Change Competence is Critical to Competitive Advantage

Change has always been a hallmark of SAP systems. From new product deployments and system upgrades to the implementation of smaller projects and customizations, organizations have needed to understand the impact of change and how it will be managed. But managing change has not always translated into doing so effectively. Understanding the impact of change in SAP systems has frequently been complex, even when that change is limited to updating a few lines of customized code. This has made change management crucial to the success of SAP projects.

The difference today is that change is now constant. During his Sapphire keynote, SAP Executive Board Member Thomas Saueressig talked about continuous innovation and the tool chain needed to support that workflow. Continuous innovation is essentially ongoing change, which makes effectively managing that change even more important.

Understanding change capabilities is the focus of the recently released SAP Change Management Index 2025. The independent study, commissioned by Basis Technologies, of 200 managers responsible for managing SAP change in the US, UK, and Germany found that 86% of enterprises reported that not only is change competence vital, it is also critical to competitive advantage.

In addition, being able to continuously adapt by driving SAP change at the speed of business was recognized as a defining factor for success.
Martin Metcalf, CEO of Basis Technologies, stated that, “For too long, SAP change has been seen as a bottleneck by some business leaders. This research shows that organizations are now acknowledging the opportunity to turn change into a competitive edge.”

Supporting concerns about the increasing pace of change, 48% of respondents reported experiencing significantly shortened business request-to-delivery timelines. This means that business teams are expecting to see the results of their change requests much more quickly than in the past. While many SAP teams are shifting to a model that allows them to deliver smaller successes more rapidly, if business teams have higher expectations when it comes to delivery timelines this will be even more difficult to achieve. The fact that the report highlights that SAP leaders face persistent challenges such as starting from scratch with each change request (46%), long requirements gathering processes (44%), and difficulties meeting business needs (42%) only make this more difficult.

At the same time, the SAP Change Management Index also highlights SAP leaders often have new responsibilities. This includes leading cross-team communications, training, and engagement (54%), driving initiatives to support broader business goals (53%), and contributing to early-stage planning and stakeholder alignment (45%). These additional responsibilities can make effectively managing change more complicated.

In summarizing the findings, Metcalf concluded that, “Those responsible for SAP change are under pressure like never before—but it’s also their moment. By embracing automation and AI, they can transform change from a source of risk to a source of competitive advantage, helping their organizations keep pace with the demands of modern business.”

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• Effectively managing change is not just important, it is now critical to being competitive. SAPinsiders have always looked for ways to better manage change. Some have taken manual approaches while others have utilized various change management solutions to at least partially automate this approach. However, being able to deliver requested capabilities to business teams may no longer be sufficient if they are not delivered quickly enough to have a competitive impact. This makes it vital for leaders to focus on more effectively managing change.
• SAP leaders need to understand change management challenges to properly address them. One of the most important parts of the SAP Change Management Index is that it highlights where persistent challenges to change management are being encountered. This information will help SAP leaders prepare to face these challenges when they occur in their own organizations, ensuring that they can be either avoided entirely or resolved more quickly.
• Automation and AI are key to more effectively managing change. Manual change processes are no longer sufficient when it comes to keeping pace with the need for change. This is why most leaders (59%) are looking at AI to help automate these processes. Without automation and AI it will be impossible to keep up with the ever increasing pace of change, so SAPinsiders should investigate how they can include these capabilities in their own change management processes.