Is there a perfect ERP (enterprise resource planning) system?” an article from SAP asked.
To which it answered a resounding no. SAP posits that upgrading ERP is optional but is highly recommended as an organisation’s needs evolve through time.
“It is good to keep on top of things, know how well your ERP is supporting your current needs, and identify trends that may lead to problems,” it continued.
Against this backdrop, modernisation becomes less about chasing shiny technology and more about staying competitive. This is where IBM-SAP ReadyToGROW enters the picture. It is a fast track to agile, cloud-powered growth via SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. Tailored for mid-market leaders, it claims to deliver enterprise-grade efficiency, security, and innovation.
According to Latika Minocha, Partner, Strategic Alliances Leader APAC, at IBM ReadyToGROW aims to address five common challenges that mid-market and fast-growing businesses face today: rapid growth in the AI and Digital era, fragmented systems flowing with manual processes, compliance, customer experience, and cybersecurity and data protection risks.
For her, these pressures are creating demand not only for new solutions but also for a simplified approach to address different pain points.
IBM ReadyToGROW
Amid these challenges, Minocha observed that customers want fast implementation to quickly achieve ROI, without cost overruns, and with minimal resource use.
“This is exactly what IBM ReadyToGROW addresses,” she said.
“It's a fixed-price, fixed-scope offering for Greenfield implementations, where we go in and implement the solution end to end within a fixed time and scope. Think of it as T-shirt sizing. There are three sizes: small, medium, and large,” she further explained.
Called as Foundation, the small package is ideal for SMEs and subsidiaries of large enterprises and can take up to 12 weeks to implement.
Second, the Medium or Core Plus is highly beneficial for mid-market and multi-site organisations. It takes six weeks longer to implement than the small package.
Lastly, the Advanced Enterprise package serves large companies and those with multi-country operations. And we take 28 weeks to implement this.
Because it is intended to be a scalable factory model with pre-built packages, Minocha explained that consultants can customise it based on the organisation's size and needs.
“Pre-built packages, pre-built templates, pre-built industry best practices. It makes it a great option for customers who are looking for a fast return. With minimal expense,” she added.
IBM supports this through a centralised delivery hub for SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud that delivers tools, templates, and accelerators standardised for various customers.
“Our delivery model is based on fit to standard, which means that these are best practices implemented across, cutting the whole time around change management and trying to understand, especially what the process you would like to implement. This is basically a fit-to-standard,” she explained.
This is paired with IBM’s Ascent methodology incorporating automation tools, integrated DevOps, and quality control at every phase.
Minocha claims that these offerings provide predictability and faster time-to-market for clients, adding that IBM is implementing “a robust, world-class solution with industry-best practices built in that meets the customer's business needs.”
Industrialised delivery factory model
Minocha further emphasised what she describes as an industrialised delivery factory model. The goal: repeatable, standardised, and cost-efficient ERP transformation.
“Very much like a factory,” she said, underscoring the value in reusable process templates, pre-built configurations
“We are not really reinventing the wheel every time with every customer. There are templates, there are little components of solution that are just pre-packaged and plugged in in every customer environment,” she said, noting reusable process templates and configurations drive 30–40% cost savings.
Delivery is split across offshore centres in India and the Philippines, with on-site support providing business alignment.
Ready to grow
Another key element is leadership engagement. CFOs, CXOs, and COOs must first define how they want to transform, after which IBM conducts Digital Discovery Workshops to determine the starting point and growth priorities.
“They get literally a roadmap of how they would like to transform the organisation. We then present a fit-to-standard solution, telling them this is how the organisation will transform. We also provide benchmarks on how other organisations are performing and where they stand against these other organisations,” Minocha explained.
She said that benchmarks really sell well in today's highly competitive world, especially since IBM brings industry expertise across almost every industry, which facilitates industry-specific flavour in conversations and helps explore best practices and how they could benefit their organisation.
Afterwards, a 90-day modernisation roadmap guides companies in their transformation journey. CFOs benefit from cost-benefit analyses that show where the money is coming from, how they're using it, and what value it will bring.
IBM also provides AI-driven automation, leveraging its own AI agents and AI built into the IBM Ascend coding methodology.
“There's something in it for everybody – the CFO, the CEO, the COO - whether it's ROI for the CFO, process optimisation for the COO, or revenue and customer satisfaction for the CEO,” she said.
ERP modernisation
Asked about organisations hesitant to modernise, Minocha’s advice is clear: “Simplify to grow. Keep it simple, implement standardised processes.”
Moreover, she advises leaders to veer away from old legacy ERP systems and adopt new ones that address key challenges.
She added that adopting a new system, which has everything built in, fit to standard and a cloud ERP solution provides faster time-to-market, greater speed, and greater resilience.
“It’s an industrialised delivery model. You get some predictable outcomes that you're looking for. And the beauty of it is that AI is built in. And this is for customers to literally leverage and grow faster. So that's the power of simplifying with IBM+SAP. And that's the power of IBM ReadyToGROW,” Minocha concluded.
