SAP informs that in very specific cases it will be possible to get support for legacy environments beyond the 2030 deadline. However, the flexibility remains limited and does not offer a way out for the general public.
SAP does not plan to shift its deadlines for the end of support for on-premises legacy software. Buisiness Suite 7 including SAP ECC 6.0 will lose support in 2027, which is already a shift from the first communicated deadline of 2025. Companies who have a penny to spare could always buy additional support until 2030. Now SAP indicates that there will be an option to get support until 2033.
For the greatest of all
With this, SAP wants to meet the challenges of the very largest customers. These sometimes have very complex environments, with customized ERP systems spread across dozens of countries. SAP now acknowledges that 2027 and even 2030 in those cases is too early a day to expect a complete migration to SAP S/4HANA.
The extension to 2033 comes for organizations that subscribe to a cloud migration with RISE with SAP, but need more time to do so. For those situations, SAP will launch a solution called SAP ERP, private edition, transition option. Large customers who have already entered a path that is running out of time will thus still remain secure between 2031 and 2033. About modalities such as price, SAP is not yet communicating.
Slow migration
The company does insist that the 2027 deadline remains unchanged for most customers, as does the option to buy additional support up to a maximum of 2030. The extension to 2033 will be tailor-made for only a very limited number of very large customers.
However, the migration of legacy systems to S/4HANA has not been smooth. Gartner found late last year that only 37 percent of customers had made the transition. If current migration trends continue, there is little chance that more than 60 percent of legacy customers will have made the switch by 2027.