KPS Continues to Keep Promote HANA for Retail for Lidl After Failure

ByPrimary Researcher

Executive Summary

  • KPS published a page about how great it was that Lidl selected HANA for Retail.
  • After Lidl terminated this implementation, KPS still had the web page up about what a good idea the selection was.

Introduction to Continual Lying at KPS

We have frequently covered the inaccurate information on SAP consulting company websites. And this is a perfect example of how consulting companies live on a fantasy island.

Our References for This Article

If you want to see our references for this article and other related Brightwork articles, see this link.

Notice of Lack of Financial Bias: We have no financial ties to SAP or any other entity mentioned in this article.

  • This is published by a research entity, not some lowbrow entity that is part of the SAP ecosystem. 
  • Second, no one paid for this article to be written, and it is not pretending to inform you while being rigged to sell you software or consulting services. Unlike nearly every other article you will find from Google on this topic, it has had no input from any company's marketing or sales department. As you are reading this article, consider how rare this is. The vast majority of information on the Internet on SAP is provided by SAP, which is filled with false claims and sleazy consulting companies and SAP consultants who will tell any lie for personal benefit. Furthermore, SAP pays off all IT analysts -- who have the same concern for accuracy as SAP. Not one of these entities will disclose their pro-SAP financial bias to their readers. 

KPS and HANA for Retail

Here is a direct quotation from the Lidl project, which is on KPS’s website.

Lidl Went Live??

“Lidl went live with a new electronic merchandise management and information system based on SAP for Retail powered by SAP HANA at its Austrian stores in May 2015.”

“This new platform is making us fit for the future,” explains Lidl’s Alexander Sonnenmoser, Divisional Board Member for Business Technology, who is responsible for the company’s entire IT.”

Interestingly, several years after this, Lidl terminated the project. Interestingly, this web page describing the “success” of going live has not been replaced by a web page describing the failure. It has not even been removed. The great decision to use SAP for Retail powered by SAP HANA is still on KPS’s website at this link.

There are more amusing quotations.

Problematic Legacy Systems?

“The company’s legacy merchandise management system, which had been developed in-house, was coming up against the limits of its capacity for innovation and enhancement. It was hampered by process breaks, redundant master data storage, integration gaps and functional restrictions. Moreover, a combination of myriad interfaces and modules and a decentral server structure was making the task of running and maintaining the system increasingly complex.”

Interestingly, this system was less problematic and better than SAP Retail for HANA, as they are now returning to it.

Opting for the Latest Technology?

“We were looking to map integrated process chains right through from the vendor to the customer ‒ rather than individual functions,” explains Sonnenmoser. “That’s why we opted for the very latest technology,” adds René Sandführ, Executive Vice President IT ERP Systems

Hmmmm… it sounds like they should have used something more proven.

Cutting Edge SAP Implementation Methodology?

“Lidl’s new system was implemented in a joint project with partner KPS, which took a highly agile approach based on its Rapid Transformation Method.”

Perhaps this methodology should be questioned because, after seven years and 500 million euros, KPS’s system will not be used.

A Foundation for the Future?

“The new platform SAP for Retail powered by SAP HANA is the foundation needed to continue implementing processes efficiently in IT systems at Lidl. It is time to reduce complexity and focus on providing simplicity for the customers and employees through forward-thinking concepts.”

It may be time, but it is not going to happen. Lidl’s investment in this solution has been washed away.

Promoting an Implementation that Failed

KPS will propose the success of this solution after it has failed. And, of course, the completeness and quality of Retail powered by SAP HANA before any evidence existed. This is lying both before the fact and after the fact. The information provided by so many of the SAP consulting companies has nothing to do with what is true. It has to do with what allows companies to sell.