Changing Landscape of SAP AMS (Application Maintenance Services)

[balaji_parsewar]

Last time, on 10^th February 2013, I have written a blog – “10 must Have Skills for Consultants working in SAP AMS Practice”. Blog is liked by many of you. Thanks for your appreciation.

 

SAP is evolving. Changes are arriving too fast. Technology is changing, now we are living in S4HANA era & ECC is now past. S4HANA Digital core is expanding & getting stronger & comprehensive day by day. Numbers of Fiori Apps are increasing day by day. Then how come AMS can left behind? SAP AMS is also changing quietly.

I thought of encapsulating my observations of changes taking place in SAP AMS practice in a blog. These are just observations of senior SAP consultant. I hope you will enjoy this read.

Mature IT clients - AMS earlier used to be ticket count & focus on reduction of it. However over the period of time, IT clients are settled & experienced of handling ERP systems. Clients are looking beyond count of tickets. Clients expect more from vendors. Clients are seeking value additions in their business processes. Now,  IT clients have in-house IT teams which comprises of SAP experts with rich IT experience. These experts do understand SAP in a better manner.

RCA (root cause analysis) - Clients are more interested in RCA (root cause analysis) of the issue. They keen to know that why particular issue happened & how we can eradicate root cause & prevent reoccurrence of issue.  Hence attaching RCA report for breakfix or issue is becoming a standard practice across SAP AMS practice. RCA makes a lot of sense to AMS practice. Genuine RCA will reduce number of issues.

Automation of routine tasks – Be it any system, automation of routine task is the need of the hour & its applicable to SAP AMS also. IT vendors can create custom programs; train the business users & give necessary authorization so that these programs can take of smaller tasks. Such kind of automation will lead to considerable reduction in costs.

Empowerment of business Users – If you refer S4HANA cloud ERP (Latest Release – 1905), you will find SAP is empowering business users by allowing them to configure SAP system for minor changes under Fiori App – “Manage your solution”. SAP AMS Practice should follow same path & empower business users by providing options like DIY – Do it yourself & SSO – Self Service Options. These kind of moves will empower business users. If business users themselves take care of minor issues, IT vendors can focus on major business transformation activities & can create value for their IT clients.

ERP system Performance – Every month, AMS team receive so many tickets. In order to resolve those issues, several time we do many changes, be it functional(configuration) or technical (programming changes). This goes on without any check. I always feel, changes done must be evaluated with the perspective of system performance. Changes should not hamper ERP performance. A mechanism must be in its place to assess impact of changes on system performance to avoid issues like system slowdown.

Availability of Intelligent ITSM Tools & Platforms – Earlier there were less options available in the market for handling SAP AMS processes. However, with rapid development in technologies like cloud & AI, ITSM tools are getting smarter & intelligent. IT Client have more choices. Along with SAP Solution Manager 7.2 (latest version), clients have other options like BMC Remedy, ServiceNow & many more. On the top of this, this tools are available with option with cloud deployment. These intelligent tools are making SAP AMS practice more responsive, faster & better.

These are my few observations which clearly indicates that SAP AMS Eco-system is evolving fast. Changes are rapid. SAP as a global IT company is embracing these changes & creating real value for its customers & partners through new offerings & relevant changes in existing product portfolio.

I hope you will enjoy this blog read. Please do provide your feedback & comments. Wishing you lot of success in your career & life. Thanks.

[former_member599482]

Hi Balaji, This blog is well written. Being an SAP Presales consultant, it helps me to understand various things in and around SAP AMS practice. I wish and encourage you to write more such blogs to help our community people. Thanks.

 

Regards,

Rajiv R

[balaji_parsewar]

Thanks Rajiv for your good words.

Regards,

Balaji

[Syedwahab93]

Nice blog, tell us more about tools or solutions like BMC Remedy, ServiceNow in terms of solving complex issues and a approach to pursue the problem,