SAP's Multiple ERP Construction Sites

Messages from the SAP user association DSAG

The balance between IT stability and ERP innovation pressure remains an ongoing challenge for SAP customers. The German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG e.V.) has formulated key messages that illustrate this balancing act. The focus is on demanding clear migration paths and consistent architectures for cloud transformation. Equally important are fair and transparent licensing and discount models that take on-prem customers into account. Open platforms, such as those for integrating partner solutions like Databricks, should allow for individualized roadmaps. Artificial intelligence should be accessible to all users, regardless of cloud contracts. The DSAG is also calling for transparency in AI usage, particularly with regards to databases, application scenarios, and costs. Another cornerstone is a sustainable business data cloud with modular products, supplemented by consistent security-by-design in SAP development, and compliance with IT baseline protection.

It is important that SAP's ERP strategy aligns with the IT reality customers and partners are currently facing. DSAG and SAP strive to maintain the necessary balance through close collaboration and ongoing dialogue.

Many SAP customers must adapt to constant changes in an increasingly complicated world. Dealing with SAP is important here. Currently, the software manufacturer is undergoing major changes and has set vague goals for future ERP and IT architectures in the cloud with the "new" Business Suite. Such a change requires balancing stability and speed. It is essential to determine what is still being migrated into the cloud and how a targeted clean-core approach can make new resources available.

Old and new SAP Business Suite

The "new" SAP Business Suite aims to provide a comprehensive model for future ERP architectures in the cloud. Cloud ERP, Business AI, and the Business Data Cloud must collaborate on the Business Technology Platform to enable the "Suite first" strategy and maximize its potential. In the SAP context, "cloud ERP" primarily refers to S/4's provision in the public cloud. To accelerate adoption of the cloud, SAP plans to offer preconfigured package solutions based on the SAP Business Suite that integrate directly with SAP Build. Business AI is a generic term for integrating artificial intelligence into SAP solutions. This integration can be done directly or via the Joule Copilot, which acts as an interface to AI agents. The Business Data Cloud, in turn, serves as a central data platform for harmonizing, managing, and analyzing SAP and non-SAP data. The BTP ultimately forms the foundation for the new SAP world.

According to the latest DSAG Investment Report 2025, 51 percent of respondents still use ECC 6.0 or SAP Business Suite 7. Forty-two percent use S/4 on-premises, 33 percent use S/4 in the private cloud, and 13 percent use S/4 in the public cloud. These figures illustrate the ongoing trend leaning towards the cloud. However, the pace set by SAP is not realistic for all companies. The user association DSAG generally views the cloud as a promising technology for the future. Nevertheless, the path forward is a long one, which means the near future will be hybrid. SAP should provide more support for the adoption process. Better communication, transparent roadmaps, fair pricing and licensing models, and openly available innovations are necessary for this change. Using the cloud must also be economically viable for SAP customers to offer real added value.

Private versus public cloud

The user association expects flexibility, for example, when designing individual roadmaps. Companies need planning and investment security, fair conditions, transparent licensing models, and clarity about planned functionalities. Using different license models in the public cloud and the private edition/cloud leads to additional complexity, especially in two-tier scenarios. DSAG assumes increased convergence here. For this reason, the association is calling for a standardized, open operating model encompassing both public and private clouds. This would enable companies to efficiently operate hybrid scenarios and minimize investment risks.

Although switching to the new SAP world can be advantageous, DSAG says that customers should learn more about the added value of the transformation. Companies must understand the extent to which the new Business Suite can address their specific requirements. The flexibility that was the norm in the SAP ECC world must also be reflected here. The implementation of the new Business Suite must be seamlessly integrated into existing overall architectures and be capable of connecting to other architectures. Investment security must also be guaranteed.

SAP BDC and security

The Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC) is the new data foundation, and its sustainability is crucial. This requires reliable data products, modular insight apps, a fully usable platform (including partner solutions, such as Databricks), and a clear, comprehensible license model (e.g., for capacity units).

The threat situation in cyberspace is rapidly evolving and continuously becoming more complex and challenging, not least due to the growing importance of AI. Addressing this issue is urgent for SAP customers. It is crucial to protect the cloud infrastructure and AI applications from attacks, as artificial intelligence can work both ways: it can both prevent and cause damage.

From DSAG's perspective, SAP recognizes the importance of cybersecurity and confirms that its cloud security measures meet the highest standards. Security requirements must be taken into account during the development phase of solutions. This can be achieved by implementing the security-by-design principle. SAP customers are obligated to provide basic IT protection in accordance with established standards.

The SAP community's outlook for 2026

Over the past few years, a growing number of issues have begun to accumulate, and the SAP triumvirate of Christian Klein, Dominik Asam, and Thomas Saueressig has focused solely on the cloud phenomenon and their own share price. What about the rest? Transformation, security, platforms, open source, AI, etc., must be managed by SAP customers. At the DSAG annual congress in Bremen, DSAG boss Jens Hungershausen defended his members and criticized SAP.