Many SAP customers would be aware that an agreement will need to finalised with SAP by end of 2027 for migration off ECC, with extended maintenance available until 2030 and the recently announced ‘SAP ERP Private Edition, Transition Option’ enabling ECC support through to 2033. These challenges include a lack of regular updates and security patches, increased security risks and compliance issues, and difficulty sourcing appropriately skilled resources needed for the maintenance of these legacy systems.

With the end of maintenance for SAP ECC and other legacy systems fast approaching, customers are being driven to upgrade to S/4HANA at a rate that is significantly straining the limited ‘Systems Integrator’ (and other implementation services) resources available within the market. Put simply, these resources are unlikely to be able to keep pace with demand from SAP customers looking to migrate to S/4 HANA. As demonstrated in the figure below, the ability for SAP customers to migrate to S/4HANA is nearing the ‘Red Zone’ – a period characterised by limited resource availability and increased costs associated with S/4HANA migration services.

In order to minimise the inevitable impact of resource shortages within the market, now is the time to upgrade from SAP ECC. This will ensure an organisation has the best chance of accessing quality SAP S/4HANA implementation resources. Transitioning to SAP S/4HANA before the end of maintenance in 2027 is crucial for organisations in avoiding what will likely be a hyper-competitive environment when attempting to secure the resources needed to support the delivery of an SAP upgrade. Early migration will be key to minimising the impact of an environment characterised by resource constraints and increased costs that are likely to exist beyond 2027. The ‘post 2027’ period will see many SAP customers competing for limited SAP consulting expertise, increasing the complexity and risk profile of any upgrade.

Resourcing considerations aside, S/4HANA offers significant improvements over older SAP systems, including faster processing speeds due to the in-memory database, real-time analytics and reporting capabilities, a simplified data model and reduced data footprint, and an improved user experience with the SAP Fiori interface. Upgrading to S/4HANA will ensure organisations can realise these benefits sooner. Early adopters can gain a competitive edge by leveraging these advanced capabilities, vital for informed decision-making and enhanced operational efficiency. Additionally, early migration allows for the costs associated with an upgrade to S/4HANA to be spread over a longer period, reducing financial strain and enabling better change management and user adoption.

From a technical perspective, the transition to /4HANA also provides an opportunity to minimise customisations and technical debt, streamline business processes, and future-proof IT infrastructure. Businesses that migrate early can also capitalise on the opportunity redefine their operating model to align with modern best practices, ensuring they are well-positioned for long-term success.

In a nutshell, by migrating to S/4HANA sooner, organisations can ensure a smoother transition with adequate time for planning, implementation and ultimately solution adoption, thereby minimising potentially significant disruptions that are associated with delayed migrations. SAP customers can also leverage the innovations tied to S/4HANA that can drive benefits across the organisation whilst mitigating the risks associated with continuing to remain on legacy SAP solutions.

Libertas is trusted by many organisations to support them through their SAP transformation. We are an Australian-owned and managed consultancy passionate about ‘empowering your freedom to innovate’. We guide organisations through the S/4HANA transformation journey, encompassing commercial, contractual, system, and organisational change. Libertas provide ‘end to end’ support throughout an S/4HANA program, ensuring organisations obtain the most value from its SAP licencing and helping to protect the significant investment involved with moving to S/4HANA.

As a dynamic consultancy comprised of senior professionals, our demonstrated expertise is founded on extensive SAP experience. While we draw on pedigrees from ‘Big 4’ consulting firms, we contradict the traditional consulting model by providing senior, experienced, locally based consultants – preferring smaller teams moving at pace, authentic partnerships, and client self-sustainability. Our service delivery model comprises four key pillars: SAP S/4HANA Strategy and Sourcing; SAP S/4HANA Project Delivery and Assurance; SAP Licence Advisory; and Process Modelling and Optimisation.

Our S/4HANA Strategy and Sourcing team supports clients in planning a successful transition and helps secure the right partners needed to deliver the outcomes required over the life of the program. Our experience has shown that the ‘strategy’ phase of any S/4HANA program is often the most overlooked – we provide a range of services at this early stage involving technical analysis of the existing platform, support to defining a transformation roadmap and identifying the benefits sought from investment in S/4HANA. Similarly, we can provide support to business case preparation, requirements specification and developing and executing a plan to source the right System Integrator.

Our SAP S/4HANA Project Delivery and Assurance team focuses on improving clarity, transparency, and control throughout what can be a complex implementation journey. Libertas provide practical and experience-based advice to reduce implementation risk and align delivery with client’s objectives. Critical to any successful program is having a delivery team with the right skills, capacity and capabilities. We offer an extensive range of ‘client-side’ services to supplement and enhance internal resourcing including independent project assurance, Steering Committee and Project Board advisory, PMO set-up and support and project delivery management.

Our SAP License Advisory team provides support to not only securing a commercial deal on the most favourable pricing and terms possible but also ensuring the right licencing model to meet business objectives and goals is selected. SAP licensing agreements are complicated and often involve an extended, time consuming negotiation process. Libertas works to ‘demystify’ this commercial journey, safeguarding against future uncertainties and unplanned expenses while meeting the immediate needs of the business. Libertas provides expertise across all facets of the commercial process such as licencing model optimisation, supporting SAP audits, negotiating with SAP and evaluating the possible benefits of third-party maintenance.

Our Process Modelling and Optimisation team supports customers in achieving sustainable process improvement by leveraging leading technologies. These tools bring enhanced process management capabilities that discover, remediate, and measure quantified value, driving and maintaining process excellence, and helping to answer performance and compliance questions with fact-based insights derived from actual data. Libertas’ process improvement service is powered by SAP Signavio, accelerating the process management related aspects of an S/4HANA transformation, whilst our process mining service is underpinned by Celonis, a market leading product that allows for additional insights to be derived from business process execution.

By delivering services across each of these ‘pillars’, Libertas is uniquely positioned to provide insights and expertise that enables our clients to achieve the outcomes sought to be achieved throughout the entire S/4HANA transformation. Our experience allows us to guide clients through their implementation in a way that promotes clarity of roles and responsibilities, proactively manages risk and align a complex stakeholder environment to the needs of the client.