Author: Peter Körner, Red Hat

SAP migrations often take longer than expected. It is not for nothing that SAP has extended some maintenance windows. New developments such as automated fit-gap analyses with a downstream factory approach accelerate the transformation.

The unreserved and uncritical use of AI is not justifiable in a business-critical SAP environment. This means trustworthy AI will become increasingly important and, with it, transparent open source principles, technologies, and solutions.

SAP Edge Integration Cell (EIC) is currently a much-discussed topic. SAP users should also see it as an opportunity to use open source as a strategic foundation to drive modernization and implement innovations.

Ansible is an established standard that is here to stay. However, in the SAP world, application possibilities, from accelerated Rise migration to faster implementation of innovations, are still underutilized.

AI and ML are all the rage in the SAP world. However, developing, deploying, and managing AI and ML models poses a number of challenges and requires specific frameworks.

Is automating IT processes a technical challenge? Yes, but not only a challenge. The key to success and seamless implementation is a well-structured plan that involves all employees—not just those in IT.

What are the benefits of open source? SAP modernizations and migrations are complex; taking a different approach based on open-source principles can help you avoid several problems and stumbling blocks from the start.

SAP users are currently facing many far-reaching challenges. Not only do they need to drive migration, but also address innovation topics in terms of competitiveness and cover them from an IT perspective.

Holistic SAP modernization should address migration and innovation issues simultaneously and accelerate both. Open-source principles and platforms form the basis for this disruptive approach.

SAP's customers are caught between the conflicting priorities of migration and innovation, necessary changes which are associated with a wide range of strategic, technical, and business challenges. The key is that it's all about building an intelligent enterprise.

The SAP deadline of 2027 applies to most applications and existing customers. They are actively driving the necessary migrations. However, innovation is often neglected during the transformation. But this does not have to be the case.

The silo security of a traditional SAP environment is reaching its limits in an era of increasing interconnection between SAP and non-SAP systems. Does this lead to sacrifices for the security of a process landscape?