Six out of ten SAP migrations exceed budget and deadline

Migrations to SAP S/4HANA are slow and difficult for most organizations. Companies hope to get it over with quickly but underestimate the costs and complexity.

SAP migrations are a long and painful process for many organizations. That’s the conclusion of ISG after surveying 200 IT decision-makers from large organizations. In six out of ten migrations to S/4HANA, both the projected budget and deadline are missed.

Brownfield, greenfield, or bluefield

According to ISG, the migration often already goes wrong on paper. Almost half (49%) of the organizations hope to get away with a quick ‘lift-and-shift,’ without re-engineering legacy processes. These organizations often encounter underestimated costs and complexity. “By focusing on avoiding risks instead of transformation, companies miss out on the benefits,” says researcher Stanton Jones.

The migration can proceed in three ways, the report notes. 34 percent opt for a brownfield migration, in which historical data, processes, code, and configurations are transferred from the on-prem environment to S/4HANA. 18 percent follow the greenfield approach recommended by SAP, and half seek the golden bluefield middle ground.

Deadline Approaches

While many companies struggle with the migration, there are also many companies that want to wait and see as long as possible. A Gartner poll in June 2025 showed that four in ten ECC customers want to stay with the legacy ERP platform. Even ten years after the launch of S/4HANA, SAP must continue to convince its customers to make the switch to the cloud.