SAP Phase Zero: Helping you navigate the SAP Omniverse

In my recent post on the SAP Omniverse, I argued that SAP is no longer a linear journey but an interconnected ecosystem, a landscape where ECC, S/4HANA,Busienss Suite, BW cloud services, IOT, AI, and robotics co-exist and overlap to enable a Industry 4.0 Business Operating model.

This shift changes everything. If the SAP Omniverse is the new reality, then Phase Zero becomes the essential navigation system for organisations seeking to move purposefully through it.

Phase Zero in the Age of the Omniverse

Traditionally, Phase Zero has been seen as a hygiene step (often missed) before a large-scale SAP programme: gather requirements, define value, map processes, define scope and issue the RFP.

But in the Omniverse, it takes on a new strategic importance.

Where once Phase Zero was about “getting ready,” today it’s about understanding your organisations unique place within a constantly shifting environment and making deliberate, incremental modular moves - Rip it out and start again is over

Why Phase Zero Matters in the SAP Omniverse

1. Mapping Your Constellation
In the Omniverse, no two organisations occupy the same space. Some sit firmly in ECC, patched to EHP, heavily bespoke with tactical cloud bolt-ons. Others are mid-way through S/4 migrations. Some are experimenting with AI-driven finance or supply chain.

Phase Zero is how you map your current constellation, a quantum enterprise design — what you have, what adds value, and what holds you back, perpetually evolving.

2. Resisting Vendor Gravity
SAP and system integrators want to pull you towards their orbit: deadlines, cloud-first roadmaps, “end of support” narratives.

Phase Zero is the counterweight — it ensures your strategy is business-led, not vendor-led. It helps you challenge assumptions, test options, and create a roadmap that aligns with your enterprise strategy, not SAP’s sales cycle.

3. Creating Modular Optionality – Value now
The Omniverse is not a one-way migration. You don’t have to commit to greenfield, brownfield, or a single trajectory.

Phase Zero opens up optionality: you can modernise ECC with AI overlays, carve out innovation layers, selectively move functions to S/4, establish intelligent data fabrics or run hybrid models. It’s about tactical moves that deliver value now, while keeping future pathways open.

4. Building a Resilient Narrative
Transformation in the Omniverse is messy — AI, regulation, robotics, and economics shift constantly. Phase Zero equips leaders with a coherent story: why are we investing, where we are focusing, how this links to strategy, and how today’s decisions will flex with tomorrow’s realities. This narrative is vital for boards, investors, and frontline teams alike.

5. Preparing for the Thinking Enterprise
In the Omniverse, enterprise AI agents will increasingly interact across silos, automating decisions and re-shaping work.

Phase Zero ensures you have the foundations for this future: a data fabric that whilst not clean can start to add value, rationalised processes, and a roadmap that makes space for innovation without being strangled by technical debt (SAP Upcycling enables the SAP Omniverse)

Phase Zero as the Compass

The SAP Omniverse demands clarity and choice. It punishes those who rush blindly into migrations or cling to outdated operating models.

Phase Zero is how you avoid both extremes. It’s not just preparation — it’s the compass that helps you:

Locate your true starting point
Define pragmatic routes forward
Balance short-term wins with long-term flexibility
Build confidence in leadership that your journey is intentional, not accidental

Closing Thought

In the SAP Omniverse, there is no single roadmap. There are multiple pathways, each with risks, opportunities, and trade-offs.

Phase Zero is what gives you the ability to navigate those pathways with confidence. Without it, you’re flying blind — pulled by vendor gravity, trapped by integrator assumptions, and exposed to unnecessary risk.

With it, you can move through the Omniverse with clarity, agility, and purpose.

At Dragon ERP, this is exactly how we help organisations: using Phase Zero not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a strategic navigation system for the realities of the SAP Omniverse.

If you need help speak to a Dragon.

Alisdair
alisdairbach@dragonerp.co.uk

About the Author

I have been watching singularity since I was a kid reading Asimovs Foundation and robot books.

What we are seeing is wholly predictable, but the consulting industry does not want to come to terms with the impact of AI and robotics edge on the enterprise ! why ? well it impacts the customers needs and how consultancies will drive revenue. To counter the lack of information and to counter a legacy consulting narrative, I have documented its cause and value to CIOs and CFOs. Ignore my content at your risk as AI has landed and the great race is on.

I labelled the arrival of Agentic AI and Robotics into the SAP ecosystem in 2024 as the SAP Omniverse.

But navigating everything - everywhere on past and present is complex, as a kid whilst watching Carl Sagans “Cosmos” I realised Quasars were the way in which a spaceship would navigate the milky way, Phase zero as a service is how you navigate the Omniverse.

Enjoy my blogs more to come on AI

SAP Phase Zero: Helping you navigate the SAP Omniverse