What should CIOs do with SAP ECC support ending in 2025?

SAP has promised the end of SAP ECC support in 2025, and that means big changes for most SAP users. 

Companies using SAP ERP Central Component are faced with some major decisions. The most obvious is whether to stay on ECC or migrate their systems to S4/HANA. This is not easy decision to make, as each has its own set of pros and cons. No matter which choice a company makes, it will face business consequences, and must prepare accordingly.

From the vendor perspective, support staff and developers should focus on a new product. As part of this, most software vendors push their clients to adopt the latest platform, partly by imposing an end-of-support deadline. And this strategy has some success. Most clients don't want to be left with an unsupported system that might cause work delays. But moving to a new product can also be problematic.

For an SAP ECC customer, moving to S4/HANA comes with its own set of challenges and poses risks. Implementing the latest SAP platform does not always equate to better and faster systems, as seen in Revlon's disastrous SAP S/4HANA implementation. Revlon experienced shipping delays and revenue losses as a result of system, operational and implementation challenges. It was also sued by shareholders.

Such failures can't always be blamed only on the new software. Other factors that can contribute to ERP implementation failure -- whether a new SAP system or another vendor's system -- include lack of operational maturity, poor leadership, lack of experienced resources and cultural challenges. These can turn a potentially successful ERP implementation into a complete disaster.

End of SAP ECC support must be balanced with the risks of moving to S/4HANA. Companies must consider performing the following activities in order to prepare for the upcoming deadline:

• Talk to others in the same vertical about their experience with S/4HANA.
• Determine the costs and changes associated with the change.
• Evaluate the latest version of S/4HANA.
• Identify which vendors might potentially continue to provide third-party ECC support after SAP stops it.
• Determine any compliance concerns that could arise from not receiving updates on ECC software.
• Reach out to other companies within the SAP user groups and discuss what some of their plans are.
• Determine a plan for necessary patching and bug fixes.