SAP Study: Private Cloud and AI Are Becoming the Norm

At 64 percent, the private cloud is the dominant operating model, while on-premises environments continue to lose ground. Artificial intelligence is also becoming the norm: 67 percent of respondents use AI in their operations or as an integral part of their business processes, primarily to accelerate processes and reduce costs. Valantic has been conducting the SAP study since 2018. This year’s survey included 409 executives from the DACH region.

Valantic, a digital consulting, solutions, and software firm, surveys decision-makers annually about the status of their S/4 transformation, as well as their investment plans, preferred technologies, and the business opportunities they expect to gain from them. As such, the Valantic SAP Study serves as an important barometer of sentiment within the SAP community.

The current issue focuses on cloud strategy, data platforms, and artificial intelligence. The survey methodology has been expanded compared to 2025: It is based on a significantly larger sample of companies from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, thereby enabling, for the first time, a regionally differentiated comparison within the DACH region. In addition, the 2026 edition provides in-depth industry-specific analyses—particularly for key SAP industries such as discrete manufacturing, the food industry, and retail.

Starting Point for ERP Modernization

The market has largely moved beyond the planning phase; the implementation of S/4 migrations and the stabilization of modernized system landscapes now dominate. At the same time, priorities are shifting. What initially began as an ERP migration is increasingly evolving into a more comprehensive transformation of IT environments toward a cloud-based platform architecture for integrating data, processes, and AI based on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC).

For many companies, the transition to S/4 does not mark the end of their transformation, but rather a starting point for further optimizations aimed at capitalizing on potential competitive advantages.

The majority of the companies surveyed have reached the S/4 implementation and stabilization phase. Twenty-eight percent of respondents are already using their new ERP system landscapes in production, 42 percent are in the midst of their implementation projects, and another 25 percent are making concrete plans for the migration. Only five percent currently have no plans to migrate.

The transformation is spreading across market segments: While larger organizations started earlier and are gradually becoming operational (65 percent of projects completed), the share of ongoing implementations among SMEs has risen from 17 to 25 percent compared to the previous year.

Controlled Change

In terms of operating models, the private cloud is expanding its dominant position. 64 percent (2025: 58 percent) of respondents operate their SAP systems in their own cloud environment. This confirms the trend from the previous year: The majority of companies prefer a steady, controlled transformation.

This is particularly true for industrial sectors such as discrete manufacturing, the food industry, and transportation and logistics. The reasons include a high degree of customization, complex production and SCM processes, the integration of shop floor and PLM systems, and stricter regulatory frameworks. Twenty-five percent of companies use the public cloud (2025: 22 percent), while on-premises environments continue to lose significant appeal, now standing at 11 percent (2025: 20 percent).

„At the same time, the share of public cloud usage is growing, especially in areas where standardization and rapid rollouts are required. Our study shows that the most successful companies combine both worlds and use SAP S/4HANA, SAP BTP, and SAP BDC to build a flexible platform architecture that optimally positions them for future data and AI scenarios,“ said Rüdiger Hoffmann, Partner and Managing Director at Valantic.

„The dominant role of the private cloud in the
The SAP Community sends a clear signal:
Companies want to manage their transformation in a controlled manner
”and shape it at their own pace"

Rüdiger Hoffmann,
Partner and Managing Director,
Valantic

Cloud: Efficiency and Complexity

In SAP Cloud ERP migrations, the focus is shifting to actual project experience due to the increased number of ongoing implementations and systems already in production. The assessment varies between the implementation and operations phases of the transformation.

When it comes to ongoing migrations, respondents express mixed feelings about the financial implications. While 42 percent expect cloud ERP to deliver greater cost efficiency, a majority (57 percent) fear high project costs. About 30 percent of decision-makers consider the complexity of migration to be too high; in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, this figure is even significantly higher at 44 percent. The main obstacle here is not so much the cloud technology itself, but rather the transition of legacy processes and proprietary systems to standardized cloud environments.

After going live, companies assess whether the effort involved in the transformation to SAP Cloud ERP is actually paying off. Here, perceptions of costs provide a clear initial indication: 51 percent of respondents report that their cloud solution is cost-effective in production.

Improved system accessibility is also gaining importance and is viewed positively by one in two companies; in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as many as 56 percent appreciate this. For logistics (69 percent) and retail (46 percent)—with their decentralized structures and omnichannel models—unified access to central solutions and platforms pays off particularly well.

Artificial intelligence is clearly relevant to businesses. Companies expect it to deliver tangible business benefits such as faster processes, cost savings, and better problem analysis. Consequently, the technology is already being used on a broad scale (67 percent overall). Specifically, 42 percent of companies are using initial AI applications and services, and 25 percent have even integrated them firmly into their business processes—particularly companies that have completed their cloud ERP transformation (28 percent) and those in the automotive industry (53 percent). Seventeen percent of companies have developed an AI strategy, while 13 percent are currently working on one.

When it comes to specific AI solutions, companies want SAP and its partners to provide AI agents above all else (42 percent). Other priorities include AI-powered planning and analysis, AI support for developers, and AI features integrated into SAP applications.

Data-Driven Control with BDC

Integrated data is essential for value-adding AI applications. This is one of the main reasons why the SAP Business Data Cloud is establishing itself among companies as a central reference point for data-driven management. A total of 60 percent of respondents view the platform as an integral part of their data management. For the majority (66 percent), the SAP BDC already plays a key role in the planning phase and is thus included early on in the transformation roadmap.

At the same time, there is a growing trend toward consolidation in favor of SAP-centric data architectures: The percentage of companies using a comparable architecture outside the SAP portfolio is falling to 30 percent (2025: 40 percent). With BTP and BDC, a platform architecture for integration, data management, and extensions is emerging. The SAP landscape is thus evolving into a technological platform for data, processes, and innovation.

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