SAP Extends its Innovation Commitment for SAP S/4HANA®, Provides Clarity and Choice on SAP® Business Suite 7

Pressrelease WALLDORF —4 Febrary 2020

• SAP today announced a maintenance commitment for SAP S/4HANA until the end of 2040.
• SAP will also provide mainstream maintenance for core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 software* until the end of 2027 followed by optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030.

*Core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 software include SAP ERP 6.0, SAP Customer Relationship Management 7.0, SAP Supply Chain Management 7.0, and SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0 applications and SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.

“Our customers show us that SAP S/4HANA is their future direction and that they expect a long-term commitment from SAP to this platform,” said Christian Klein, Co-CEO and Member of the Executive Board, SAP SE. “We know that our customers have deep business transformations underway using the unique capabilities of the solution. Our user groups confirm this. A recent survey from the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group did not show a single customer not planning to migrate to SAP S/4HANA. In addition, the German-Speaking User Group indicates in their lately published survey that customer investments in SAP S/4HANA are increasing significantly. In response to this and to our customers’ demand for choice, SAP will provide additional flexibility to fully embrace the groundbreaking opportunities of SAP S/4HANA that reflects the individual pace and complexity of our customers’ projects.”

Thomas Saueressig, Member of the Executive Board, SAP Product Engineering, SAP SE, added: “SAP S/4HANA is the architecture and platform of the future for our customers. SAP is committed to our customers’ success and choice. Offering these maintenance periods is further delivering on transparency and trust. The significant growth in 2019 confirms our SAP S/4HANA strategy and demand.”

Over 13,800 customers have already chosen SAP S/4HANA. Recent surveys from both the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) and the German-Speaking User Group (DSAG) show a significant growth in investments from customers in SAP S/4HANA. DSAG reports that over 49 percent of customers plan to migrate to SAP S/4HANA within the next three years while the ASUG report shows that the number of customers who have no plans of moving to SAP S/4HANA has dropped to zero.

SAP supports this move with a full program of offers, services and tools along with a vast ecosystem of IT service providers who represent over four decades of continuous success, innovation and growth in introducing SAP solutions. As a result of collaboration with customers, user groups and partners, as well as with other industry stakeholders, SAP offers a commitment to SAP S/4HANA until 2040 combined with longer support for SAP Business Suite 7. This will help customers unlock the potential for innovation so they can revolutionize business processes with optimal flexibility while protecting their existing investments.

SAP gives final clarity on maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7. It will provide two more years of mainstream maintenance for core applications of SAP Business Suite 7. During this offboarding phase, SAP will continue to deliver the strong mainstream maintenance features that customers need. There will be no contractual change nor will any additional fees apply. Following this phase, SAP will offer customers a choice of how they would like to continue with the maintenance for core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 from 2028 onwards:

• Customers needing support for their applications in longer conversion phases to SAP S/4HANA can leverage the proven extended maintenance offering. This comes with a premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis for core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 for all support offerings. It will be available for three additional years beginning at the start of 2028 and ending at the close of 2030.
• Customers who do not decide for the extended maintenance level of support by the end of 2027 but choose to carry on with their SAP Business Suite 7 software systems will automatically be transferred to the customer-specific maintenance model. This includes problem solving for known issues at unchanged fees.
   

Michael Kleinemeier, Member of the Executive Board, SAP Digital Business Services, SAP, said:

“We are determined to make our customers successful. The extended commitment to SAP Business Suite 7 and the long-lasting support for SAP S/4HANA is at the core of this, providing our customers choice and flexibility in planning for the right path to the future. We thank our customers and especially our user groups for the strong collaboration to make this happen.”

• The official press release is found on this link.
• The full  iinterview with Michael Kleinemeier and Thomas Saueressig, giving more background on the announcement is found on this link

This official press release was sent to me 15:00 4th of February by Yasmin Awad,  GUGO in SAP (Global User Group Organisation). Do not wait because SAP provides mainstream maintenance for core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 software* until the end of 2027 followed by optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030. The reason to move to a new platform is in your organisation... there is a lot of new things possible on a new platform which are not possible on SAP Business Suite 7 software. 

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Hilsen Eva-Maria Fahrer, CEO SBN-Adfahrer