🔥 Series: Inconvenient truths that SAP reveals.
In many companies it is heard: "the system is slow", "users don't understand", "they need to be trained more". But what if the problem is not the users, but how the system was designed?
This third installment addresses an uncomfortable but crucial truth:
Many ERPs are designed for processes, but not for people.
And here, SAP is once again the mirror: not because it fails, but because it demands a digital ergonomics that was often ignored in the implementation.
🧠 What is digital ergonomics in SAP... and why does it matter?
Digital ergonomics doesn't just mean "nice interface". It means functional design that adapts to how users think and work.
At SAP, this can be the difference between a smooth operation and daily frustration. Digital ergonomics is essential in environments such as production, logistics, agriculture or services, where time and accuracy rule.
🔍 Real examples that expose the problem.
- 🏭 Production: The operator has to make six clicks and switch screens twice to record a consumption. He prefers to write it down on paper. Result: out of sync in inventory.
- 🚛 Logistics: The manager must guess the customer's code because the SAP interface does not suggest it. Result: errors, wrongly issued documents, and complaints to after-sales.
- 🧾 Purchases: The user searches for materials by name, but the master only contains technical keys. Result: calls, delays and frustration.
This is not slowness. It is cognitive fatigue induced by a poorly designed system. And yes: it is a digital ergonomics problem in SAP.
🧩 SAP does allow for solutions... but they are rarely implemented well.
SAP is robust, and its design can be adapted to users. Functionalities such as SAP Fiori, contextual flows, simplified screens or intelligent accesses exist... but are neglected "for lack of time".
The consequence? The user adapts in his own way, evades the system or invents alternate paths with Excel.
SAP offers technical tools to extend its functionality beyond the standard. Through its Service Layer and APIs, companies - or their technology partners - can develop customized interfaces that radically improve the user experience.
A concrete example is the use of Microsoft Blazor to create more agile, modern and empathetic front-end applications that communicate directly with SAP via APIs, seamlessly integrating processes without sacrificing usability.
🚦 How do you know if you have a digital ergonomics problem in SAP?
- Does your team use Excel even if you have SAP?
- Are tickets generated for tasks that should be simple?
- Does the user need help every time he/she issues a document?
If you answered yes to more than one... your problem is not a system problem. It is by design and experience.
🛠️ What can be done? How to redesign the experience without destroying SAP
- Map flows from the user's perspectivenot only of the process.
- Listen to those who operate SAPwithout justifying the present. Ask and take note.
- Prototype new views or screens using SAP Fiori or other tools.
- Calculate the cost of not changingerrors, downtime, frustration, turnover.
- Empower with empathyIf someone doesn't understand SAP, first check the design, then the user.
🧩 Conclusion: no user experience, no efficiency in SAP
SAP is not just a control tool. It is a platform for constant interaction. If those who use it feel they have to fight the system, its value is lost.
👉 Redesigning SAP for the user is not a luxury. It is an act of operational empathy. Digital ergonomics is not optional if we want the digital transformation to be real.
🧠 Are you designing screens... or designing experiences?
📖 If you haven't read the previous articles in the series:
- Chapter 1: When the system is the message
- Chapter 2: SAP and operational informality
