SAP extends support for SAP S/4HANA to 2040

It is also extending the deadline for mainstream maintenance support for Business Suite 7 up to the end of 2027

SAP has announced that it will support SAP S/4HANA until at least 2040, a move intended to encourage customers to migrate from legacy ERP software to SAP's newer S/4HANA platform.

The ERP software vendor added that it is extending the deadline for mainstream maintenance support for Business Suite 7 (BS7) core applications up to the end of 2027. After that, customers will have the option to buy extended support until 2030, but it will be two per cent more expensive than standard support.

Our customers... expect a long-term commitment from SAP to this platform

The decision by the German software company should be welcome by a large number of customers, who are currently struggling amid large-scale migrations.

"Our customers show us that SAP S/4HANA is their future direction and that they expect a long-term commitment from SAP to this platform," said co-CEO Christian Klein.

According to Klein, most customers have shown an interest in migrating to S/4HANA, although some larger enterprises said that they won't be ready by 2025, the deadline previously set by SAP to end support for BS7.

For such enterprises, adapting to the long-standing business processes and the needs of customers is more important than the technology itself, Klein said.

SAP is pushing its customers to shift to its flagship S/4HANA platform, which will run exclusively on the company's own database, HANA. SAP's earlier software worked well with several other databases, including Oracle, but customers moving to the new platform will also need to shift to SAP's backend database.

SAP says more than 13,800 customers are currently using SAP S/4HANA platform, and thousands are actively deploying it to become intelligent enterprises.

S/4HANA is generally not ready with a positive ROI for many SAP customers... BS7 has many years of life and value remaining

The company believes its "commitment to SAP S/4HANA until 2040" along with extended support for BS7, will enable customers to confidently make the move, shielding their existing investments.

But, there are concerns regarding migration to S/4HANA, with some experts arguing that a shortage of skilled professionals in SAP technology could also leave some businesses without the staff they need to move to the new platform.

In December, a member survey conducted by the UK and Ireland SAP User Group revealed that 58 per cent of SAP customers in the UK and Ireland had no plans to upgrade to S/4HANA in the next two years.

A further 27 per cent said they wouldn't move to S/4HANA in the next three years.

In the survey, 467 organisations were asked about their plan to move to S/4HANA.

Rimini Street, which offers third-party support services for SAP, says that extending the deadline for mainstream support for BS7 won't really address the core issues that may be delaying digital transformations.

"This announcement is further acknowledgement that S/4HANA is generally not ready with a positive ROI for many SAP customers and that the Business Suite 7 has many years of life and value remaining," Dave Rowe, chief marketing officer at Rimini Street, told Computing.

"Many SAP customers will be far better off maximising the value of current Business Suite 7 systems with alternatives like third-party support which offer support through at least 2035, enabling them to shift funds to innovation initiatives that will more quickly drive competitive advantage and growth at far lower risk.

"Once S/4HANA and other competing systems are mature, SAP customers can flexibly select the best fit option for their future business platform."