Cloud

Cloud Architecture for SAP

September 2025

Cloud environments are a vital part of the enterprise landscape for most organizations. However, for SAP customers, many workloads are yet to move to the cloud. How these workloads will move, and what technologies organizations will use to ensure that their processes can continue to flow is what SAPinsider has been tracking for the last five years. This year’s report will explore the cloud adoption models that SAP customers are using, which workloads are planned for these environments, what stage organizations have reached with cloud adoption, their experiences and concerns with using cloud environments, and what impact AI is having on their plans for adopting cloud environments.

 

SAP Business Data Cloud Use Cases and Adoption

February 2026

Data and analytics have been essential for digital transformation and digital business, and the growth of AI has created an even greater need for clean, trusted data accessible in the cloud. In response to this, SAP announced SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) in early 2025, a SaaS-based offerings that aims to unify and govern SAP data and connect to non-SAP data. It combines SAP data and analytics offerings including SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Databricks, pre-built intelligent applications, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. In this research report, SAPinsider will examine the level of BDC Cloud adoption in the SAP customer ecosystem, as well as the top use cases being targeted for BDC, the data and analytics maturity of the organizations using or not using BDC, and the top drivers and business outcomes fueling BDC projects.

 

Business Transformation Management with SAP

March 2026

Managing transformation and continuous innovation with SAP systems involves SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Business Technology Platform, and SAP WalkMe. SAP Signavio provides insight into process flows and provides change recommendations, SAP LeanIX helps map changes to both infrastructure and business processes, SAP Cloud ALM helps manage and orchestrate these changes, SAP WalkMe improves user experience through in-app guidance, and SAP BTP provides the interconnected foundation through which organizations can move forward. This research will explore the adoption and usage of each solution, comparing how maturity in managing business transformation is impacting that usage as well as providing recommendations for organizations with differing maturity levels. Also explored will be the role SAP BTP is playing for SAP customers in supporting their transformation goals and whether it is providing a platform to drive innovation.

 

Securing Cloud and AI Applications

October 2026

Cybersecurity continues to rise in importance for SAP customers, forcing them to ensure their systems are effectively protected from a growing incidence of attacks that are focusing on vectors such as data exfiltration and credentials compromise. With the accelerated use of cloud-based solutions and AI being both embedded and becoming natively available in SAP solutions, this makes ensuring that these systems are protected especially important. This report will explore the technologies that organizations are investing in to protect their cloud-based applications and AI usage and will explore the adoption of these technologies and the security concerns that they introduce for SAP customer.

 

SAP Cloud ERP 2026

November 2026

SAP Cloud ERP, previously referred to as RISE with SAP or GROW with SAP, is the central focus of SAP’s plans for the eventual move to SAP Business Suite. While the change in name may have confused some, SAP Cloud ERP Private bundles are now offer significantly more than the RISE with SAP bundles that they replace including full versions of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX allowing customers to more effectively leverage these capabilities for transformation and innovation. This research will explore how organizations are looking at SAP Cloud ERP, whether they plan to use the private or public cloud versions, hosting partners being selected by those planning on using the solution, and challenges that organizations are experiencing with the eventual move a flavor of SAP Cloud ERP.

 

Cybersecurity

Cloud and AI Security

October 2025

The accelerating move of workloads to the cloud continues to bring about new security challenges for organizations. These security challenges can be compounded by the increasing adoption of AI in business processes and other scenarios. Both scenarios introduce potential new threats related to data management and integration and require a dedicated effort from SAP and security teams to ensure that systems are effectively protected? This report will explore the technologies that organizations are investing in to protect their cloud and AI environments. It will also look at the ways that, as the adoption of these technologies continues to grow, organizations are working to address the security concerns that are being introduced.

 

Cybersecurity Threats and Challenges to SAP Systems

May 2026

Although the increase in cyber attacks targeting SAP customers in general, and SAP systems specifically, continues to increase, many of the challenges faced by customers in securing those systems have remained consistent for many years. This starts with challenges with applying patches and updates. Since many successful attacks target systems for which patches are available and have not been applied, understanding and remediating these vulnerabilities is crucial in a layered cybersecurity strategy. This year’s research will continue to explore how the cybersecurity maturity of respondents impacts their strategies for protecting their SAP systems, where they are seeing the biggest impacts, and the challenge that they face in meeting these threats.

Data & Analytics

Enterprise Data and Analytics in the Era of AI

November 2025

Generative AI has had a major impact on the data and analytics strategy of SAP customers who are evolving their data and analytics capabilities to drive business value. From strategy and infrastructure to technologies, governance, and outcomes, this research focuses on how companies are modernizing analytics environments, enabling AI, and aligning data practices with enterprise goals. This includes exploring the factors driving data and analytics strategy, SAP and non-SAP data and analytics tools in use, and how modern analytics are playing a key role in accelerating innovation and making business processes more intelligent. 

Data & Integration

Enterprise Integration for SAP 2026

September 2026

With its long legacy, SAP landscapes have always been complex. In recent years, Cloud technology has also facilitated a growing number of SAP customers connecting their systems with non-SAP systems, leading to an integration landscape where contextual data, real-time connectivity and security have all become critically important. Since most organizations require both cloud to on-premise integration and non-SAP to SAP integration, having the right integration tools is critical to success. This report will examine the integration challenges that organizations face today, the types of integration they are adopting, the requirements for success, and which tools are in use to meet their integration needs.

ERP

RISE with SAP

November 2025

RISE with SAP remains the central focus of SAP’s strategy of moving existing customers to cloud ERP. While adoption of the offering is increasing, SAP is not seeing the accelerating adoption that they had hoped would result from adding generative AI, SAP Datasphere, SAP Build, and other capabilities to the package bundles. Although more organizations are looking at RISE with SAP, there is still much that SAP needs to do to convince customers to engage with the offering. This research will examine the ongoing interest in RISE with SAP, adoption trends, hosting partners being selected by those planning on using the solution, as well as identifying challenges that organizations have with the solution and how they plan to measure the success of their RISE with SAP initiatives.

 

AI Adoption and Maturity in the SAP Ecosystem

December 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how organizations operate, compete, and deliver value. For SAP customers, AI adoption is accelerating in tandem with digital transformation initiatives such as SAP S/4HANA migration, cloud modernization, and business process automation. This research looks at how organizations are approaching AI and spans maturity, technologies, use cases, governance, and the business impact that AI is having. This includes where AI is being used in SAP solutions, AI models in use, platforms used to build and train AI models, and where AI use cases are currently being deployed or developed. 

 

SAP S/4HANA Migration

February 2026

With the end of 2027 less than two years away, organizations are either ready to embrace an SAP S/4HANA move for which they have already planned or are unlikely to complete a transition before having to move to extended maintenance. These mindsets are being reflected in the fact that customers are prioritizing deployment options and decisions that will have them move to SAP S/4HANA as quickly as possible while at the same time realigning with a journey that will eventually move to them SAP Cloud ERP. This year’s report will continue to explore the adoption trends for SAP S/4HANA, the impact of RISE with SAP and SAP Cloud ERP on existing SAP ERP customers, challenges and roadblocks that they are encountering, and the proportion of customers that are likely to continue into the extended maintenance period before they are able to complete a move to SAP S/4HANA.

 

Automating SAP Processes in the Era of AI

May 2026

SAP customers are striving to extract more value from their enterprise systems than ever before, with process efficiency and visibility being the top business priorities for technology leaders. Automation has always been an avenue to taking the more mundane and repeatable processes off the hands of employees and freeing them up to do more value-adding tasks. In the era of AI, companies are looking for process automation to go even further by assisting with more complicated tasks and even augmenting and expediting decision-making. In this research report, SAPinsider will examine what’s driving companies to automate their SAP processes, how the level and maturity of automation at organizations impacts KPIs and business outcomes, and the technologies and actions companies are deploying to achieve their automation goals.

 

Application Development and Innovation in SAP Environment

July 2026

Leading digital organizations foster a culture of innovation and development with continuous iteration. In SAP environments, we see three key personas driving development: SAP-specific developers use the ABAP programming language to extend SAP applications, professional developers using vendor-agnostic programming languages on cloud platforms and infrastructure, and business users with access to low-code and no-code tools. This report will examine how these personas each impact innovation at SAP customer organizations, how innovation maturity impacts business outcomes, and the top technologies in use for development.

 

Deployment Approaches to SAP S/4HANA 2026

July 2026

With 2027 less than two years away, organizations are accelerating their plans to move to SAP S/4HANA. This is being reflected in an increasing number of organizations planning a system conversion or brownfield deployment, and a focus on moving to SAP S/4HANA as quickly as possible rather than as part of broader transformation. More organizations than ever are also planning on deploying a version of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, with growth in that choice more than doubling over the past year. This report will continue to track the deployment and infrastructure plans for those moving to SAP S/4HANA, the impact of SAP Business Suite and SAP Cloud ERP, and the factors impacting the timelines for completing those deployments.

 

Digital and AI-Powered Supply Chains for SAP

October 2026

Modern supply chains are under unprecedented pressure to be more connected, resilient, and responsive, making digital transformation no longer optional but essential. Global supply chains face constant disruption from inflation and shifting demand signals to geopolitical risks and sustainability mandates. SAP customers are increasingly turning to intelligent automation, real-time data, and AI-driven decisioning to balance efficiency with resilience. This research will examine the strategies and technologies SAP leaders are deploying to integrate digital supply networks, optimize procurement and logistics, and embed predictive and generative AI into their operations.

 

The State of AI in the SAP Ecosystem

December 2026

AI transformation has become synonymous with digital transformation. It brings the promise of efficiency and process improvement that tech leaders seek. AI tools can be accessed within applications, such as SAP S/4HANA and through custom AI development. This is a constantly evolving sector, with Agentic AI bringing the opportunity for more complex process automations. This research looks at how organizations are approaching AI and spans maturity, technologies, use cases, governance, and the business impact that AI is having.

 

Finance

Automating the Record to Report and Financial Close Process

January 2025

Improving the record-to-report process through the use of advanced automation and AI is a critical priority for most finance and accounting teams. In this report we will also examine various aspects of how organizations are improving their financial close and streamlining the consolidation process to enhance transparency and compliance. Learn how customers are integrating these initiatives with their overall transformation. Discover how they are leveraging group reporting and other SAP and third-party technologies to create measurable outcomes, improved efficiency, and a reduction in costs.

 

 

Global Tax Management

June 2025

The annual SAPinsider Global Tax Management benchmark report focuses on the progress in automating e-invoice processing and indirect tax compliance among SAP users, addressing the challenges of adhering to diverse and evolving tax regulations in multiple jurisdictions. This report assesses new tools and technologies adopted by SAP customers, their integration into SAP systems, and the challenges and benefits associated with these implementations.

 

 

Tax Technology Innovation and Automation

November 2025

The tax compliance landscape is changing rapidly due to technological advancements, regulatory changes, and a greater need for transparency. Traditional manual processes are becoming insufficient, pushing organizations to adapt their finance and tax functions to a digital environment. This trend coincides with the increasing adoption of SAP S/4HANA, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation solutions which offer real-time capabilities and improved effi-ciency for finance processes. This report exam-ines how these global trends reshape tax functions within the SAP ecosystem and empha-sizes the importance of integrating tax technol-ogy solutions to drive innovation and automation in tax operations.

 

Benchmarking the Office of the CFO

December 2025

CFOs are navigating increasing complexity, regulatory demands, and market volatility. This SAPinsider report explores how solutions such as SAP S/4HANA Finance, SAP Financial Closing Cockpit, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, and key third-party financial solutions empower CFOs to automate the financial close and reporting, manage governance and compliance, and deliver real-time insights to the Board. It also investigates how these tools and third-party enhancements enable CFOs to lead innovation and growth, while embracing AI-driven capabilities to elevate performance measurement and decision-making across the enterprise.

 

Benchmarking Accounting & Financial Close Practices in SAP Environments 

January 2026

This report examines how financial leaders in SAP environments are streamlining accounting and financial close processes across record-to-report, intercompany reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable, and fixed asset management. It highlights challenges such as process inefficiency, limited visibility, and regulatory complexity, while exploring trends like AI-driven decision support, real-time close capabilities, and enhanced audit readiness. Read it to learn how leading organizations are improving accuracy, standardization, and strategic value in the record-to-report cycle. 

 

Benchmarking Supply Chain Compliance Practices in SAP Environments 

March 2026

This report examines how financial leaders in SAP environments are streamlining accounting and financial close processes across record-to-report, intercompany reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable, and fixed asset management. It highlights challenges such as process inefficiency, limited visibility, and regulatory complexity, while exploring trends like AI-driven decision support, real-time close capabilities, and enhanced audit readiness. Read it to learn how leading organizations are improving accuracy, standardization, and strategic value in the record-to-report cycle. 

 

State of the Market Enterprise Performance Management in SAP Environments 

April 2026

This report explores how organizations in SAP environments are integrating SAP Finance, SAP GRC, and data management solutions, alongside third-party technologies, to drive enterprise performance. It highlights key trends such as real-time planning, AI-enabled forecasting, and cross-functional visibility, while addressing challenges like fragmented data, regulatory complexity, and limited scenario modeling capabilities. Read it to gain insights into how leading enterprises are evolving their performance management strategies to meet dynamic business demands. 

State of the Market Direct Tax Technology 

May 2026

This report evaluates how organizations in SAP environments are modernizing direct tax management through native SAP capabilities and third-party technologies. It explores key challenges such as data integrity, audit risk, and navigating complex and evolving regulations. It highlights trends like tax transformation, AI and automation, OECD Pillar Two compliance, and the rise of shared service models. Readers will gain insights into how leading enterprises are elevating direct tax from a compliance function and driving transformation to make it a strategic business enabler. 

Benchmarking Financial Planning and Analysis in SAP Environments 

June 2026

This report evaluates how organizations in SAP environments are modernizing financial planning and analysis through integrated technologies and best practices. It highlights key challenges such as manual, disconnected processes, data silos, and forecasting delays. It explores how leading organizations are using AI-driven predictive analytics, real-time planning, and regulatory change to transform financial planning and analysis. Read this report to understand how leading enterprises are improving visibility, agility, and decision-making across their FP&A functions. 

 

State of the Market Indirect Tax (Sales & Use, VAT, and GST) Technology in SAP Environments 

July 2026

This report explores how organizations in SAP environments are managing indirect tax through native and third-party technologies. It addresses challenges such as jurisdictional complexity, frequent rate changes, invoice accuracy, and cross-border compliance. It evaluates how leading organizations are approaching E-invoicing, AI and automation, and real-time VAT reporting. Read this report to gain insight into how leading enterprises are modernizing indirect tax operations to meet evolving regulatory and business demands. 

 

Benchmarking E-Invoicing Practices in SAP Environments 

September 2026

This report evaluates how organizations in SAP environments are adopting technologies and practices to meet evolving E–Invoicing mandates. It explores challenges such as invoice accuracy, cross-border compliance, jurisdictional complexity, and frequent tax rate changes. It explores how leading organizations are using E–Invoicing platforms, real-time digital reporting, AI, and automation to better manage rising E-Invoicing complexity. Read it to understand how enterprises are modernizing invoicing processes to improve compliance, efficiency, and financial transparency. 

Benchmarking Cash Management & Treasury Practices in SAP Environments 

November 2026

This report evaluates how organizations in SAP environments are optimizing cash and treasury operations, including payment practices, to navigate today’s financial complexity. It highlights challenges such as liquidity risk, interest rate volatility, decentralized operations, and compliance-related fraud. It also evaluates how leading organizations are gaining real-time visibility into cash positions, centralizing treasury management, and using AI for forecasting and decision-making. Read this report to learn how modernizing treasury functions improves agility, control, and financial resilience.

 

Office of the SAP CFO 

December 2026

This report explores the evolving priorities of SAP CFOs and how those priorities align across key stakeholders including CIOs, CTOs, Chief Compliance Officers, and Tax Leaders, as well as direct reports within the finance function. It examines how CFOs are driving strategic initiatives across financial planning, risk management, compliance, and technology adoption. Read it to understand how the Office of the CFO is becoming a central hub for enterprise-wide decision-making and transformation. 

GRC

Benchmarking GRC in the SAP Space

October 2025

 

As the business landscape continues to change and evolve, so too must the GRC function. Compliance regulations are constantly changing, business models evolving, and security threats are on the rise. This puts pressure on organizations to transform the GRC function. In this research, we will examine what is driving GRC strategy and how companies are addressing these factors. We will also closely examine where GRC solutions are being used, the approach to managing GRC initiatives in the SAP ecosystem, and GRC technologies in use. By understanding GRC teams’ challenges today and the solutions available, organizations can make informed decisions about how to best protect their businesses.

Benchmarking Controls and Assurance in SAP Environments

February 2026

This report benchmarks how organizations using SAP manage controls and assurance through Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM), Segregation of Duties (SoD), and Access Governance. It highlights SAP-native solutions and industry practices addressing SoD complexity, manual testing, and audit fatigue. It also evaluates how internal audit and compliance teams are enhancing visibility using AI-driven CCM, automated SoD analysis and remediation, integrated control libraries in cloud ERP, and real-time assurance dashboards. 

Benchmarking Risk Management in SAP Environments

August 2026

This report evaluates how organizations in SAP environments are managing enterprise, third-party, and cyber risk using native and third-party technologies. It explores challenges such as siloed risk data, reactive risk postures, and limited visibility into supply chain and third-party risks. It outlines approaches leading organizations are taking to manage risk including AI-powered risk modeling, predictive analytics, policy management, and internal controls to meet enhance board oversight. Read it to learn how leading enterprises are quantifying risk and minimizing it to achieve better financial performance. 

State of the Market Governance, Risk & Compliance in SAP Environments 

October 2026

This report examines how organizations in SAP environments are strengthening governance, compliance, and control systems using frameworks such as COSO for internal controls, COBIT for IT governance, and ISO 37301 for compliance management. It explores challenges like fragmented oversight and limited assurance visibility, while highlighting trends in AI-enabled policy automation, real-time control monitoring, and board-level governance. Read this report to gain a holistic view of how enterprises are aligning GRC practices to drive accountability and resilience. 

Technology Executive Forum

The Technology Leader’s Transformation Report Card

November 2025

The digital migration to SAP S/4HANA is perhaps the most important strategic priority that CIOs have on the horizon. SAP customer organizations must ensure that this project is a success, delivering sustainable and scalable change through business process automation, standardization, and overhauling essential workflows. This report explores some of the key considerations CIOs and other tech executives should make when undertaking their digital transformation initiatives, delving into challenges, goals, and how to measure the success of an SAP S/4HANA implementation and other critical projects including AI, data and analytics, cloud migrations, and others.

 

Technology Leader’s Agenda for SAP in 2026

March 2026

Technology leaders in the SAP customer ecosystem are facing an increasing set of priorities to manage, including providing the technological foundation to drive business outcomes such as greater efficiency, new product development, and higher profits. They are tasked with SAP S/4HANA migrations, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, data and analytics innovation, process automation, and intelligent applications, among many other projects. In this report, SAPinsider will examine the top business priorities, technology investments, and skillsets targeted by tech leaders in 2026, as well as the business outcomes resulting from these strategies.

 

How Technology Leaders are Managing Data

July 2026

The increased adoption of AI has made data, a topic that is already critical for technology leaders, even more important. Organizations must ensure that their organizations are addressing the data management challenges that are vital for future success. This includes exploring how technology leaders are implementing data management in their organizations, where they face challenges, and how they plan to utilize AI both to help improve data management as well as the role it will play across their organizations. In this report, SAPinsider will examine these topics and how tech leaders are addressing them in 2026 as well as their plans for the future.

 

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About the SAPinsider DART Methodology

SAPinsider has rewritten the rules of research to provide demonstrable insights from its fact-based approach. The DART methodology serves as the very foundation on which SAPinsider educates end users to act, creates market awareness, drives demand, empowers sales forces, and validates return on investments. It’s no wonder that organizations worldwide turn to SAPinsider for research with results. The DART methodology provides actionable insights including:

• Drivers – These are macro level events that are impacting an organization. They can be both external and internal and require the implementation of strategic plans, people, processes and systems.
• Actions – These are strategies that companies can implement to address the drivers impact on the business. These are the integration of people, process and technology. These should be business first but fully leverage technology enabled solutions to be relevant for our focus.
• Requirements – These are business and process level requirements to support the strategies. These tend to be end-to-end for a business process.
• Technology – There are technology and systems related requirements that enable the business requirements and support the overall strategies that the company is taking, they must consider the current technology architecture and provide for the adoption of new and innovative technology enabled capabilities

How SAPinsiders Participate in the Research

The SAPinsider research process is an invitation-only quantitative survey and a qualitative interview-based methodology that is focused on the voice of ~2M global SAPinsider community members. During the course of a year, we survey and interview several thousand SAPinsiders and synthesize their insights. This peer best practices-led benchmarking research process extracts intricate knowledge of SAP and related ecosystem solutions, migration paths, roadmap and other insights in relation to the business drivers, strategic actions and requirements of end users. The ultimate objective of our research is to enable SAP users adopt and upgrade technology efficiently, based on sound decisions, performance parameters and business value.