Beyond SAP Business ByDesign and SAP Business One - Webinar

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our recent webinar, “Beyond SAP Business ByDesign and Business One”. In this engaging session, we explored what comes next for growing companies that are reaching the limits of their current ERP systems.

Watch the webinar recording here!

Key Topics Covered:

• Why Growing Companies Outgrow Entry-Level ERP:  We examined the common triggers,  like increased complexity, international expansion, and compliance needs, that signal it’s time to move beyond SAP Business ByDesign or Business One.

• Introducing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition:  Our experts showcased how this next-generation cloud ERP provides the scalability, real-time analytics, and flexibility needed to support rapid growth and operational excellence.

• Migration Best Practices:  We discussed strategies for a smooth transition, including how to evaluate readiness, prepare your team, and select the right implementation partner.

• Customer Success Insights:  Real-world examples brought to life how businesses like yours have made the leap to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and are now reaping the benefits of a future-ready ERP platform.

📞 Let’s Talk About Your ERP Journey

If your organization is starting to outgrow its current ERP or you're exploring what's next, we’d love to help.  Connect with our team to explore your options.

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<Transcript>

Welcome, everybody, to Navigator Business Solutions customer experience webinar.
The purpose of today's webinar is to provide our B1 and ByDesign customers with information about how SAP is positioning its flagship product, S4 HANA Cloud Public Edition, to existing customers.

There are lots of exciting things happening in the world of SAP, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with them.
We just want to make sure you have some visibility into what's going on at SAP.

There we go.
So disclaimer, a fancy way of saying Navigator and SAP really assume no responsibility for errors or omissions in this presentation.

My name is Jack Thrush. I am the accounts director here at Navigator. With me today is Ralph Hess, our executive VP of sales and marketing. Ralph will be leading really the presentation today after I go through the agenda of what we're going to cover.

Okay, so in summary, we're going to give you some insight into SAP's direction moving forward, how they're positioning S4 on a Cloud Public Edition.
We're going to talk about migrating from B1 and ByDesign.
It's not for everyone.
But we'll throw out some ideas and some reasons you may want to consider it, including some incentives from SAP to help with that transition.

We'll also talk about migration, which Navigator is really uniquely positioned to discuss, given our experience with SAP Business One, ByDesign, and now S4 HANA Cloud Public Edition.
Ralph is also going to give a couple of pricing examples, very high level, just to kind of give you an idea of what we're talking about, one for B1 and one for ByDesign.
And then we'll give a quick tour of S4 HANA Cloud Public Edition.
With that, I think I can turn it over to Ralph now. Thanks, Jack.

First off, I just want to apologize ahead of time if you hear any boarding announcements.
Jack and I are actually doing this from a gate at Atlanta.
We got a couple flight delays, but felt that it was very important to be able to execute this webinar on time.

So with that, let's move right through it.
What we wanted to do was give you a view of SAP's direction as they're moving forward and what you're going to hear them communicate in the marketplace as the months go on here.
They're going to make a huge—actually made a huge announcement about something called Business Suite.
For those of you who have been involved with SAP for more than 10 years, you've probably heard of Business Suite previously for a large enterprise-type company.

What they're doing is they're really taking a new approach.
As you take a look at this particular diagram, there are three elements to what they're considering the business suite.
One is the applications, which we know as Business One, ByDesign, S4.
They also have the Business Data Cloud, which they're introducing into this business suite model.

Some of you may recall that as being a product called Datasphere.
Essentially, it's a huge data warehousing-type product.
So that's going to allow you to bring not just application data as being processed by your application, but also some external data as well.

And then at the very top, SAP has really been promoting being a business AI leader.
This culminates in the deployment of artificial intelligence, the use of agents and bots, and generative type AI tools like Joule.

SAP is communicating to the marketplace that they're moving beyond ERP as the core of what they do. Instead, ERP is becoming the transaction processor and data generator that AI will leverage.

We prefer a different view of SAP’s business suite model. This model showcases SAP’s product range with the key difference being that all integrations between the applications in the suite are intended to be SAP-supported. Not necessarily from day one, but that’s the roadmap.

At the heart of the suite is SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, underpinned by SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP). For those unfamiliar, BTP is SAP’s platform for integration, data management, and business application development. It includes several pillars, but key ones for us are integration and automation.

We’ve been using our iConnect product to handle integrations, but are now pivoting to BTP. It’s cost-effective and handles mapping, filtering, and monitoring of integrations. Even with customers not yet on S/4HANA Cloud Public, we’re already introducing BTP as a solution for new integrations.

S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is surrounded by line-of-business solutions such as Sales Cloud (CRM), Ariba (spend management), Integrated Business Planning (supply chain), and SuccessFactors (HR). You can start with the core, and as your needs evolve, add these additional solutions, which are fully integrated.

Further out in the architecture are bots, agents, and SAP’s Joule — the generative AI engine that ties everything together.

Wherever you start — CRM, Ariba, or S/4HANA Cloud — SAP’s vision is to provide customers with modular, interconnected options supported natively by SAP. This allows customers to expand seamlessly over time, rather than replacing systems outright.

Now, for those using SAP Business One or ByDesign, here’s what that means:

There’s been chatter in the market about ByDesign being end-of-life. Let’s clarify: SAP has not published an end-of-life for ByDesign. Contracts are in place through 2030 and beyond, and new contracts are still being signed. SAP continues to support and develop the product in its current scope. It’s stable and not going away.

SAP AEs still receive compensation for ByDesign deals, and we at Navigator are well-positioned to continue supporting upsells and enhancements for ByDesign customers.

As for Business One: At the SAP Midmarket Summit in March, SAP confirmed their commitment to B1 and revealed a two-year roadmap. Much of it focuses on completing the web front end for B1. So again, no end-of-life, and ongoing development is in place.

Moving on to S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition — or "S/4 Public" for short. It originally launched in 2017, went through some refinements, and was relaunched in 2022 in the U.S. It’s now SAP’s flagship product. Christian Klein, SAP’s CEO, is on record saying their goal is to move all customers to S/4 Public over time.

The innovation focus is here — not just in product development, but also in AI and partner co-innovation. BTP’s build apps are used to deploy add-on functionality, such as Advanced Financial Close, which can run across multiple SAP platforms.

AI development is currently focused on S/4 Public, and there’s no indication it will extend to B1 or ByDesign — possibly to encourage migration.

SAP is also co-innovating with partners (including Navigator) to create migration accelerators — tools to extract, translate, and load master and balance data from B1 and ByDesign into S/4 Public. This helps reduce the complexity and cost of migration.

Let’s talk about migration. Jack and I have been having conversations with customers over the past year. Often, customers ask: Why would we migrate from Business One or ByDesign?

It's important to remember — you don’t have to move yet. But some business cases make migration worth exploring. Here are a few scenarios where moving to S/4 Public might make sense:

1. Outgrowing Your Current System
If you're relying heavily on Excel models for key decision-making, that's a red flag. It means the ERP isn’t providing the insights or analytics needed. In one case, a company used ERP for only 7% of its business operations — a clear indicator the system was being worked around.

One of our customers, growing rapidly from $50M to $150M in two years, found Business One couldn’t scale. They moved to S/4 Public, integrated with BTP, and are now a successful example of scalable ERP implementation.

2. Integration Requirements
S/4 Public paired with BTP makes integrating external solutions easier and more cost-effective. If you're dealing with complex integrations today, S/4 could simplify your architecture.

3. Eliminating Add-Ons
Running several Business One add-ons can increase complexity and costs. With S/4, many capabilities are native — reducing reliance on third-party software and lowering your long-term total cost of ownership.

4. Business Model Flexibility
If your business is pivoting or expanding into new models — e.g., moving from discrete to process manufacturing — S/4’s flexibility can help you adapt. It also supports integrated warehouse management, preventative maintenance, and field service — all out of the box.

5. Unified View of the Business
If your BI depends on spreadsheets or external tools, S/4 gives you the ability to consolidate that into a single source of truth.

6. Performance Bottlenecks
Some ByDesign or B1 customers hit limits in transaction volumes — like large purchase orders or work breakdown structures. These issues are alleviated in S/4 due to its more modern architecture.

7. Advanced Capabilities
Need multi-company, deep manufacturing, warehouse management, asset maintenance, or field service? All of this is available natively in S/4 Public.

8. AI Readiness
Just implementing S/4 won’t instantly deliver AI value. However, the platform is designed to generate and structure data that future SAP AI models (like Joule) can consume. If AI is part of your roadmap, S/4 sets the right foundation.

9. Concerned About Obsolescence
If you’re worried about being left behind, migrating to S/4 ensures you’re aligned with SAP’s long-term direction.

SAP’s Migration Incentives

SAP understands not every customer is ready to move. Instead of pushing customers with fear tactics like declaring end-of-life for B1 or ByDesign, SAP is using a carrot approach by offering migration incentives.

Currently, this includes 6 to 12 months of subscription credits for S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition — covering part of the first year’s software cost. This helps offset concerns about double-paying for both the old and new systems during migration. It can also help cover migration project costs.

SAP is serious about this. They're being very aggressive on pricing and offering incentive flexibility depending on your specific mix of SAP solutions. If you’re running add-ons or other SAP products, additional incentives might be available.

To explore this, we’d need to have a one-on-one conversation to understand your application landscape — what you use, how you use it — and tailor the incentive package accordingly.

What Is a Migration?

A migration is a defined project with a clear objective:

To land on S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition with similar business scope, accurate master and balance data, and a stable, familiar system from day one.

This isn’t a full-blown reimplementation. You don’t need to reimagine everything. The idea is to lift and shift your current configuration and begin using S/4 immediately, then evolve and optimize over time.

Migration Process – Step by Step

1. Confirm Business Scope

   • Review your current configuration and determine what must be carried over.

2. Fit-to-Standard Workshops

   • Compare your existing business processes with S/4 Public capabilities.

   • While S/4 Public is a “fit-to-standard” solution, it’s still highly configurable.

3. Data Migration

   • Use SAP and partner-built migration accelerators to extract, transform, and load master and balance data into S/4.

4. Key User Training

   • Identify users to test and validate system behavior using standard test scripts.

5. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

   • Run through processes and exceptions to ensure confidence pre-launch.

6. Go-Live & Hypercare

   • Deploy into production.

   • Receive 1 month of hypercare support, including help with the first month-end close.

Navigator’s Packaged Migration Approach

Navigator is creating pre-scoped migration packages based on common customer types — like consumer products, professional services, or industrial products (manufacturing and distribution).

Instead of starting from scratch, Navigator begins with a pre-configured system scope based on real-world usage patterns in Business One and ByDesign. This significantly accelerates provisioning, because most of the base processes and configurations are already in place.

Then, during Fit-to-Standard workshops, configuration is adjusted based on the customer’s needs.

Navigator also uses both SAP-delivered and Navigator-developed migration accelerators, further compressing time and cost.

Pricing Comparisons – Real Examples

Some customers assume S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition will cost millions. Not true.

Example 1: Business One Customer

• Current Spend: $134,000 annually (including SAP licenses, BoYum add-ons, WMS, support)

• S/4HANA Public Cloud: $136,000 (software and support after discount)

• Net Difference: ~$10,000 — and that’s before applying migration incentives.

Example 2: ByDesign Customer

• ByDesign Spend: $88,000 annually for base, advanced, core, and self-service users.

• S/4HANA Cloud Equivalent: 15 Functional User Equivalents (FUEs) at $91,000.

• The price points are comparable, but S/4 delivers significantly more functionality out of the box, reducing the need for add-ons.

Sneak Peek: S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition Interface

The final part of the webinar included a live demo of the S/4HANA Cloud interface:

• Accessed via browser — no need for RDP or a local client.

• Responsive UI with a modern, attractive design.

• Joule Integration: SAP’s generative AI tool, like ChatGPT, used to query data using natural language (e.g., “Show me sales orders entered by Zach Good”).

• Launchpad Layout:

  • KPI Tiles (300+ preloaded indicators)

  • Task Inbox and Situations (machine-learning-driven alerts)

  • Pages and Apps (customizable workspaces)

• Navigation Highlights:

  • Smooth transitions across pages without page reloads.

  • “Document Flow” for tracing transactions.

  • Predictive journal entries and a Universal Journal model.

  • Grid customization and filtering, including visual filtering.

Example Demonstrated:

• Drilling into journal entries and customizing views.

• Reviewing purchase order items with predictive delivery insights and exception handling (e.g., late deliveries highlighted in red).

• Visual filters for quick navigation (e.g., filter by product type like “Finished Goods”).