{"id":148806,"date":"2026-07-22T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/?p=148806"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:00:26","slug":"standard-bank-shares-sap-migration-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/africa\/2026\/07\/standard-bank-shares-sap-migration-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Standard Bank Shares 麻豆原创 Migration Success Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kathy Gibson reports from 麻豆原创 Connect in Kyalami \u2013 Standard Bank<\/a> is working with 麻豆原创 to build a resilient and adaptable business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa Padiachee<\/a>, executive: group CIO for corporate functions at Standard Bank Group, explains that the finance organisation was at a crossroads back in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to remediate for an end of life, end of support problem, and we also had a unique business problem we needed to solve for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the organisation has successfully migrated group reporting and the ledgers, and has completed two successful month-ends, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padiachee points out that technology is changing at such a rapid pace it is hard for organisations to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgentic artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting business, and it\u2019s no longer around experimentation and productive use cases. We are looking at enterprise-scale cases for real business value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big challenges in this scenario she says, are the workforce, the data and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But central to any change, she adds, is to retain a business agenda regardless of how hard it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTechnology is hard, but the hardest part of change is the soft side,\u201d Padiachee says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her particular project, it took months to get to the point of deciding to migrate to 麻豆原创 Rise. Having decided to go forward, the first order of priority was to bring the various teams together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about you and your internal teams. There are a number of stakeholders. And it is a long journey, so you have to ensure you keep people calm during the turbulence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there were not many role changes, Padiachee explains that there was a lot of rethinking about how work was executed. \u201cWith the new platforms, teams have the opportunity to solve things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padiachee\u2019s team built a foundation upon which business processes could be optimised. \u201cSo we partnered with the business to redesign the data processes. And reshaping the processes meant changing the governance and reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting people to change old habits means reinforcing that they had the ability to be more agile and more efficient, layering more functionality with AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padiachee had to balance complexity, with business, regulation and customers on one side, and a technology platform on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese competing priorities were a challenge,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I believe you have to understand where you are now and where you want to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a great believer in architecture: that builds a roadmap about how you want to transform. You can unpack the roadmap and incrementally deliver against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy vision, from a Standard Bank perspective, is that we have a roadmap and we are now layering on the next pieces of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovation is key, and it\u2019s important to allow teams to innovate, Padiachee adds. \u201cThis keeps them inspired and motivated, and lets them hone their own skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it needs to be in a controlled environment, partnering with vendors, keeping governance and guardrails in place, and safeguarding the data. This allows for agility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovations then need to be brought back into the mainstream systems, again with guardrails, in a controlled and reviewed manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the main leadership learning that Padiachee has taken away from the migration?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPartnership was key for me,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was important to build the right partnerships with all the stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders should also recognise that the project won\u2019t always go to plan. \u201cIt\u2019s OK if the project is red,\u201d Padiachee says. \u201cThis highlights issues and provides the focus to unpack and resolve those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She advises that this environment allows teams to give constructive feedback. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t just stand aside and watch the project \u2013 sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to help solve a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key to the migration\u2019s success was understanding the roles of IT and business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe led with a technology problem,\u201d Padiachee says. \u201cThat was the highest priority because we were facing end of life and support. We then partnered with business to optimise on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with rapid change needs to be built into any project, she adds. \u201cHave a clear strategy and roadmap, and review that roadmap every six months. Things change so quickly, you may need to pivot along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sponsorship is critical for project success, she points out. \u201cIf you start this journey, you need to ensure you have sponsorship from the right executives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big migration goes beyond technology and business: if organisations don\u2019t embed culture from the beginning, the project can stall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe laid out key roles for IT and business,\u201d Padiachee explains. \u201cWe had to bring the entire finance team with us, so business took the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can deliver the best technology, but if you don\u2019t have right culture you will fail. And you can\u2019t bring people in at the end \u2013 they have to be on board from the onset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the change management was training, which is an continual process, and onboarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it continues on the path of its current vision, Padiachee believes that Standard Bank will be a future-ready organisation, transformed, and running the best AI-enabled and autonomous finance technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concludes with some key takeaways from her experience in migrating to Rise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n