Not Your Father's ERP: Dispelling the Myths of SAP Executive Overview

Think SAP is too big, too pricey, or too slow? Think again.

Watch this on-demand executive webinar from Navigator Business Solutions and SAP Executives as they dismantle the biggest misconceptions that have held businesses back from ERP success.

You’ve heard the myths:

• “SAP takes YEARS to implement.”
• “Only enterprise giants can afford it.”
• “The interface feels like it’s stuck in the 90s.”

This session sets the record straight. You’ll get a firsthand look at the NEW SAP - modern, agile, affordable - and learn how SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, the core application within the SAP Business Suite, is designed to meet the needs of today’s organizations without the baggage of outdated legacy systems. Whether you're evaluating ERP options or reconsidering SAP, this webinar will show you why this could be the last ERP implementation your business will ever need.

Connect with our speakers:

• Aaron Reed, National VP, SAP Cloud ERP 
• Rob Seifert, Senior Director Cloud ERP,  Business Suite Solution Advisory
• Ralph Hess, Executive VP Sales & Marketing
• Zack Good, Senior Solution Advisor

www.nbs-us.com | info@nbs-us.com | (801) 642-0123 | Contact Us Form

{Transcript}

David Piotrowski (VP of SAP Public Cloud Sales, Navigator Business Solutions):
Hello and welcome, everyone. I’m Dave Piotrowski, VP of SAP Public Cloud Sales at Navigator Business Solutions. We’re an SAP Gold Partner, and I’m thrilled to host today’s webinar: Not Your Father’s SAP, where we’ll show why modern SAP solutions are a perfect fit for businesses of all sizes, not just large enterprises.

Here’s the agenda:

I’ll introduce our expert presenters.

• Aaron Reed, SAP’s National VP of SAP Cloud ERP, will share his insights.
• Ralph Hess, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Navigator, will challenge common perceptions about SAP ERP and introduce the SAP Business Suite.
• Rob Seifert, Senior Director of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Center of Excellence, will provide a customer perspective from his time as an SAP customer.
• We’ll wrap up with a demo of SAP Public Cloud led by Senior Solution Advisor Zack Good.

Please submit questions via the chat, and we’ll answer them in the Q&A session at the end.

Our lineup includes SAP’s Aaron Reed, SAP’s Rob Seifert, Navigator’s Ralph Hess, and Zack Good. Let’s get started, please join me in welcoming Aaron Reed.

Aaron Reed (National VP of SAP Cloud ERP, SAP):
Thank you, Dave, and thanks to everyone joining today. A special thank-you to the Navigator team for sponsoring and hosting. As Dave said, I lead the Public Cloud ERP team for North America, our S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, built from the ground up over the past 12 years for the mid-market.

We’re addressing some common myths about SAP:

• “It’s too expensive.”
• “It’s only for large enterprises.”
• “It’s too complex for mid-market.”
• “It takes years to implement.”
• “It requires large implementation teams."

These perceptions largely come from SAP’s history as a 50+ year-old company. But Cloud ERP is new code, designed specifically for modern business needs with embedded industry best practices, so customers don’t have to heavily customize or modify the core. Any custom work is done at the BTP layer, keeping upgrades simple and enabling rapid adoption of innovations.

We can implement quickly, grow functionality over time, and stay price-competitive. Instead of “all or nothing” modules, you add features as needed. Because it’s fit-to-standard, we avoid regression testing headaches and accelerate deployment, often much faster than the old on-premise ERP days.

Ralph Hess (Executive VP of Sales & Marketing, Navigator):
Thanks, Aaron. To reinforce the point, our projects run 6–10 months, even for full supply chain companies, with small implementation teams of three to four people.

Here are key facts:

• 80% of SAP customers have under $1B in revenue, many under $250M.
• S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is easy to configure and maintain, with just one or two super users at most customers.
• The user interface is modern, intuitive, and supported by built-in adoption tools.
• It’s a comprehensive, end-to-end suite on a single cloud platform, with embedded AI and continuous innovation.
• Upgrades are seamless; you test in your environment, then turn features on in production when ready.

We call it “the last ERP you’ll ever need” because it evolves with your business, scaling, adapting, and integrating with other SAP solutions via the Business Technology Platform. AI and agents will increasingly automate processes, but the foundation is strong applications and good data.

Rob Seifert (Senior Director, Cloud ERP,  Business Suite Solution Advisory):
Before joining SAP, I spent 26 years in high tech, working with ERPs as a user, power user, and IT leader. My company eventually moved from ECC to S/4HANA.

Challenges with our legacy ERP included:

• Heavy technical debt and customizations.
• Long testing cycles and upgrade delays.
• Outdated integrations that hindered cloud adoption.
• Limited real-time visibility and clunky user experience.

We wanted an ERP that:

• Met current and future business needs.
• It was intuitive, mobile-friendly, and easy to integrate.
• Supported automation and standard processes with flexibility where needed.
• Provided real-time data at users’ fingertips.
• Encouraged fit-to-standard, limiting changes to those with clear ROI or compliance needs.

Success required strong organizational change management, clear KPIs, and the right implementation partner. We achieved a smooth go-live and are confident it’s the last ERP we’ll need.

Zack Good (Senior Solution Advisor, Navigator) – Demo Overview:

• Home Dashboard: Personalized insights, interactive analytics, and task management.
• UI Design: Inspired by Apple and Google—modular apps, customizable layouts, enterprise search.
• Business Co-Pilot (Joule): AI-powered insights and natural language prompts.
• Automation: Intelligent document extraction and RPA for processes like sales order creation.
• Order & Procurement Operations: Track orders, manage material coverage, and automate purchase requisitions.
• Warehouse Management: Embedded WMS, mobile-friendly task execution, real-time inventory tracking.
• Analytics: Built-in KPIs and dashboards for operational visibility.