Are your SAP frontline tools built to work, or to tolerate?
Warehouse, logistics, maintenance: three SAP processes that touch almost everything else. Are your people working from apps that actually work, or apps they've learned to tolerate? A CEO honest look at the priority problem nobody wants to name.
TL;DR
Warehouse, logistics, maintenance: three processes that touch almost everything else in your SAP operation. In most companies, the frontline people running that work are still using apps they have learned to tolerate rather than apps that make their job easier.
The solutions have existed for years. The ROI is well documented, and about as certain as ROI gets in SAP. No S/4HANA upgrade required, no license reshuffle, no burden dumped on your internal team.
What is missing is not budget, resourcing, or technology. It is priority. This piece is about that decision, and about the reason you may be giving yourself for calling it “later”.
In this article
Warehouse, logistics, maintenance: three processes that touch almost everything else. So look in the mirror.
Look in the mirror. Answer honestly, not the answer you’d give your board.
Warehouse, logistics, maintenance, three processes that touch almost everything else in your operation. So answer honestly, not the answer you’d give your board.
Are your people working from apps that are genuinely easy to use, or apps they’ve learned to tolerate? Are those apps updated as the way you work changes, or frozen the day they went live? Do they run on whatever device is in someone’s hand, or only on the one piece of hardware IT approved years ago?
The solutions have existed for years. So why haven’t you done it?
Here’s what genuinely surprises me: the solutions to fix this have existed for years. The ROI is not theoretical, it’s high, and it’s about as certain as ROI gets in SAP. And yet a lot of organizations still haven’t done it. Why?
Maybe the project never felt big enough to earn a spot on the roadmap next to the “real” transformation initiatives. Maybe you’re too busy keeping the lights on to spend a cycle on something that isn’t on fire. Maybe all the attention goes to the new and shiny, AI, agents, the next big platform play, while the tools your own people touch every single day quietly stay exactly as they were. Or maybe you’ve just been steered by a vendor whose roadmap serves their license revenue more than your shop floor.
You’d never accept this anywhere else in your business.
Now hold that up against the rest of your world. Would you hand your sales team a Nokia with no email? Would your finance team run on a desktop with Windows from 2010? Would you be comfortable if your own field service turned up in a truck that’s ten years overdue for replacement? No, you’d call that neglect. But ask how your warehouse operator, technician, or picker is equipped today, and for a lot of companies, that’s exactly what it looks like.
It’s not a resourcing problem.
It’s not a budget problem.
It’s not even a technology problem anymore.
It’s a priority problem.— Sveinung Gehrken, CEO S5 Consulting
Fixing this doesn’t require a transformation project.
The part that should really sting: fixing this doesn’t require a project of that scale. S5 isn’t in the business of selling licenses, we sell processes that function. We’re independent, so our job is to make sure you’re running whatever is actually best for you, not whatever pays us the most to recommend. We fit the solution to the SAP setup you already run, no upgrade required, no big investment, no new burden dumped on your internal team.
So what’s the reason you’re giving yourself?
So, what’s the reason you’re giving yourself today for handing your people worse tools than they deserve, and calling it “later”?
Is “later” still the honest answer for your frontline tools?
S5 fits frontline mobility to the SAP setup you already run. Independent, senior-only delivery, outcome-driven. No license reshuffle required, no big investment, no burden dumped on your internal team.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as “frontline SAP users”?
Warehouse operators, maintenance technicians, field service teams, pickers, logistics staff, plant operators. Anyone whose day is spent executing SAP-linked work on a mobile device rather than a desktop.
Do frontline mobility projects require an S/4HANA upgrade first?
No. Modern frontline mobility solutions fit on top of your existing SAP setup, whether that is ECC, S/4HANA, or somewhere in between.
What’s the typical ROI on a frontline mobility project?
Well documented for over a decade: reduced task time, fewer errors, faster onboarding, higher user adoption. About as certain as ROI gets in SAP.
Why don’t more SAP customers do this if the ROI is proven?
Priority. Frontline tooling rarely feels big enough to earn a spot next to “real” transformation initiatives, and license-driven vendor roadmaps steer attention elsewhere.
How does S5 approach frontline mobility differently?
S5 doesn’t sell licenses. We fit the solution to the SAP setup you already run, no upgrade required, no big investment, no burden dumped on your internal team. Independent means our recommendation is what’s actually best for you, not what pays us most.
