For IT directors in large organisations, the clock is ticking ever louder. Although SAP has set a deadline of 2027 for the abandonment of legacy ECC systems, the latest market data suggests that the corporate world is still in a phase of displacement. Instead of strategic transformation, most companies are taking shortcuts, which paradoxically prove to be the most costly.
A picture of operational paralysis emerges from the ISG report based on a survey of 200 decision-makers. As many as 60% of migration projects fail to meet deadlines or exceed budgets. The main reason, however, is not technology, but a lift-and-shift approach. Almost half of organisations (49%) try to move old processes to a new environment without modifying them. This is a strategic mistake – avoiding short-term risks results in losing the long-term benefits of the cloud, turning an expensive migration into a mere technical upgrade.
The market is divided into three camps. While SAP is pushing the greenfield path (building a system from scratch), only 18% of respondents choose it. The majority are stuck in the brownfield model (34%), porting outdated code and data, or looking for a compromise in the so-called bluefield approach.
Meanwhile, resistance to the matter is growing. June Gartner data shows that 40% of customers still do not want to leave the ECC platform. For these stakeholders, 2027 could become a critical moment. At the current pace of work and rising consultancy costs, ‘safely’ waiting until the last minute is becoming the riskiest business strategy of the decade. Companies that choose not to deeply transform their processes now risk not only penalties for extended support, but above all technological backwardness against more agile competitors.
