Meet the Experts
The transition to SAP S/4HANA is rapidly accelerating, driven by the urgency of moving away from unsupported ERP products by 2027, as well as increasing adoption of cloud-based systems and generative AI capabilities. This shift matters because it ensures businesses remain competitive and innovative in a fast-evolving digital landscape.
As organizations pivot toward SAP S/4HANA Cloud, which shows nearly equal usage to traditional deployments, it confirms a trend where companies prefer cloud solutions to overcome licensing challenges. This transition impacts both early adopters and those still evaluating their ERP strategies, emphasizing the importance of adapting to market demands.
Although 55% of companies report having deployed SAP S/4HANA, only 34% indicate a complete transition, illustrating the complexity involved with migrating from legacy systems. This matters for decision-makers, highlighting the need for careful planning and execution in ERP transformation projects.
The move to SAP S/4HANA continues to accelerate. While this has largely been driven by a need to transition to a fully supported product before the end of mainstream maintenance in 2027 and a growing number of organizations planning to use cloud-based ERP, this year’s data has also revealed that access to generative AI in SAP systems, in addition to SAP’s announcements on AI, are having a considerable impact on the overall transition.
While there has been rapid growth in the number of organizations that have deployed SAP S/4HANA over the past year, a significant proportion of respondents (36%) are still in the process of implementing, evaluating, or building a business case for the transition. A further 4% report that their project is on hold, while 5% currently have no plans for SAP S/4HANA.
SAPinsider has not previously listed SAP S/4HANA Cloud as a separate answer choice when tracking the move to SAP S/4HANA, and the fact that nearly as many respondents (26%) reported that they were using this version compared to a more traditional SAP S/4HANA deployment (29%) provides some interesting insights. First, it confirms the fact that many early adopters of SAP S/4HANA have been transitioning to a RISE with SAP (now SAP Cloud ERP Private) contract as their existing versions have ended mainstream maintenance.
It also shows that those moving to SAP S/4HANA now appear more likely to be moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. This is likely due to the challenges with securing traditionally licensed SAP S/4HANA contracts.
However, the fact that 55% of respondents report that they have completed an SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud deployment does not mean that these organizations have completed a transition. Since many organizations have complex existing landscapes, some may continue to run multiple systems in parallel to ensure that everything is working correctly before making a final switch to the new software. Larger customers may also be running multiple ERP instances, and a single SAP S/4HANA deployment does not mean that all their systems have transitioned. An SAP S/4HANA deployment may also represent just a proof of concept or a pilot project while the organization evaluates
the solution.
Just over a third of the survey’s respondents (34%) report having completed a transition to SAP S/4HANA due to these factors. This is consistent with overall numbers that SAPinsider has been tracking over the last five years, showing continued growth in adoption.
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