SAP has developed an alternative way of shifting customers' legacy systems running on Microsoft's SQL Server database to the cloud, a method that is outside of its preferred RISE with SAP program.
The company published a blog post last month explaining that it was offering an "SAP ERP, private edition, option for Microsoft SQL" as another way to migrate legacy enterprise applications to the cloud.
In the past, SAP offered its application software on a variety of databases, including Oracle, IBM's DB2 and SQL Server, some of which continue to be supported - with mainstream support ending in 2027 and extended support in 2030. In 2010 SAP released its own in-memory database called HANA, and in 2015, it released a completely redesigned ERP on the database: S/4HANA.
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However, ERP migration projects have a reputation for being slow, expensive and painful, and some customers have shown reluctance to move to the lastest system.
Only 37 percent of SAP's legacy ECC customers had licensed S/4HANA as of the second quarter of 2024, according to Gartner. Mainstream support for ECC is set to expire by the end of 2027, while extended support is available at a 2 percent premium until the close of 2030.
SAP's preferred method to switch these dated systems to the cloud and upgrade to the latest platform is the RISE with SAP program, announced in early 2021, which offers a bundle of systems integration, cloud infrastructure and software to temp users from aging software and move to the cloud at the same time.
A direct switch to RISE with SAP is not mandatory but is a logical next step
However, the German application giant is offering an alternative for systems running on Microsoft SQL Server, at least in the short term.
In a statement issued today, an SAP spokesperson told us: "SAP expanded its ERP cloud portfolio to include SAP ERP, private edition, option for Microsoft SQL. This option guides customers through a two-stage process to transition their ERP systems to the cloud and eventually switch to SAP S/4HANA with SAP's support. This offering responds to the demand for more flexible migration paths, helping customers manage the transition deadline for support of ECC systems. A direct switch to RISE with SAP is not mandatory but is a logical next step."
SAP confirmed that nothing changes for those customers using other vendors' database systems to run SAP.
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Users running an SAP ERP system on Microsoft SQL Server database on-premises can lift and shift to the SAP Cloud infrastructure supported by Microsoft Azure, SAP says.
"There is no need to move to a specific enhancement package. If the customer is running Microsoft SQL Server 2019 or newer also no database upgrade needs to be performed," it said in a blog post. ®