ECC conversion by 2033: SAP Cloud Transition Option

The SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option is an additional, non-mandatory offering from SAP that helps customers transition to the SAP Cloud.

For customers with complex system landscapes, migrating from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA Cloud may not be achievable by the end of ECC maintenance in 2030. These companies now have an additional three years to complete the migration to the cloud by the end of 2033.

• The offer will be available for purchase starting in 2028.
• It can be used from 2031 to 2033.
• A RISE contract is required to use the new offering.
• The product scope relates to SAP ECC.
• The scope does not cover the full scope of the SAP Business Suite 7, which will only be available as a subscription until the end of 2030.

SAP first announced details in a news release on Februrary 4, 2025. In it, Stefan Steinle (Executive Vice President and Head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP) discusses the new offering.

Further details will be available to interested parties in the second quarter of 2025 and in the months leading up to the contractual availability in 2028.

The main benefit: SAP gives companies with complex ERP system landscapes more time to migrate to the cloud. The offering is clearly designed for companies with heterogeneous and larger system landscapes.

Companies should carefully assess, from both a strategic and financial perspective, whether an earlier transition to the cloud might be more sustainable, especially if migrating to the SAP Cloud is already planned.

To be eligible for the SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option, companies must meet several conditions:

• A RISE contract must be concluded.
• SAP systems must be migrated to the HANA database by the end of 2030.
• Systems relevant for the SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option must be migrated to SAP ERP, Private Edition before the end of 2030.
• To utilize the offering, certain preparations are required. For example, third-party technologies (such as older Java versions) will no longer be supported.

Further details about the SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option will be announced shortly before its availability for purchase in 2028.

Companies that wish to continue operating their SAP system as an on-premise system after 2030 can do so—nothing changes for them with the new offering.

The SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option is not an extension of maintenance.

This means that there will be no extension of maintenance for SAP ERP beyond 2027 or for extended maintenance beyond 2030.

According to a report in Handelsblatt, the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) issued a statement on January 21, 2025, in a press release from Jens Hungershausen (Chairman of the DSAG Executive Board) regarding the plans, which had not yet been officially announced by SAP.

The association generally welcomed the announced time extension. Many companies are still in the process of transitioning to SAP S/4HANA or have not yet started, and this measure would likely be beneficial for them, according to the DSAG.

At the same time, the DSAG saw the offer as an attempt by SAP to bind customers more strongly to the RISE with SAP cloud program. While this is understandable, it gives the impression that SAP wants to push on-premise customers into the cloud. However, these companies should not be disadvantaged.

Therefore, in the press release, the DSAG called for more flexibility and decision-making freedom for companies—regardless of whether they choose the cloud or continue with on-premise solutions.

According to SAP, the new offering will be available at a higher price between 2031 and 2033 compared to a comparable ERP cloud subscription before 2031.

Further details on the offer will be announced by SAP in the second quarter of 2025 and before the contractual availability of the offering in 2028.

Yes, SAP’s cloud-only strategy remains unchanged.

The company clearly focuses on ERP cloud solutions and no longer on on-premise. This is especially evident in the strategy to make significant innovations available only to cloud ERP customers.

In this context, the SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option can be seen as a concession from SAP, granting its customers with particularly complex and larger system landscapes a few more years to transition to the cloud.

• The SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option is an offering from SAP that will be available starting in 2028.
• It gives ECC customers of the company time until the end of 2033 to switch to the cloud (use from 2031 to 2033).
• The conditions for using the offer include, among other things, the conclusion of a RISE contract and migration to the HANA database.
• SAP will provide details about the "transition option" in the second quarter of 2025 and shortly before the offering’s availability for purchase in 2028.