We sit down for a Q&A with trusted change expert Alex Yim, ahead of our SAP S/4HANA webinar, to find out what our attendees can expect to take away from the session.

On the 31^st December 2027, SAP support on previous versions of its ERP systems will be no more. That gives businesses whose operations rely on a secure, compliant and up to date SAP ecosystem just over three years to migrate over to SAP S/4HANA, or risk losing support and keeping their systems secure and maintained.

While it might be tempting to delay this migration, there’s no better time than the present to kickstart your SAP S/4HANA transformation efforts, incorporating the people-side of Change at its core. 

In just a few weeks’ time, we’ll be hosting an exclusive webinar, led by Alex Yim, a trusted expert in SAP S/4HANA Change Management, who will be providing insights into how you can take your SAP S/4HANA change capability further.

Alex has had a long and successful career, working as a Global Change Lead for some of the biggest names in industry, including Coca-Cola, Diageo and the Wella Company. Known for his strategies in partnering with organisations to effectively manage the people side of Change, we can’t think of anyone better to share insights on the topic of SAP S/4HANA Change Management.

Ahead of the webinar on the 27^th November, we sat down with Alex to find out what we can expect to hear from the session, as well as learn more about his background in Change & Business Transformation.

Tell us about your background in Change Management and how you got to this point in your career?

I’ve had the opportunity to work in ERP-enabled transformation programmes for the past twenty years.  Most of that time has been with SAP, but it has also included other technology such as Workday and Salesforce. I’ve also been involved in introducing Office 365 across an organisation and non-tech Target Operating Model implementations.

During my career, I haven’t sidestepped into Change leadership roles—I’ve worked from the ground up across all Change disciplines. Over the years, that has led to Head of Change and Global Change leadership roles, specialising in ERP transformation programmes.

I bring a unique ability to work strategically and tactically – keen to roll up my sleeves and just get stuck in. I recently helped a client build their Change Management framework and capability for a multiyear global S/4HANA transformation programme.  One which could be adapted and implemented by both the business and programme teams to support multiple deployments over time.

For those who are wanting to get the SAP S/4HANA process started, what would you say they need to prioritise as part of their preparations?

At the start of the S/4HANA deployment journey, organisations need to consider, plan and support the people side of ‘Change’ alongside ‘Process’, ‘Technology’ and ‘Data’.

This is important as sometimes the people side of Change can get neglected or start too late. Some industry guidelines state you should invest 8%-10% of the budget to Change Management, but in reality, underinvestment is common. Having said that, many organisations are recognising and prioritising Change Management upfront.

The repercussions of not incorporating and embedding Change in programme deployment activities are that Change doesn’t stick, resulting in delayed adoption, and the business experiences operational disruption at go live with its people not ready to adopt new ways of working effectively.

What can our attendees expect to take away from your webinar session?

During our session, we’ll share an approach that can be taken to arrive at the right Change strategy and framework for an S/4HANA programme – one which incorporates leadership views and achieves leadership alignment behind key Change principles.

We’ll also be delving into how programmes can leverage Change Impact Assessment work efforts to extract greater value for both the programme team and other business transformation initiatives that may be in-flight. 

I will also be keen to hear from attendees on how they are tackling these topics.  After the webinar, I hope attendees gain insights into how their Change Management approach can be devised to link with broader organisational challenges / “get-rights” to a structured Change Management Framework supported by the right team with the right capacity and capability.

We’re really looking forward to hearing more of Alex’s insights during the webinar into how businesses can manage and elevate their SAP S/4HANA transformation successfully ahead of the 2027 deadline.

If you’d be interested in learning more about managing a successful SAP S/4HANA transformation, we have a few spaces left on our Mastering Change Management in SAP S/4HANA Transformation webinar on Wednesday 27^th November at 9am. Just fill in the form here and a member of the team will be in touch with the link.