Customer Evolution with Legacy Issues

Many ERP legacy issues and unanswered SAP questions

Successful SAP customers off course have Abap modifications and other legacy challenges. At events such as the DSAG Annual Congress 2025 in Bremen, DSAG members and the DSAG Executive Board expect SAP to answer current questions. The DSAG is the German-speaking SAP User Group, a European counterpart to the ASUG. The catalog of open SAP construction sites is long: AI integration, Databricks or SAP BDC, Rise with third-party IT tools, SAP Build versus Joule Studio and public cloud, private cloud, on-prem or a sovereign "on-prem cloud".

SAP board member Thomas Saueressig declined to answer questions about the numerous SAP construction sites, and DSAG board chairman Jens Hungershausen agreed with Christian Klein on a friendly approach and cautious cooperation. Criticism and questions were neither possible nor desired. The DSAG members in Bremen were left astonished and in the dark.

ERP Greenfield as an SAP conversion standard

Thomas Saueressig, an SAP Executive Board member, presented a success story at the event in Bremen: the S/4 customization of the jewelry manufacturer Pandora. As a new customer, Pandora is free of legacy issues. The Greenfield project was quickly implemented in Austria and Germany. Saueressig interviewed Pandora's successful IT manager with great interest. Every DSAG member in the audience knew what the answers would be. For experienced SAP users, customizing on a Greenfield site is not challenging. Consequently, Saueressig's entertaining interview provided no added value for the audience at the DSAG Annual Congress.

After ten years of experimentation, Customer Evolution has reached a critical point: a release change to S/4 that has not worked for ten years must now be completed within a few years. If Thomas Saueressig continues to lose himself in Greenfield fantasies, it will not be completed by the new, magical date of 2033 for the final release change. However, Saueressig made it unmistakably clear that this is not an extension of the maintenance period.

SAP legacy license management

The SAP transition to the cloud is complex and can create new legacy issues if unsuccessful. This process was discussed at the DSAG Annual Congress 2024 in Leipzig. RISE with SAP always involves two contracts: one is a release change, and the other is a rental agreement. SAP customers are required to rent cloud space for their future ERP systems. The RISE transformation process begins simultaneously. Like any other IT project, it can naturally fail. However, the rental contract for the cloud cannot be canceled at that point. On top of the legacy burden of an old ERP and a failed S/4, the SAP customer would also have rental costs for unused cloud space. You couldn't have a more significant legacy burden!

This year, the DSAG user association refused to provide its members with an exit strategy for this legacy dilemma. Given the new harmony between DSAG and SAP, the DSAG did not plan any informational event on the subject of RISE and cloud contracts. The DSAG's original motto of "critical and constructive" has clearly become irrelevant. DSAG members were told that there are no legacy issues with Greenfield, so what now?

Legacy ERP on-prem versus a sovereign SAP cloud

SAP refused to address the issue of a sovereign cloud for quite a while. Shortly before the DSAG Annual Congress 2025, an on-prem solution was presented. Cloud functionality will be available in SAP customers' data centers. SAP is thus introducing an additional infrastructure and operating model without providing specific information about its functions and management. How will SAP maintain a "cloud" in an SAP customer’s data center? At the event in Bremen, Thomas Saueressig failed to answer this question. The presentation on the new SAP customer Pandora’s public cloud had to suffice as the general keynote.

However, many SAP customers are now faced with three options for their applications: on-prem, private cloud, or public cloud. Some SAP applications are available in all three operating models, albeit with slightly different functions. Which version is suitable for your company, and which version has a future and will be further developed by SAP? This question was not answered in Bremen, but at least a DSAG member asked it on the main stage. By this time, SAP was no longer present—in Bremen, SAP customers and partners were left to their own devices in many ERP cases.

In front of around 5,000 congress participants, SAP board member Thomas Saueressig presented a barely relevant, new public cloud solution. Because many DSAG members are long-standing and successful SAP customers, the insights gained were limited. In light of this, it is important to address the following questions: What will happen to my ABAP modifications? How can I link ECC and BTP? Do AI and Joule work with a sovereign on-premises ERP in my own data center? Thomas Saueressig did not answer any of these questions.

However, S/4 conversion succeeds without legacy. Without legacy, the young SAP customer can stay on time and on budget. However, with legacy, the release change from ECC 6.0 to S/4 becomes an expensive and complex challenge, as SAP board member Thomas Saueressig is well aware. At the DSAG Annual Congress in Bremen, Saueressig chose the simple, risk-free route.