Expert interview with
Markus Schümmelfeder
Expert interviews with Markus Schümmelfeder (Corporate Vice President, IT) from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG
1. What is the motivation for companies to switch to HANA and S/4 HANA?
Answer MS: With the announcement to end mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite in 2025, there has been the need for Boehringer Ingelheim, to reconsider a new ERP roadmap. The slackening innovation in the SAP Business Suite products and the need for future investments require the development of a new global template based on the S/4HANA technology.
This development takes time and has started at Boehringer Ingelheim at an early stage to take account of the constantly changing business requirements, as well as ensuring a timely switchover.
It is also important that there are opportunities for employees to work with an advanced technology in which everyone has the same starting point, or even employees can be a pioneer.
2. What added value could already be realized in your company?
Answer MS: In the Business Warehouse environment, we have seen improvements to the legacy systems through significant "Runtime" improvements. In other areas we are still in the implementation phase so it is too early for a statement here.