What is SAP Rise?
- SAP RISE is a subscription-based cloud service for businesses using SAP.
- Includes SAP S/4HANA Cloud, cloud infrastructure, and business transformation tools.
- Offers flexibility with private or public cloud hosting options.
- Reduces IT complexity by bundling software, hosting, and support.
- Ideal for companies moving from on-premise to cloud ERP.
What is SAP Rise
SAP’s ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) has been the digital backbone for many large enterprises for decades. However, a major shift is underway: SAP is ending mainstream support for ECC by 2027, prompting customers to move toward its next-generation ERP, SAP S/4HANA.
In parallel, SAP has introduced RISE with SAP, a new cloud-centric subscription model that changes how enterprises license and run SAP software. For CIOs and IT decision-makers, these changes bring both urgency and opportunity.
This article analyzes what the end of ECC means, how S/4HANA and RISE with SAP differ from the status quo, and strategic recommendations to navigate the transition.
We’ll explore ECC’s legacy role and sunset, the impact on operations and strategy, an overview of S/4HANA’s innovations, an in-depth look at RISE with SAP (its benefits, drawbacks, and licensing implications), and five strategic recommendations – covering licensing strategy, financial planning, contract negotiations, migration approach, and risk mitigation – to help enterprises chart a successful path forward.
Read CIO Playbook: Migrating from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA.
SAP ECC: The Legacy Core of Enterprise IT and Why It’s Ending
SAP ECC (ERP Central Component) is the core of SAP’s traditional ERP suite, managing everything from finance and HR to supply chain and manufacturing in a modular, integrated fashion. Its flexibility and richness made it a standard for large enterprises worldwide.
ECC’s modular design allows for extensive customization, but it also means that changes in one area can impact others, requiring careful governance of upgrades and modifications. For years, ECC 6.0 (part of SAP Business Suite) has been the “stable workhorse” of enterprise IT – so why is SAP planning to pull the plug on mainstream support?
The key reason is SAP’s strategic shift to SAP S/4HANA, a modern in-memory-based ERP introduced in 2015. SAP wants to focus innovation on the new platform and encourage customers to adopt it, rather than maintaining two parallel ERP product lines. E
CC is built on an older technology stack (it can run on third-party databases and the classic SAP GUI interface) and was not originally designed for the real-time analytics and cloud capabilities that businesses now demand.
As SAP puts it, the decision to sunset ECC by 2027 reflects “the fast-shifting nature of the digital age,” prompting businesses to move to a platform that leverages advanced analytics, in-memory computing, and a modern user experience. In short, SAP is retiring ECC to pave the way for the future – S/4HANA – and to ensure customers are on an “intelligent enterprise” platform that can continuously evolve.
Importantly, SAP has extended the ECC support deadline once already. Initially, mainstream support was set to end in 2025, but in 2020, SAP extended it to 2027, giving customers more breathing room. (There is an option for extended maintenance until 2030 at additional cost, for those who absolutely cannot migrate by 2027.)
After 2027, ECC will enter either customer-specific maintenance (with no new fixes or legal updates without a special contract) or third-party support, effectively becoming a legacy system. SAP has signaled that 2027 is a firm deadline this time – mainstream innovation is already focused on S/4HANA, and enhancements to ECC beyond critical fixes have been halted. CIOs must interpret this as a clear message: continuing to run ECC past this date means using an out-of-date system.
To put the scale of impact in perspective, SAP ECC is deeply entrenched in large enterprises – it’s estimated that roughly 70% of Fortune 500 companies run SAP in some form. Yet many have been slow to move: as of 2021, only about 33% of SAP customers in the Americas had completed a migration to S/4HANA. Even by mid-2024, industry data showed that over 60% of SAP ECC customers had still not purchased S/4HANA licenses – i.e., the majority had yet to make the transition.
This underscores the urgency for those still on ECC: time is running out, and a wave of late migrations could overwhelm resources. In the next section, we examine the challenges that the end of life of ECC poses for large enterprises if they don’t act in time.
Read 15 Things CIOs Need to Know About SAP ECC End of Life and RISE with SAP.
The Impact of ECC’s End-of-Life on Large Enterprises
When a core system like SAP ECC faces end-of-life, the impacts are broad. For large enterprises, the operational risks and strategic challenges of ECC’s support ending are significant:
- Loss of Support and Security Risks: After support ends, ECC will no longer receive regular patches, updates, or security fixes. This leaves organizations vulnerable. No patches means increased exposure to cyberattacks, as new vulnerabilities won’t be addressed. In today’s environment of sophisticated attacks, running an unpatched ERP system is a huge risk. CIOs also worry about regulatory compliance – SAP regularly updates ECC to comply with changing tax laws, trade regulations, and other relevant updates. Without these, companies could quickly fall out of compliance post-2027. (Extended support from SAP, if opted, comes at a high premium and even then does not deliver new features, only basic support.) In short, staying on ECC beyond its life means increasing security and compliance risks with each passing month.
- Operational Disruption and Cost: Running a legacy ERP without vendor support can become an expensive headache. Companies may face higher costs to maintain ECC internally or via third-party support, and any new issues may require custom fixes. SAP has stated that continuing ECC maintenance after 2027 will incur an additional premium, reportedly around 2% on annual support fees per year beyond 2027. If nothing is done, ECC systems will transition to “customer-specific maintenance,” where even legal changes or interoperability updates are not provided. That means internal IT teams would need to find workarounds for new requirements, raising IT overhead. Some organizations consider third-party support providers to avoid SAP’s fees, but that typically yields only support for existing functionality – no innovation. Moreover, as time passes, the ecosystem of skills and integrations around ECC will decline, making it harder to find expertise or compatible add-ons. All of this translates to a higher long-term total cost of ownership (TCO) if one tries to cling to ECC.
- Strategic Stagnation: Perhaps the biggest impact is strategic. Not migrating off ECC means forgoing the innovations SAP has built into S/4HANA and related platforms. SAP S/4HANA comes with over 600 new functional improvements and modern capabilities that ECC lacks – from real-time analytics and machine learning to streamlined processes (which we’ll explore in the next section). An organization that stays on ECC will miss out on these benefits, essentially freezing its digital evolution on an aging platform. This can directly hurt competitiveness. For example, companies on S/4 can perform real-time financial closes and embedded analytics, whereas an ECC shop might still be running overnight batch jobs and using Excel extractions. Over time, the gap widens: business processes on ECC may become slower and less efficient compared to peers who have modernized. In a world of AI, IoT, and rapid data-driven decision-making, running a legacy ERP could impede a company’s ability to innovate and respond to market changes. As one SAP partner noted, refusing to migrate “impede[s] the digital transformation” of the company, limiting adoption of cutting-edge technologies and embedded intelligence that S/4HANA offers.
- Competitive Pressure: By 2027, many competitors and industry peers will have moved to S/4HANA. Those who haven’t will feel increasing competitive pressure. Companies that have successfully migrated report gains in productivity and efficiency, reduced manual work, and better decision-making. These translate to cost savings and agility that can improve market position. Enterprises stuck on ECC not only face higher operating costs (due to inefficiencies and workaround processes) but also risk appearing as technology laggards in the eyes of investors and partners. It’s telling that SAP’s deadline itself is driving industry momentum – ‘2027 is the date that will drive us and our industry for the next few years,” as one SAP community commentator put it. No CIO wants to be the one running a “corporate relic” ERP while competitors forge ahead.
- Resource and Skills Crunch: A more tactical, yet important, impact is the upcoming talent crunch for S/4HANA migration skills. As the deadline nears, the demand for consultants, SAP experts, and internal project teams to execute migrations is skyrocketing. If too many companies wait until 2026-2027 to start projects, there simply may not be enough expert resources to go around. This could inflate the cost of projects and lengthen timelines for those who lag. CIOs must consider this scheduling risk: starting early means better access to skilled resources, while waiting could leave your project understaffed or result in higher costs. The ‘2027 wave” is a real phenomenon – models predict a potential skills crisis if many organizations all jump at the last minute. In practical terms, this means higher consulting rates and longer wait times for SAP’s attention as the deadline approaches.
In summary, the end of life for ECC forces a choice: either incur growing risks and costs by keeping an unsupported system, or take on the challenge of migrating to S/4HANA (or an alternative platform). The prudent view for large enterprises is to treat this as an opportunity for transformation rather than merely an IT problem.
Yes, there are significant hurdles to migration (which we’ll address with strategies later). Still, the cost of doing nothing is arguably higher – loss of security, compliance, support, and a competitive edge. Next, let’s delve into what the target state, SAP S/4HANA, brings to the table and how it differs from ECC in concrete terms.
Read RISE with SAP vs Traditional On-Premise SAP Licensing.
SAP S/4HANA: The Next-Generation ERP and How It Differs from ECC
SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s flagship next-gen ERP suite, released in 2015 as the successor to ECC. It represents a major technological and functional leap. Unlike ECC, which could run on various databases, S/4HANA runs exclusively on the SAP HANA in-memory database, leveraging HANA’s speed for real-time processing.
SAP rebuilt the software to take advantage of in-memory computing, simplified data models, and modern user interface principles. For CIOs evaluating the move, it’s crucial to understand how S/4HANA is different from ECC – not only in terms of IT architecture but also in business process design and user experience.
At a high level, S/4HANA includes 80-90% of ECC’s core functionality, but modernizes or reimagines many aspects. Here are some key differences and changes enterprises should expect when transitioning to S/4HANA:
- Database and Performance: ECC can run on third-party databases, including Oracle, IBM Db2, and SQL Server. In contrast, S/4HANA runs only on SAP’s HANA database, which is in-memory. This means data is largely stored in RAM, enabling much faster transaction processing and real-time analytics. For example, long-running batch jobs in ECC, such as MRP or financial reconciliation, can often be run live in S/4 due to HANA’s performance. The trade-off is that moving to S/4HANA likely requires a database migration (if you’re not already on HANA) and an investment in HANA-skilled database administrators (DBAs). But the payoff is significant improvements in reporting speed and the ability to analyze big data in real-time – a cornerstone of the “real-time enterprise” promise of S/4.
- User Experience (UI): SAP S/4HANA introduces SAP Fiori as its primary user interface, replacing or complementing the traditional SAP GUI. Fiori is a modern, role-based, web-friendly interface that provides a more intuitive and consistent user experience across devices. Users get interactive tiles, drill-down analytical apps, and a friendlier look and feel, which can reduce training time and improve productivity. In ECC, most users use the older GUI with transaction codes – an effective approach, but often considered not user-friendly. CIOs can expect a significant improvement in user experience (UX) in S/4HANA, which could drive better user adoption and satisfaction. (Of course, this also means change management is needed – users will need training to adjust to Fiori apps after years of SAP GUI.)
- Data Model Simplification: S/4HANA’s data model has been dramatically simplified. Many aggregate and index tables in ECC have been removed, allowing HANA to compute totals on the fly. A prime example is the universal journal (table ACDOCA), which merges the once-separate Finance (FI) and Controlling (CO) data into a single source of truth. In ECC, FI and CO required reconciliation because the data was stored in different tables. In S/4, FI and CO are unified, eliminating the need for reconciliation steps. This simplification extends to areas like material management, where the MATDOC table in S/4HANA replaces multiple inventory tables in ECC.Additionally, many legacy tables, over 25 in logistics, were eliminated or replaced in S/4. For IT, a simpler data model means fewer inconsistencies and faster analytics, but it also means that custom ABAP programs that read old tables may need to be adjusted. Expect a thorough custom code check as part of migration – e.g., any ECC code referencing removed tables (like BKPF, BSEG for finance totals, or LIS tables for logistics) must be updated to use the new structures.
- Functional Innovations and Module Changes: S/4HANA isn’t just a technical upgrade; SAP took the opportunity to revamp certain business processes:
- In Logistics and Supply Chain, S/4HANA embeds capabilities that were separate add-ons in ECC. For instance, Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) and Advanced Available-to-Promise (aATP) are built into S/4 (replacing ECC’s WM module and basic ATP) to provide more advanced warehousing and order promise functionality out of the box. The old SAP APO (Advanced Planning and Optimization) functions for forecasting and MRP have their core components embedded as PP/DS and live MRP in S/4, allowing for real-time MRP runs instead of batch processing.
- Sales and Customer Management: The customer and vendor master data in ECC, which were separate, are unified in S/4HANA under the Business Partner concept. This is a significant data model change: companies must migrate their customer and vendor records into the new Business Partner format. Still, it yields a single common master data for all partner roles, simplifying data maintenance and enabling richer relationships (e.g., a single entity can be both a customer and a supplier).
- Finance: Aside from the universal journal, New Asset Accounting is mandatory in S/4 (where ECC allowed classic asset accounting), and Revenue Accounting and Recognition (RAR) is introduced to handle new accounting standards (IFRS15) – replacing ECC’s SD Revenue Recognition module. The credit management functionality in ECC (FI-AR and SD Credit Control) is replaced by Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) Credit Management in S/4, which is more integrated and requires setting up the new FSCM component.
- Simplified Processes: SAP has often highlighted that S/4HANA removes historical artifacts. For example, customer rebates in ECC (handled through SD rebate agreements) are replaced by Condition Contract Settlement in S/4, part of the Settlement Management framework – a more flexible approach for rebate and incentive programs. Many such changes mean that certain ECC transactions or configs are obsolete in S/4 and must be re-implemented using new approaches.
- Embedded Analytics and AI: S/4HANA comes with built-in analytics, via SAP Fiori analytical apps and SAP Analytics Cloud integration, that allow for real-time insights from transactional data. This was only possible with separate business intelligence (BI) systems in the ECC era. It also includes options for predictive analytics, machine learning scenarios (e.g., SAP Cash Application for automated matching, embedded in S/4), and even conversational interfaces. While ECC could integrate with these technologies, S/4 has them more natively integrated – SAP brands S/4 as an enabler of the “Intelligent Enterprise,” ready to plug into IoT, AI, RPA, etc., more seamlessly.
- Deployment Options (On-Premise vs. Cloud): ECC was traditionally on-premise (or hosted on IaaS) with a perpetual license model. S/4HANA is offered in multiple editions, including on-premise (traditional licensing) and cloud editions (S/4HANA Cloud, which comes in public multi-tenant or private cloud flavors). Functionally, the on-prem and private cloud editions are similar (both can have the full scope of modules, just different licensing). In contrast, the public cloud edition is a more streamlined SaaS with quarterly updates and some limitations on customization. This is important: enterprises can choose to treat S/4HANA as a regular on-prem upgrade or as a move to SaaS. We will discuss “RISE with SAP” next, which is a key program related to cloud deployment. But even without RISE, S/4HANA gives CIOs the chance to rethink their infrastructure strategy – to continue managing their ERP themselves or let SAP or the cloud handle it.
In summary, SAP S/4HANA represents a technical rejuvenation and a modernization of business processes. Companies moving from ECC to S/4 will find many familiar things (90% of core processes are similar), but also a lot of changes – some minor (field length extensions, e.g., material codes can be 40 characters in S/4 vs 18 in ECC), others major (e.g., the mandatory move to Business Partner master data, or reimplementing custom code to adapt to the data model changes).
The benefits of S/4HANA are well-documented: improved process efficiency, faster analytics and reporting, better user experience, and opportunities to leverage emerging tech. Surveys have found that improved efficiency and user satisfaction are the top benefits reported by early adopters of S/4HANA. SAP itself notes that S/4HANA can lead to lower total cost of ownership in the long run through simplification and automation.
That said, getting to S/4HANA is a major project – not just a technical upgrade but a real transformation. This is where SAP’s newer offering, RISE with SAP, comes into play, aiming to make the journey easier (or at least more packaged) for customers.
In the next section, we’ll do an in-depth analysis of RISE with SAP, including its benefits, drawbacks, and what it means for your licensing and cloud strategy.
RISE with SAP: What It Is, Benefits & Drawbacks, and Licensing Implications
In January 2021, SAP introduced RISE with SAP, branding it as a “business transformation as a service” offering. RISE with SAP is not a new ERP product per se, but rather a bundled subscription offering that packages SAP S/4HANA (in a cloud edition) with a collection of additional services and cloud infrastructure under a single contract.
SAP’s goal with RISE is to simplify the move to S/4HANA and the cloud by providing an all-in-one solution – one contract, one vendor (SAP) taking responsibility for software, hosting, and support.
So, what exactly does RISE with SAP include? In SAP’s description, RISE with SAP bundles five core elements: SAP S/4HANA Cloud (the digital core ERP itself, which can be private or public edition), SAP Business Process Intelligence (tools to analyze and optimize processes, acquired via Signavio), SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) credits (for integration and extension development),
SAP Business Network access (e.g., limited access to networks like Ariba for suppliers, Asset Intelligence Network, etc.), and some embedded tools and services (like readiness checks, technical migration tools, and SAP support services).
In essence, RISE provides not just the S/4 software, but also cloud infrastructure (on your choice of hyperscaler: AWS, Azure, or GCP)and services to help you get started with migration – all for a subscription fee.
Benefits of RISE with SAP:
- Single Contract & Simplified Engagement: One of the biggest selling points of RISE is the simplicity of a single contract for what would traditionally be multiple agreements. Normally, a customer buying S/4 would need a software license agreement, a support agreement, a hosting contract with a cloud provider (or a hardware purchase for on-premises use), and perhaps a systems integrator contract, among other things. With RISE, SAP consolidates many of these into one: you pay SAP a subscription and SAP takes care of the software, the infrastructure (provisioned in SAP’s cloud or a hyperscaler of your choice), and basic technical management. This “one hand to shake” approach can reduce the complexity of procurement and vendor management. CIOs appreciate having a single point of contact if things go wrong – SAP is accountable for SLAs, rather than finger-pointing between the software vendor and hosting provider. For organizations that found SAP licensing and deployment too complex, RISE offers a more as-a-service feel: one bill, one point of contact.
- Faster Cloud Adoption with Flexibility: RISE is fundamentally about moving to cloud ERP on your terms. SAP allows RISE customers to choose the hyperscaler (Azure, AWS, GCP) for hosting their S/4 system, giving some flexibility to align with existing cloud preferences (e.g., if you already have a strategic partnership with Azure, you can host your RISE S/4 there – SAP will just manage it for you). You can also choose between a Public and Private cloud edition for S/4HANA. The Private Edition under RISE is essentially your instance of S/4HANA, with full functionality and the ability to carry over customizations, hosted in a private cloud. The Public Edition is a more standardized, multi-tenant SaaS. This flexibility means RISE can cater to those who need more customization (via the private option) or those who are fine with standardized processes (public option).Additionally, RISE includes tools to accelerate migration – for example, SAP provides assessments and some automated conversion tools as part of the package, aiming to remove guesswork and reduce project time. SAP even claims RISE can “reduce TCO by up to 20%” compared to a traditional on-site ERP deployment. (this figure should be taken with a grain of salt, as actual savings vary, but it’s an assertion that bundling and cloud infrastructure can be more cost-effective in the long run).
- Built-in Transformation Resources: The inclusion of Business Process Intelligence (BPI) and other tools in RISE is a notable benefit. SAP acquired Signavio and integrated its process mining and analysis tools to help customers analyze their current processes (in ECC) and identify ways to improve or map them to S/4 best practices. This means a RISE customer can more easily identify process simplification or optimization opportunities during the migration. Also, the SAP Business Network starter pack included gives access to connect with suppliers or partners (such as Ariba Network), which can jump-start collaboration benefits. Essentially, SAP is bundling not just the core ERP but also some of the surrounding components that help achieve the promised business outcomes. For a CIO, this means you get a more comprehensive toolkit to drive business transformation, not just a technical migration. As one analysis put it, RISE is “more than just the migration to S/4HANA” – it’s packaged as a holistic transformation offering, including process redesign and intelligent technologies.
- Licensing and Financial Incentives: RISE, being a subscription-based service, can be financially attractive in certain ways. It converts your spend to OPEX (operational expense) instead of CAPEX, which some CFOs prefer for flexibility. It also protects existing investments by allowing conversion of your current SAP licenses/maintenance into the RISE subscription value – SAP has offered programs where the unused portion of your existing ECC maintenance can be credited toward the RISE subscription fee (so you’re not “double paying” during overlap). Additionally, SAP has been known to give discounts or incentives to early RISE adopters. For example, if you’re a strategic customer, SAP might include extra services, more BTP credits, or training as part of the deal. The Full User Equivalent (FUE) licensing model used in RISE, which pools user licenses into a flexible usage metric, can also be a boon – it simplifies user licensing by allowing you to have a mix of user types without needing to purchase each type separately. For instance, instead of buying 100 professional user licenses and 200 limited licenses, you might contract for a specific number of FUEs, which you can allocate as needed (e.g., 1 FUE can cover 5 “Core” users or 30 self-service users). This model provides more flexibility to adjust user roles over time without requiring license renegotiations.
- Reduced Infrastructure Burden: With RISE, SAP (and its hyperscale partners) take over running the infrastructure and basic system operations. Companies no longer need to maintain their data center hardware for SAP if they fully embrace RISE. This can free up IT teams from low-level tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities or even reduce headcount and costs related to basic administration. For firms with aging hardware or those looking to exit the data center business, RISE provides a quick pathway to do so. It’s essentially SAP outsourcing plus software in one. Also, SAP guarantees certain SLAs (service levels) in RISE – by default, about 99.7% uptime for production, which may be higher than what some companies achieve on-premises. (Higher SLAs like 99.9% can be negotiated, though it may cost more.)
Despite these benefits, RISE with SAP is not a one-size-fits-all solution and may not be suitable for everyone.
There are important drawbacks and considerations to weigh:
- “Lock-In” to SAP’s Cloud: When you go with RISE, you are essentially committing your core ERP to SAP’s managed cloud for the foreseeable future. You give up some control. For example, you cannot run RISE solutions on your infrastructure – it’s cloud-only. If your strategy later shifts to bring systems back in-house or switch to another cloud provider directly, it may be complicated and costly to exit a RISE contract. Analysts have noted that the motive behind RISE is to move customers to SAP’s cloud model and “lock you in” via subscription. All major vendors seek lock-in, of course, but with ERP it’s especially sticky. CIOs should go in with eyes open: after transitioning to RISE, moving off (either back to on-prem or to a different SaaS) would effectively be a brand new migration project. Ensure that the comfort of one contract is worth the loss of flexibility in the future.
- Less Negotiation Leverage on Infrastructure: Under RISE, SAP handles the contract with the hyperscaler (Azure, AWS, or GCP) on your behalf. While convenient, this means you don’t directly negotiate cloud infrastructure pricing or terms – it’s baked into the RISE subscription. Some enterprises with significant cloud spend might get better discounts or terms by negotiating directly with cloud providers. Those benefits are somewhat hidden inside RISE. Indeed, it’s observed that hyperscaler cost transparency is lacking in RISE deals – customers can’t tell how much of their fee is for infrastructure versus software. This could lead to uncertainty or suspicion that you’re not getting the best deal. If you already have large contracts with, say, AWS, you might prefer to leverage those for an S/4 deployment rather than pay SAP to act as an intermediary. RISE essentially isolates your IaaS strategy for SAP workloads from the rest of your cloud strategy. Some companies find this “island” approach unappealing if they’ve standardized cloud management and want direct control.
- Complex (and Potentially Costly) Contracts: Ironically, while RISE is meant to simplify, the contract negotiation for RISE can be complex in its way. The bundle has many components, and not everything may be included by default, which means you must carefully review what’s in scope. For example, services like disaster recovery, extra non-production systems, or higher availability tiers might cost extra. Without a comprehensive negotiation, customers may assume something is covered when it’s not, leading to unexpected costs later. Additionally, some commercial terms that customers may have been used to in their old contracts, such as certain price protections, flexibility in swapping licenses, or volume discounts, are not automatically carried over into RISE agreements. You need to negotiate those anew. Renewal terms also need attention – if you sign a 5-year RISE subscription, what happens when it renews? You could be facing a significant uptick if not capped. In short, navigating a RISE contract requires just as much savvy as a traditional SAP contract, to ensure you aren’t giving up important rights or vastly overpaying in the long run. Many advisors suggest getting expert help to negotiate RISE deals due to these nuances.
- Functional Parity and Limitations: While S/4HANA, especially in a private cloud, can offer the full functionality of on-premises systems under RISE, certain aspects change in a cloud model. You might be restricted from certain kinds of modifications – SAP encourages “clean core” (no or low customization) in the cloud. If your ECC is heavily customized, moving to RISE (particularly the public cloud edition) could mean dropping or reengineering customizations to fit the standard. Also, integrating third-party solutions may be more challenging if they cannot be deployed in the RISE environment. One risk cited is that customers cannot directly install third-party add-ons in the RISE environment, as they can on-premises. These must be managed via SAP. This can limit flexibility or require you to involve SAP for things you previously did yourself. Moreover, legacy software or modules that aren’t supported in S/4HANA Cloud become an issue – for instance, if you use an industry solution or a highly customized module, you need to confirm it’s supported in the RISE context. RISE is best suited for customers who are willing to embrace standardization or have mostly mainstream SAP usage. Those with very unique or bespoke extensions might feel constrained.
- Cost Considerations: There is an ongoing debate about whether RISE saves costs. SAP’s claim of TCO reduction comes from eliminating hardware capital costs and streamlining operations. However, some customers find that when they price it out, RISE’s subscription can be equal to or higher than their current annual spend when including all extras. The shift from a capital license plus yearly maintenance (which might be around 22% of the license cost) to a pure subscription could be more expensive over the long term, depending on how SAP prices the deal. Current SAP customers often have significant sunk costs in licenses; if those are converted to a subscription, one must ensure they receive credit. SAP’s recent move to retire some conversion credits, forcing contract conversions, means that many customers will have to do a full value conversion anyway. Also, with RISE all-in-one, you might pay for bundled components you don’t fully use. For example, if you don’t heavily use the Business Network or BTP credits, that value might not be realized, yet it’s in your price. In short, RISE might not be the cheapest option for everyone – its value lies in simplification and cloud acceleration, but each enterprise should run its financial comparison. One analysis pointed out that companies averse to moving from CAPEX to OPEX might resist RISE purely because of accounting preferences or uncertainties about long-term costs.
- Impact on Existing Relationships and Skills: If you have a long-standing outsourcing partner or an internal BASIS team managing your SAP, switching to RISE could disrupt these arrangements. For instance, you may currently be getting a good deal on infrastructure or have a third party managing SAP operations. RISE would replace some of those roles with SAP-provided services. This can strain relationships with other vendors or lead to internal team redundancies. It’s not necessarily a negative (maybe it’s an efficiency), but CIOs should be prepared to reallocate or reduce the internal SAP technical staff or find new roles for them, focusing on value-add activities like innovation on BTP rather than basic administration. Additionally, RISE’s operational model is SAP’s standard approach – some customers have reported that it may be less flexible or responsive than having your team or a familiar managed service provider (MSP). Essentially, you’re betting on SAP (or their chosen hosting partner) to provide excellent service.
To summarize RISE with SAP: It’s an attractive offering for migrating to S/4HANA in the cloud, providing simplicity and a faster route for transformation, but it comes with trade-offs in control, flexibility, and potentially higher costs. CIOs considering RISE should weigh the convenience of a one-stop shop against the loss of direct control and ensure they negotiate the contract carefully.
For some large enterprises, a hybrid approach might even make sense (e.g., moving some systems via RISE, others via a more traditional path, or using RISE for a period and then reevaluating). Remember, RISE is optional – you can still migrate to S/4HANA without RISE, either on-premises or in your cloud tenancy.
SAP is pushing RISE hard (sales tactics include offering less favorable quotes for traditional licenses to steer customers toward RISE), but the best choice depends on your company’s needs.
Having explored ECC’s end-of-life, S/4HANA’s new world, and RISE with SAP’s pros/cons, let’s turn to actionable guidance. In the next section, we present five strategic recommendations to help large enterprises successfully navigate this transition.
Five Strategic Recommendations for Navigating the Transition
Transitioning from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA (and potentially adopting RISE with SAP) is a complex journey that spans technology, finance, contracts, and risk management.
Based on industry insights, here are five strategic recommendations for CIOs and IT leaders at large enterprises to navigate this change proactively and smoothly:
1. Reevaluate and Optimize Your SAP Licensing Strategy
Take a hard look at your current SAP license landscape and future needs. The move to S/4HANA often coincides with a shift from perpetual to subscription licensing models. Start by assessing what you own: your existing ECC user licenses, engine licenses, and contractual agreements.
Engage with SAP early to understand your options for conversion. SAP has offered conversion programs – essentially two paths historically: “product conversion” (swapping licenses line by line) and “contract conversion” (a wholesale exchange of your ECC contract for an S/4 contract).
Recently, SAP retired the product conversion option for S/4HANA, meaning most customers now must perform a full contract conversion or opt for RISE. In practice, this means you will terminate your old ECC license contract and sign a new S/4HANA agreement (either as a perpetual license or a subscription). Treat this negotiation as a critical project in its own right.
Read SAP Rise Negotiation and Contractual Challenges.
Consider whether RISE with SAP’s subscription model or a traditional on-prem license is better for your strategy. If you prefer to manage your own CapEx and environment (or use a preferred cloud partner), you can stick with perpetual licensing and standard S/4HANA contracts.
Ensure SAP provides you a quote for S/4HANA perpetual licensing – as noted, they may push RISE, but it’s within your rights to get a comparison. On the other hand, if the one-stop subscription appeals to you, evaluate the RISE model carefully.
Note that under RISE, you cannot buy additional perpetual licenses – growth will be achieved through subscription expansion. Also, existing ECC licenses don’t just carry over; typically, SAP will credit a portion of your existing maintenance payments toward the RISE subscription, often referred to as a migration credit or conversion discount. Scrutinize the offer – what percentage of your current maintenance spend will be recognized?
And ensure you retire licenses you don’t need. Many enterprises have shelfware (unused licenses) from ECC. A migration is a good time to eliminate this from your future contract or convert it into something useful, such as turning unused engine licenses into user licenses, if possible.
Also, plan for the new licensing metrics. S/4HANA introduces Digital Access (document-based licensing) for indirect use scenarios, such as when non-SAP systems create SAP business documents. SAP has offered an amnesty program for Digital Access; make sure to address this by either accepting the digital access model or negotiating it into your contract to avoid any surprises.
If you choose RISE, ask how indirect usage is covered. Often, document licensing is still relevant, but SAP may bundle some of it. Clarify this in the contract.
Finally, align your licensing strategy with timing. You don’t want to be caught paying for both ECC and S/4 for too long. Work with SAP to structure a deal (whether RISE or perpetual) that allows for a transitional period, during which you can run ECC and S/4 in parallel during migration without incurring double costs. SAP typically offers some breathing room, for example, by using ECC in production for a limited time after S/4 goes live. Get that in writing.
And if you foresee not being off ECC by 2027, plan for that in your strategy: perhaps negotiate an extension or know the cost of extended maintenance. As a contingency, you could even price out third-party support as a fallback for ECC in case migration delays – simply having that option (e.g., Rimini Street or others) can be a negotiation lever with SAP.
In summary, be proactive and detailed in licensing planning: the earlier you determine the target licensing model, the smoother your budgeting will be and the fewer compliance issues you will face.
2. Build a Multi-Year Financial Plan for the Transition
Migrating to S/4HANA is not just an IT project; it’s a business investment. CIOs should partner with CFOs to create a clear financial plan that covers the entire journey: from ECC today to S/4HANA (and possibly RISE) in the future.
Key elements to consider:
- Migration Project Costs: Estimate the cost of the technical migration or implementation. This includes software costs (e.g., new license or subscription fees), systems integrator or consultant fees, internal labor, data migration, testing, training, and change management. Depending on the size of your enterprise, an S/4HANA migration can cost anywhere from a few million to hundreds of millions of dollars for a global company – it’s substantial. Use SAP’s tools or external advisors to perform an assessment. Break the project into phases and attach costs to each (e.g., sandbox and POC, development and remediation, testing cycles, deployment). Don’t underestimate data cleansing and migration efforts – many companies find that a lot of effort goes into extracting, transforming, and loading data into the new S/4 structures and validating it.
- Infrastructure and Cloud Costs: If you plan to stay on-premises, factor in any hardware refreshes or expansions for HANA. (HANA appliances or certified hardware can be expensive.) If moving to the cloud (whether via RISE or self-managed on IaaS), forecast the cloud subscription costs. RISE will give you a single price – ensure you understand how it scales over the years (does it have annual increases?). If you’re self-managing on IaaS, model your cloud consumption (VMs, storage, and network) and include it in your budget. Keep in mind that HANA can be memory-intensive so that infrastructure costs may be higher than in your current ECC environment on a per-system basis.
- Parallel Operations and Sunset Costs: During the migration, you may need to run ECC and S/4 in parallel for a time (for testing or phased go-lives by region or business unit). This can temporarily increase costs, such as doubling infrastructure or support costs. Plan for a period where you might pay SAP maintenance for ECC and subscription for S/4HANA simultaneously, unless you negotiate relief. Also, include costs to retire the old system, such as data archiving, shutting down hardware, and any contract termination penalties for legacy systems or support vendors.
- Licensing and Maintenance Trajectory: Map out how your annual SAP costs will change. For instance, if you pay $X in maintenance today and after moving to RISE, you’ll pay $Y in subscription, plot those out. Often, maintenance on ECC may increase, as noted. If you need extended support, SAP may levy an additional percentage fee. Conversely, once you switch to S/4, maintenance on ECC drops off. If you are doing a phased migration, you may be able to reduce maintenance in proportion to the number of users. Work with SAP on a maintenance conversion plan – sometimes SAP allows a maintenance holiday or reduction when you’re ramping up S/4. Ensure the CFO’s team is aware of the one-time migration costs versus the ongoing run costs after migration. The business case for S/4HANA can be strengthened by quantifying potential savings. For example, if S/4HANA and process improvements reduce inventory or enhance efficiency, these are dollar savings that should be factored in. Some companies justify the project by linking it to efficiency gains (e.g., a faster closing process saves the finance department overtime, and better ATP reduces lost sales, etc.). Use SAP’s value engineering or your benchmarks to estimate these benefits.
- Contingency and Risk Buffer: It’s wise to add a contingency to the budget (e.g., 10-15%) for unforeseen issues. Migrations can run into snags that require extra funding, such as additional testing cycles, extended parallel runs, or more training. Also, consider a buffer in case the project timeline slips; if a 2-year project becomes a 3-year project, that’s an extra year of costs to carry.
One important recommendation is to start securing the budget early and consider multi-year budgeting. Given the 2027 deadline, many companies have spread their S/4 program budget over two to three fiscal years to manage the impact.
Communicate with the board and executives about the scale of this initiative, framing it as an unavoidable tech refresh and an opportunity for business improvement. It often helps to compare the cost of migration with the cost of not migrating.
For example, potential fines for non-compliance, the potential revenue impact of a security breach on ECC, or the cost of extended SAP support (which could be 1.2 times or more than your normal maintenance).
Also, mention the “no decision” alternative – perhaps using third-party support – but highlight that this is just delaying the inevitable and sacrificing innovation.
Lastly, explore financing or incentives. SAP and systems integrators sometimes offer flexible financing options, such as spreading payments or signing incentives, if you commit to S/4HANA or RISE by a certain date. While you should never rush solely for a discount, if you’re ready, taking advantage of quarter-end or year-end deals from SAP can save you money. Just be cautious not to sign up for more than you need (known as “shelfware”) to get a discount.
3. Negotiate Contracts with a Long-Term Mindset
Contract negotiation with SAP (and partners) will define much of your cost and flexibility in the S/4HANA era, so approach it strategically.
Here’s what to focus on:
- Leverage the Timing and Competitive Options: Currently, SAP wants as many customers as possible to migrate to S/4HANA, preferably via RISE. This gives you leverage. Use the fact that you have options: you could move to S/4, stay on ECC with third-party support, or even consider alternative ERPs (though that’s a huge switch; the mere possibility can be leveraged). Start negotiations well before 2027 – don’t wait until your ECC support is nearly over, when you have no choice. If you negotiate in 2024 or 2025, SAP knows you have time to consider other avenues, and you may secure better terms. Also, if you’re exploring RISE vs on-prem, pit the proposals against each other: let SAP know you want to compare a RISE offer with a traditional offer. If the RISE deal isn’t compelling enough, be ready to walk away to a perpetual license approach (or vice versa). Keep the ball in your court by not showing your hand too early about which way you’ll go.
- Include Future-Proofing Terms: If you sign up for RISE, ensure the contract covers features like renewal rate caps (e.g., the subscription price cannot increase by more than a certain percentage at renewal, unless tied to clear metrics such as user count). Also, clarify what happens if you need more capacity or users. SAP typically sells additional FUEs or higher tiers, but consider negotiating the price for those expansions now if possible. On the other hand, also negotiate flexibility to reduce usage in case of divestiture or downsizing. Cloud subscriptions often don’t allow reductions until renewal, but you might be able to negotiate the ability to swap or drop certain components. Additionally, ensure that any unique discounts you receive now also apply to renewals, not just a first-term teaser.
- Retain Important Protections: Many SAP customers have historically negotiated protections in their ECC contracts, such as price protection on user licenses, the ability to swap licenses for different types, and audit protections, among others. When moving to a new contract (S/4 or RISE), don’t assume those carry over. Specifically ask for: Audit protection or resolution clauses (so that if during migration an audit finds something, you won’t be unduly penalized – SAP has used audits as a tactic to push RISE, so negotiate how audits will be handled fairly), transfer of licenses (if you acquire or divest businesses, can you transfer the contract?), and liability terms (cloud contracts often have different liability limits – ensure they are acceptable for your risk). If you are a global enterprise, ensure the contract covers all your affiliates or allow flexible deployment in different regions.
- Clarify the Scope of Services in RISE: For RISE deals, clearly define what is included and what is not. As mentioned, standard RISE might not include disaster recovery, or only include a certain number of sandboxes. If you need a robust disaster recovery (DR) environment or additional systems for training, include them in the package or at least price them now. SLA considerations: the default SLA (99.7%) – is that sufficient? If you have a critical 24/7 operation that requires 99.9% uptime, negotiate that and understand the associated costs. Also, support level: RISE includes SAP’s support (likely equivalent to Enterprise Support), but if you want SAP MaxAttention or a dedicated support team, that may be an additional cost. Everything should be explicitly listed. A common mistake is assuming something like “SAP will do backups and retention for X days” – verify and document it.
- System Integrator and Partner Contracts: Alongside SAP, you’ll likely engage a systems integrator (SI) or consulting partner for the migration. Negotiate those contracts wisely, too. Given the fixed deadline, it can be beneficial to seek fixed-price or outcome-based elements in the SI contract to avoid open-ended time-and-materials costs. For instance, tie a portion of the fees to a successful go-live by a specific date or quality metrics. Ensure the SI contract aligns with the SAP contract (e.g., if SAP delays provisioning something in RISE, the SI isn’t penalized and you aren’t double-charged). Also, consider bringing in independent advisory (third-party consultants who specialize in SAP contract negotiation) – their cost can often be more than offset by improvements in the deal you sign.
- Use Competitive Bids and Benchmarks: If possible, get multiple quotes – SAP isn’t the only option for implementation. For the software contract, you may not have an alternative to SAP, but for cloud infrastructure, you do (unless you’re using RISE). Having a benchmark from AWS or Azure for running S/4 can help you evaluate SAP’s bundling. There are also providers offering hosting and management of S/4 (hyperscaler or private cloud) outside of RISE. If you decide RISE isn’t for you, you could negotiate licenses with SAP and then separately negotiate cloud hosting with, say, Microsoft or Amazon – sometimes those providers offer incentives to run SAP on their cloud (Microsoft, for example, has been known to contribute funding for SAP migrations to Azure). The key is not to accept the first offer – use all leverage and market options to get a deal structure that fits your enterprise.
In all, approach the SAP contract as a long-term partnership. Cement in writing what you expect over the next 5-10 years of this S/4 era. If your enterprise has a procurement or vendor management team, involve them early – they can help ensure the contract language is not all on SAP’s terms. A well-negotiated contract can save millions and prevent headaches later.
4. Choose the Right Migration Approach and Timeline
How you execute the migration can be the difference between success and failure. There are several approaches to migrating from ECC to S/4HANA, commonly labeled as “Brownfield” vs “Greenfield” (with hybrid options in between, such as selective migration).
Deciding which approach (or combination) suits your organization is a strategic decision with implications on project duration, cost, and business disruption:
- Brownfield (System Conversion): This is essentially an in-place technical conversion of an existing ECC system to S/4HANA. It preserves all your existing business processes, custom code, and historical data, just upgrading the system and data model to S/4. The benefit of brownfield is that business disruption is minimized – users continue with familiar processes, and you don’t have to redesign everything. It can also be faster than a full reimplementation. However, to succeed, your current system needs to be in relatively good shape: you should be on ECC 6.0 EHP 6 or above ideally (older versions require interim upgrades), your data quality should be decent, and your custom code needs remediation for S/4 (which can be significant effort if you have a lot of Z code). If you have built huge amounts of custom development and are on an older release, some choices might be off the table – a pure brownfield might be too difficult. Tools like SAP’s Readiness Check will tell you what needs fixing, such as which transactions are obsolete and which custom code will break. Brownfield is often chosen by companies that want to perform a technical migration first (to migrate to S/4) and then plan to optimize processes gradually within S/4, sometimes referred to as “transform at your own pace.” It’s worth noting that a brownfield conversion to S/4HANA can be done with minimal downtime techniques (SAP offers “near-zero downtime” tools) to reduce business impact. So, for systems that cannot afford long outages, this approach can be tuned to be mostly an IT backend change.
- Greenfield (New Implementation): This means implementing a fresh S/4HANA system from scratch and migrating your data (master and open items/balances) to it, effectively treating it as a new ERP deployment. This approach lets you redesign business processes from a blank slate, adopting S/4HANA best practices and eliminating old customizations and historical baggage. It’s an opportunity for business transformation – to question why you did things a certain way in ECC and possibly simplify or standardize on the latest industry templates. The downside is change management: everything can change (transactions, reports, possibly organizational structures), so the business will face a steeper learning curve. It also means data migration is more complex (you have to extract and load data, versus in a brownfield, the data is converted in place). Greenfield projects can take longer and often resemble a full ERP implementation, which can last 12-24 months or more, depending on the scope. Many large enterprises go greenfield if their ECC is highly customized or fragmented, such as having multiple ECC instances to consolidate. They also do so if the business sees a benefit in starting fresh. Sometimes, companies rationalize that after 20 years on ECC, their processes need an overhaul anyway. A greenfield approach can deliver a “clean core” S/4 system with no unnecessary custom code, which is better for future agility. Still, it requires strong alignment with business stakeholders to redefine processes.
- Selective or Hybrid Approach: There are approaches (often using specialized tools or services) that fall somewhere in between, such as a selective data transition. This is where you bring in selective historical data or merge multiple ECC systems into one S/4, while also selectively redesigning specific processes. It’s more complex, but can be useful for, say, consolidating regional ERPs into a single global S/4 or carving out a portion of the business onto S/4 first. These require expert help (firms like SNP or others have tools for BLUEFIELD®, etc.).
Deciding on an approach involves assessing the current state of your ECC system and your business goals. Perform a system assessment: How customized is ECC? How much data do you have (TBs of data may influence the approach due to downtime)?
Are your business processes harmonized or highly varied across units? If your ECC is relatively clean, with few modifications and close to standard, a brownfield is very feasible. If your ECC is a mess of workarounds and outdated processes, a greenfield might yield better long-term results.
Also, consider your timeline relative to 2027. If you’re starting late and under time pressure, a brownfield might help you get to S/4 faster (and then you can improve later). A greenfield could be risky if it’s still not live by the end of 2027 – you might find yourself having to extend ECC support because the new system isn’t ready.
Some companies choose a phased approach: for example, they quickly complete a technical brownfield conversion to meet the deadline, then progressively introduce new processes or reimplement certain modules on S/4 once they are on the platform (a two-step move).
Phasing and rollout strategy are other considerations. A big bang (all at once) cutover versus phased go-lives by business unit or region. Large enterprises often do phased rollouts – for instance, migrate one division at a time – to limit risk. S/4HANA’s new features can sometimes allow coexistence (for example, Central Finance is a scenario where you can run the S/4 Finance component to consolidate financials while still using ECC for logistics in the interim). Evaluate if interim hybrid scenarios are needed.
Moreover, decide whether to convert your development and sandbox systems early to practice. Many CIOs set up a sandbox S/4HANA conversion of ECC data early in the project. This helps uncover issues and allows the team to get familiar with S/4 before going live in the production system. It’s best practice to run multiple test migrations.
Importantly, don’t underestimate the need for data and custom code remediation. Start identifying the custom Z programs you have and determine if they are still needed. Many ECC systems have accumulated technical debt over the decades. Use the migration as a chance to clean house: drop customizations that no longer add value (especially if S/4 provides standard ways to do it now), and plan to adapt needed ones using S/4 extension best practices (such as using SAP BTP or in-app extensibility rather than core modifications).
Involve the business in deciding the approach: if they desire a process change, they might lean toward a greenfield approach. If they fear disruption, they might lean toward a brownfield approach. There’s also the aspect of process alignment – a greenfield can force different regions to adopt a common template (which can be politically challenging but beneficial). At the same time, a brownfield might perpetuate some inconsistencies.
Lastly, set a realistic timeline and milestones. Even with urgency, a rushed project can backfire. It might be better to miss the 2027 deadline by a little (and pay for support) than to rush into a failed implementation. But with good planning, most enterprises starting now can reach or surpass their 2027 goals.
5. Mitigate Risks with Strong Governance and Change Management
Any large ERP transition carries risks – technological, operational, and organizational. Having a robust risk mitigation plan is essential.
Key areas to focus on:
- Project Governance and Expertise: Establish a strong project governance structure. This should include executive sponsors (to give it priority and unblock issues), a steering committee that regularly reviews progress, and experienced project leadership. If you haven’t done an SAP implementation in a long time (since ECC was installed), ensure you bring in or develop the right expertise. Hire or train S/4HANA skilled resources early – whether they are architects, developers (ABAP for HANA, Fiori, etc.), or functional consultants who know S/4 differences. The market for these skills is getting tighter, so consider knowledge transfer programs with your implementation partner or formal training for staff. Investing in an SAP Center of Excellence (COE) internally can pay dividends during and after the migration.
- Change Management and Training: One of the biggest risks is user adoption. If users are not prepared, a go-live can disrupt business. Begin change management efforts well in advance. Communicate the reason for the change (end of ECC, benefits of S/4) to get buy-in. Identify change champions in business units. Provide training in the new SAP Fiori interface and processes before go-live. Consider using simulations or sandbox systems to give users hands-on practice. The change from ECC to S/4 is significant for end-users in certain roles, especially finance, where the close process may change, or procurement, among others. Therefore, robust training and support during cutover will help mitigate productivity dips. Also, update any integrations or downstream systems and ensure that those teams are ready (e.g., the BI team if reports now come from a different schema).
- Technical Risk Mitigation: As mentioned, do trial runs. Use the “dress rehearsal” concept – perform at least one full-volume mock migration in a QA system to measure how long it takes and any data issues. This helps tune the migration approach and gives confidence. For brownfield, leverage SAP’s “Migration Cockpit” and other tools to identify inconsistencies beforehand. Clean up your ECC system as much as possible before migration (archiving old data you don’t need to carry over, resolving any open ledger discrepancies, etc.). If you’re working on a greenfield project, invest in data cleansing – for example, purging or consolidating duplicate master data- so you load a clean dataset into S/4.
- Downtime and Cutover Planning: Plan the cutover meticulously. If you can afford a weekend or a few days outage, schedule accordingly; if not, look into near-zero downtime techniques. Consider phasing cutover – e.g., do finance at the end of the period and production mid-period, etc. – though that adds complexity. Have a rollback plan: What if something goes wrong at go-live? For a brownfield, you might keep the ECC system on standby until S/4 is confirmed to be good, then decommission it. For greenfield, you might run ECC read-only for a while for historical reporting until you migrate the history or users become comfortable with S/4 for looking up old data.
- Parallel Run or Safety Net: In some critical processes, such as financial reporting, some companies perform a parallel run for one cycle – e.g., running one month’s close in both ECC and S/4 (or at least comparing the results) to ensure outputs match. This builds confidence that the new system is working correctly. It’s extra effort, but it can catch discrepancies.
- Risk of Scope Creep: Be wary of over-ambition. It’s tempting to turn the S/4 migration into a giant transformation program that also includes implementing a dozen new things, such as SuccessFactors and Ariba, alongside. While alignment is good, overloading the program can increase risk. It may be wise to phase auxiliary projects – focus on the S/4 core first, then do other projects once stable. The 2027 deadline provides a clear focus: S/4 first, then nice-to-have enhancements (unless they are quick wins that help with migration).
- Vendor and Contract Risks: If you go RISE, ensure you have thought through the continuity. For example, what if the service from SAP doesn’t meet expectations? Your contract should have escalation paths. If you have critical integrations with non-SAP systems, ensure the RISE environment supports them (line connectivity, VPNs, identity management) – these can be risks if not planned.
- Testing and Validation: Insist on extensive testing – unit, integration, user acceptance, performance testing. For performance, validate that your processes (especially custom reports or interfaces) perform well on S/4HANA. Many find that things speed up, but occasionally a custom program may behave differently on HANA and require optimization. Also, test all integration points, especially if you have an ecosystem of satellite systems, such as CRM, SCM, and data warehouses. Nothing should be “hope for the best” on day one – have it tested.
- Post-Go-Live Support: Plan for hypercare, a period of increased support after go-live. Line up support team members (both IT and key business users) to be on-call to fix issues quickly. Communicate to users how to get support and expect that some issues will arise – maybe minor data issues or user access problems. Having a war room to resolve these issues in the first weeks helps maintain business confidence. If you have global operations, ensure that you have follow-the-sun support for the new system in the initial stages.
- Monitor and Adapt: As you execute the project, use risk registers and regularly review and update them. For example, if early test migrations reveal a problem, escalate and solve it as soon as possible. Keep leadership informed of risks and mitigation plans – transparent communication helps avoid panic if something unexpected surfaces. It also helps to engage your SAP account team. If you encounter a critical bug or need help, having SAP’s development or support on standby (especially if you have MaxAttention or a similar plan) can expedite the solution. Many CIOs also connect with user groups, such as ASUG and DSAG, or peers to learn from their experiences and pitfalls in S/4 projects. This networking can reveal common issues to be aware of.
In essence, treat the ECC to S/4 migration as a major enterprise change program, not just an IT upgrade. By applying rigorous project management and risk mitigation practices, you can significantly reduce the chances of major disruptions.
And remember, not doing anything is the highest risk of all – as one CIO quipped, “running ECC past its end-of-life is like riding a bike with a crack in the frame; it works until suddenly it doesn’t.” Proactive risk management ensures a safe transition off ECC before any such crack causes a break.
