SAP throws a lifeline to large organizations with new ECC offering

SAP on Tuesday said it plans to announce a new offering in the next quarter that is based around SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) and is designed to help the firm’s largest customers “plan, execute and succeed in their cloud transformation.”

To be called SAP ERP, private edition, transition option, the company said in a release that it will be available for purchase starting in 2028 and “will be active for usage from 2031-2033.”

The company said it is “pre-disclosing this offering because we understand that customers with complex landscapes need advance notice, hence we want to give sufficient time for planning purposes.”

Standard maintenance for ECC is due to end on December 31, 2027, while the extended maintenance for on-premises SAP ERP systems is set to expire at the end of 2030.

“Continuing to use these systems beyond 2030 will become increasingly challenging and risk prone as, for example, third-party products like older Java versions will no longer be supported from their respective vendors,” the release noted, adding, “we know that SAP customers with very large and complex on-premises IT landscapes — including a large number of SAP ERP systems, some in the hundreds — require flexibility to move each part of their landscape to the cloud with the pace and agility needed to support evolving business requirements.”

The offering will have a set of conditions that include:

• A scope of products centered around SAP ECC that will not include the full SAP Business Suite 7, which is only available for subscription until the end of 2030.
• Systems that are “relevant for the SAP ERP, private edition, transition option, need to be moved to SAP ERP, private edition prior to the end of 2030.”
• SAP HANA will be the only supported database for the new subscription offering.

More details will be announced closer to the purchase availability date in 2028.

Robert Kramer, VP and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, described the offering as strategic.

It will, he said, “help large enterprises with complex on-premises SAP ERP systems transition to SAP Cloud ERP before the 2030 deadline, providing an extended runway (2031-2033). It preserves SAP ECC functionalities and includes transformation support, minimizing business process disruptions.”

The goal, said Kramer, is to “reduce risks, security vulnerabilities, and compliance challenges tied to outdated systems. This is not just a technical shift; it’s a business enabler that allows enterprises to modernize at a pace that’s manageable. Success will also fall back on the customer adopting effective change and data management, requiring full responsibility from them. For SAP customers, the key question is not if, but how — and how quickly — they can transition.”

Jeremy Roberts, senior director of research and content at Info-Tech Research Group, said, “there is a careful conflation between modernization and the cloud. We’ve known for a long time that this is the direction that major software vendors are going, but they see the cloud as a destination where their people want to be. It’s the future of SAP. Not all customers are as gung ho about the transition, however.”

This offering, he said, “feels like a response to the hesitancy of major cloud customers to change their operations quickly and in significant ways. The reality is that as you grow linearly, the complexity of your organization can grow exponentially. This complexity is embodied in your ERP.”

Transitioning ERPs, said Roberts, “is the enterprise equivalent of building the Panama Canal — it’s a huge deal, takes forever, and sometimes seems impossible. So, what do many customers do? Rather than take on this massive change project and the risk associated with it, they kick the can down the road, which is frustrating for vendors like SAP, which wants to standardize some of their operations and patch vulnerabilities.”

The solution to that, he said, is the creation of “a path to migrate customers to the cloud that reduces the pain as much as possible. It’s like getting a toddler ready for school: It can be relatively easier or harder, but it has to happen. If I had to guess, I would say that SAP had a target for cutover but is aware that they probably will not meet it.”

Roberts said that SAP’s offering is “a contingency that targets their largest and likely most profitable customers, meeting their needs while slowly shepherding them off-premises. Depending on the price, it could be a win/win. Many ERP administrators are probably breathing sighs of relief today.” 

Meanwhile, Kramer said, “to make a smooth transition to SAP Cloud ERP, CIOs should focus on managing changes well. This means getting everyone on board, full transparency of the business benefits and impact; making sure users understand and are happy. A strong data management plan is also important. This includes cleaning up the data, planning how to move it over, and checking everything works.”

It is, he said, also “crucial to take a close look at the current SAP ECC environment, including any customizations, integrations, the amount of data, and how many users there are. I recommend working with experienced SAP partners who have successfully done complex transitions in the past.”