smartShift SAP Custom Code Transformation Accelerates Global SAP Modernization For Consumer Packaged Goods Organizations

Investment Drivers For CPG Organizations

The interviewee’s organization adopted smartShift to accelerate a multiyear, global SAP transformation program while reducing the risk, cost, and complexity associated with manual custom code remediation. Before smartShift, the CPG organization faced several challenges in its legacy environment, including:

• SAP environment scale and complexity made custom code remediation a significant challenge. Before the investment, the organization managed a highly customized SAP landscape that had evolved over many years and supported diverse business requirements across global operations. The interviewee explained that manually remediating custom code during the SAP S/4HANA migration would have required substantial effort and coordination, creating a significant obstacle to their organization’s broader transformation strategy.

• Internal resource constraints limited the ability to execute custom code transformation at the required pace. The interviewee’s organization maintained a large SAP team that supported ongoing operations, optimization efforts, and multiple transformation initiatives. However, the company lacked the internal capacity to perform large-scale custom code remediation while still meeting aggressive migration timelines. Resources needed to remain focused on migration planning, business process transformation, and other strategic activities rather than spending months performing manual remediation work. As a result, the organization sought a solution that could automate transformation activities and allow teams to focus on higher-value priorities across the broader SAP modernization program.

• Legacy custom code created technical debt and limited progress toward clean core objectives. Years of global SAP deployments and customization resulted in a complex custom codebase with redundant, obsolete, and underutilized custom developments. Although opportunities existed to simplify the environment, the interviewee’s organization lacked the visibility to confidently identify what it could decommission. The interviewee viewed the migration initiative as an opportunity not only to achieve SAP S/4HANA compatibility but also to reduce technical debt, improve custom code quality, eliminate unnecessary customizations, and establish a stronger foundation for future clean core initiatives and SAP upgrades.

• SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA was critical to broader business transformation goals. The interviewee viewed SAP S/4HANA as the foundation for future digital transformation initiatives across the business. Delays in custom code remediation would have postponed migration timelines and slowed downstream modernization efforts. Additionally, manual remediation activities could have extended transformation timelines by several months and potentially longer, delaying the organization’s ability to realize the strategic benefits associated with SAP S/4HANA and other dependent business initiatives.

SAP Custom Code Transformation Features

The CPG organization chose to invest in smartShift SAP Custom Code Transformation for the following reasons:

• Market-leading expertise in SAP custom code remediation and transformation. As the organization evaluated potential partners for its global SAP transformation program, smartShift emerged as a leader in SAP custom code remediation. The interviewee explained that smartShift distinguished itself through its proven methodology, extensive experience supporting SAP migrations, and ability to consistently execute complex custom code transformation initiatives at enterprise scale. The organization ultimately selected smartShift due to its technical capabilities and commercial value relative to alternatives considered during the evaluation process.

• Highly automated custom code transformation that reduced internal effort and supported transformation at scale. The interviewee’s organization sought a solution that could automate custom code remediation across multiple SAP ECC to S/4HANA migrations while allowing internal teams to remain focused on broader transformation priorities. The interviewee explained that smartShift’s automation capabilities met expectations and reduced the remediation effort that would otherwise have required a combination of internal resources and external partners. This enabled their organization to focus on migration planning, business process changes, and other strategic transformation initiatives rather than manual custom code conversion activities.

• Automated dual maintenance to support business continuity throughout migration programs. Because the interviewee’s organization needed to continue delivering enhancements and supporting business operations while migrating to SAP S/4HANA, maintaining synchronization across environments was critical. The interviewee explained that smartShift’s automated dual maintenance capabilities reduced the complexity and effort associated with manually maintaining parallel SAP landscapes while helping ensure that development activities could continue uninterrupted throughout the migration period. This capability was particularly valuable to their organization given the scale of its SAP transformation roadmap and the need to support multiple migration initiatives over several years.

• Visibility into custom code and opportunities to advance clean core objectives. The organization’s SAP modernization effort was an opportunity to not only remediate custom code but also better understand and simplify the SAP environment. smartShift’s analysis capabilities provided insight into unused and redundant custom developments, helping identify opportunities to decommission unnecessary custom code, reduce technical debt, and establish a stronger foundation for future clean core initiatives.

• Flexibility to work alongside systems integrators and support a long-term transformation roadmap. The interviewee’s organization intentionally selected best-of-breed partners for different aspects of its SAP transformation strategy. The interviewee explained that smartShift’s ability to work alongside multiple systems integrators and support a multiyear migration roadmap made it an attractive partner. This allowed the organization to maintain flexibility in its transformation approach, establish direct relationships with key providers, and build repeatable practices that it could apply across six planned SAP migrations.

Key Results For CPG Organizations

The results of the investment for the interviewee’s organization include:

Enable global SAP transformation while supporting business growth across diverse markets. The senior director of strategy and transformation at the food and beverage organization explained that smartShift became a critical enabler of the company’s global SAP modernization strategy. Operating across approximately 200 markets and managing multiple SAP environments, the CPG organization needed a scalable approach that could support six SAP ECC to S/4HANA migrations over a multiyear transformation roadmap. Custom code remediation was not only a standalone technical exercise; it was also a prerequisite for broader business transformation. By automating remediation activities, smartShift helped remove one of the largest obstacles to migration readiness while enabling the organization to continue progressing toward its long-term SAP strategy.

• Avoid up to 99,840 manual custom code transformation hours. Before working with smartShift, remediating more than 150,000 custom objects across multiple SAP environments would have required significant effort from internal teams and external partners. The interviewee explained that their company lacked the capacity to absorb this work while simultaneously executing other transformation priorities. By automating remediation activities, smartShift reduced manual effort and removed a migration bottleneck.

• Allow SAP resources to concentrate on strategic transformation priorities. Rather than dedicating skilled personnel to remediation activities, the organization’s teams focused on migration planning, business process transformation, new SAP S/4HANA capabilities, analytics initiatives, and future modernization programs. According to the interviewee, smartShift enabled resources to concentrate on initiatives that delivered greater business value across the enterprise.

• Accelerate SAP S/4HANA migration timelines by six months. The interviewee noted that custom code remediation could have taken many months if performed manually. By automating this work, smartShift helped compress migration timelines, allowing the organization to advance downstream testing, deployment, and transformation activities more quickly. Accelerating the move to SAP S/4HANA also helped establish the necessary foundation for future business and technology transformation initiatives.

Support enterprise-scale modernization across complex global SAP environments. For the food and beverage organization, SAP modernization involved balancing global standards with diverse market-specific operational requirements. Interviewees explained that smartShift helped create a repeatable and scalable approach to transformation that it could apply across multiple SAP instances while supporting business continuity and ongoing operations. The CPG organization’s ability to standardize migration activities across several programs reduced complexity and helped maintain transformation momentum throughout the roadmap.

• Reduce dual maintenance costs by 30%. smartShift automated dual maintenance activities that otherwise would have required substantial manual effort across parallel SAP landscapes. This enabled the organization to continue delivering business-required changes while migration activities progressed across multiple environments.

• Reduce the likelihood of business disruption by 5%. The organization established migration principles centered on speed, low cost, and minimal business disruption. The interviewee explained that predictable remediation outcomes, standardized processes, and automated transformation activities helped reduce execution risk while maintaining confidence in delivery timelines across a multiyear migration program. By reducing uncertainty with custom code remediation, smartShift helped the organization advance its SAP modernization roadmap while minimizing potential disruption to ongoing business operations.

• Improve transformation predictability across a six-year migration roadmap. By relying on smartShift’s proven methodology and automation-driven approach, the organization gained greater confidence in planning and executing SAP migrations across multiple business units and markets. The interviewee explained that their company established a repeatable model that it could apply from migration to migration, allowing teams to build on prior experience while maintaining momentum throughout a multiyear transformation program.

Rationalize global SAP environments and advance clean core objectives. Beyond achieving SAP S/4HANA compatibility, the transformation effort was an opportunity for the CPG organization to simplify and modernize SAP environments that had accumulated customizations over many years. Operating across multiple regions and business models had resulted in significant custom code proliferation, making it difficult to determine which customizations remained necessary. smartShift provided visibility into the custom code landscape and helped identify opportunities to reduce complexity while supporting long-term modernization goals.

• Decommission 25% of custom code to reduce ongoing maintenance requirements. Through smartShift’s analysis capabilities, the organization gained greater visibility into its custom code landscape and identified opportunities to retire redundant and underutilized customizations. The interviewee explained that smartShift helped validate assumptions about unused custom code and supported cleanup efforts across SAP environments. By reducing unnecessary customizations, the organization simplified its SAP landscape, reduced technical debt, and positioned itself for future modernization and clean core initiatives.

• Improve visibility into custom code to support future development initiatives. The organization leveraged smartShift’s analysis capabilities to better understand how custom code was being used across multiple SAP environments and validate assumptions regarding redundant or underutilized customizations. This visibility helped identify opportunities to retire unnecessary custom code, make more informed decisions about modernization priorities, and better understand what customizations remained critical to the business. The interviewee explained that these insights supported cleanup efforts, helped advance clean core objectives, and established a stronger foundation for future SAP upgrades.

• Advance clean core readiness across global SAP environments. The organization leveraged smartShift’s analysis and remediation capabilities to simplify custom code landscapes, eliminate unnecessary complexity, and improve long-term maintainability. The interviewee viewed these improvements as important steps toward future clean core objectives and explained that reducing unnecessary customizations would help support future SAP upgrades while reducing effort going forward.

Gain a trusted transformation partner. Looking beyond the technology itself, the food and beverage organization highlighted the value of smartShift’s partnership throughout its SAP transformation journey. The senior director of strategy and transformation explained that smartShift became an integral part of their organization’s multiyear SAP modernization program, supporting six planned SAP ECC to S/4HANA migrations across a six-year roadmap. As their organization progressed through multiple migration waves, smartShift consistently delivered on commitments related to custom code remediation, automation, and project timelines. The interviewee noted that smartShift’s expertise, established methodology, and ability to work alongside multiple systems integrators helped their organization create a repeatable approach for future migrations while maintaining confidence in execution across a large-scale global transformation program.

• Serve as a trusted and responsive migration partner. During the evaluation process, the CPG organization assessed multiple providers and found smartShift to be the strongest option from a capability and commercial perspective. Following successful early project outcomes, the organization expanded the relationship through an enterprise agreement covering the remainder of its SAP migration roadmap, reinforcing smartShift’s role as a long-term modernization partner.

• Provide consistency and predictability across a multiyear transformation program. The organization relied on smartShift to support migration activities across multiple SAP environments, geographies, and business units. The interviewee explained that smartShift consistently delivered against expectations for automation, quality, and timelines while supporting successive migration waves throughout their organization’s SAP modernization roadmap. This consistency helped leadership maintain confidence in execution and establish a repeatable approach for future migrations across the enterprise.