"In 2020, SAP's CFO told investors that its plans for customer upgrades, cloud migration, and a move to SaaS would give the German software vendor a greater "share of wallet." Last week, European retail giant Kingfisher explained how it stepped outside that narrative, eschewing the vendor-recommended upgrade path. But its decision to ignore SAP support deadlines and remain on legacy software might raise as many questions as it answers for other SAP users who find themselves in the same position."
"Vendor support for ECC ends in December 2027. For a 2 percent premium, customers can get extended support until the end of 2030. After negotiations with SAP, £13 billion-turnover Kingfisher decided to ignore the vendor-recommended upgrade path to S/4HANA and instead move its ECC platform to Google Cloud with third-party support from Rimini Street. In a recent presentation at Gartner's Symposium in Barcelona, group CTO Chris Blatchford said the retailer had been trying to get the vendor to show the business value in the upgrade."
"However, using a combination of Google Cloud tools and software from Databricks, the retailer says it has developed an AI strategy including personalization, recommendation engines, and flexible pricing models, all built from its core ERP data. In doing so, Kingfisher has cast doubt over SAP's attempt at creating a motivational carrot of "innovation" to accompany the stick of support ending."
SAP has been encouraging customers to upgrade from ECC to S/4HANA, pushing upgrades, cloud migration, and SaaS to increase share of wallet. Vendor support for ECC ends in December 2027, with a paid extended support option through 2030. Gartner reported that only 39% of about 35,000 ECC customers had begun transitioning to S/4HANA by Q4 2024. Kingfisher chose to keep ECC, move the platform to Google Cloud, and obtain third‑party support from Rimini Street rather than follow SAP's recommended upgrade. The retailer built AI capabilities—personalization, recommendation engines, flexible pricing—using Google Cloud and Databricks from core ERP data, calling into question the clear business value of S/4HANA for some customers.
#sap-s4hana-migration #ecc-end-of-support #cloud-migration-with-third-party-support #ai-and-personalization-from-erp-data
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