Resulting Assist Pets at Home with Their Retail S/4HANA Phase Zero Approach

The Challenge

Pets at Home recognised that a move to SAP S/4HANA was inevitable but were keen to align the program to the business strategy before they began, and needed to develop a clear and strategic roadmap before beginning their migration.

Without a defined plan or independent advice, Pets at Home faced the possibility of making a technology-led decision that wasn’t strategically aligned.

This had the potential to limit the flexibility of a future system, increase long-term cost, or contrain future transformation options. They required an independent view of what they should do, shouldn’t do, and everything in between.

This requirement  to align S/4HANA migration to the business strategy is a familiar challenge for SAP ECC customers, and S/4HANA programmes often get delayed due to a lack of business case, unclear program ownership, or different business units moving at different speeds.

RESULTING SOLUTION

Resulting ran technology agnostic workshops and strategic alignment session with the leadership team to understand the company’s processes, requirements, and to identify specific pain points. This uncovered that many critical processes were being managed outside of the SAP estate.

Pets at Home was paying for an ECC platform but only utilising 30% of the value of SAP.

This meant their S/4HANA implementation project provided an opportunity to standardise processes, bring them back into the SAP system, and get more value from their significant SAP investment.

Running more of their processes in their SAP system would also prepare them to benefit from tools like AI in the future to drive even further value. 

Based on the insights gathered, Resulting provided a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimate for S/4HANA migration options, giving Pets at Home a realistic view of the possible transformation scope, costs, and considerations.

Resulting’s involvement ultimately helped Pets at Home understand the true extent and complexity of the ECC to S/4HANA journey and what would be required to deliver it successfully.

"Feedback from both the C-suite and key stakeholders has been overwhelmingly positive. The Phase Zero discovery deliverable has left them feeling well-informed and aligned on the position and journey ahead. Thank you to everyone at Resulting IT for your professionalism, insight, and collaborative spirit throughout this engagement.”

BENEFITS DELIVERED

Establishing a clear “as-is” view of Pets at Home’s current SAP and business landscape enabled the leadership team to make an informed, evidence-based decision on which migration approach was the best fit for the business.

To create this early clarity, Resulting mapped the existing landscape, analysed SAP usage using Pets at Home’s data, and aligned insights to the business processes surfaced through stakeholder workshops.

This work was captured in an as-is solution map and supported by solution heatmaps created in Fusiongraph, giving stakeholders a shared understanding of where the organisation is today and what needs to change.

Building on this foundation, Resulting developed level 0 and level 1 indicative plans outlining anticipated programme duration, key phases and major milestones. In parallel, a migration options paper set out clear recommendations, articulating trade-offs, dependencies, and potential risks to support confident decision-making.

A future-state narrative document then translated the chosen direction into a cohesive story of the target operating and future solution landscape, helping stakeholders visualise the journey ahead.

As a result, Pets at Home reduced uncertainty at a critical decision point, maintained momentum, and materially lowered the risk of underestimating scope, overlooking dependencies, or encountering costly surprises later in the programme. The business has been able to progress with greater understanding and confidence, supported by Resulting’s practical experience to validate the approach and underpin strategic decisions.

CONCLUSION

• Pets at home were able to win business support for an S/4HANA discovery phase and potential future migration by getting independent advice to align S/4HANA to their business strategy.

• Resulting worked with stakeholders to map the existing system landscape, analyse their SAP usage, and define and prioritise business processes.

• A migration options paper provided clear recommendations and articulated trade-offs, dependencies and risks, while a future-state narrative brought the target operating and solution direction to life.

• By investing in structured discovery, linking the target future state to business strategy, and grounding decisions in robust analysis, and providing an evidence-based ROM, leadership can make confident, informed choices on their SAP future.