiori based modern interface that is compatible to run traditional SAP GUI as well as in a browser as well.
- Loan Management: CML provides traditional features for managing consumer mortgages, loan origination, servicing, and collections with very limited automation capabilities where as S/4 HANA Finance Cloud has enhances mortgage loan management with advanced features for automation, real-time tracking of loans and more efficient servicing.
- Compliance and Regulations: CML provides very limited compliance related features with lots of additional customizing needs to keep it up to date with changing regulations where as S/4 HANA Finance Cloud includes built-in compliance features equipped to handle regulatory changes with real-time updates and advanced capabilities.
Bottom line is, SAP S/4HANA Finance Cloud is more than just an ERP software for finance companies—it’s a catalyst for innovation, efficiency, and growth. By leveraging it within the finance business model, finance companies not only streamline their operations but also gain a strategic edge in the competitive financial services market.
Please reach us at info@hnit.ca for more details. Our certified SAP team can help you with in-depth analysis for your S/4 HANA journey.