Exclusive: Rimini Street flags SAP customer concerns over cloud shift

A global study commissioned by Rimini Street has exposed rising dissatisfaction and confusion among SAP customers over forced cloud migrations - with many now rejecting the official roadmap in favour of more flexible, multi-vendor strategies.

In an exclusive interview with TechDay, Scott Hays, senior director of product marketing at Rimini Street, and Dale Vile, co-founder and analyst at Freeform Dynamics, spoke about the research findings and the growing discontent in the SAP user base.

"We read anecdotal reports that many SAP customers are happy with their SAP software but unhappy with SAP's end-of-maintenance dates and pressures to move to an SAP bundled cloud subscription," Hays said.

"We commissioned the research to get a qualitative update on strategies and sentiments directly from SAP customers."

The global study included 455 SAP customers and revealed that a whopping 83% do not fully understand SAP's current migration policies and deadlines - a statistic that shocked even Hays.

"It didn't surprise me that SAP customers are confused, but I was surprised that 83% fall into that group," he said. "That's a lot of confusion."

At the heart of the issue is SAP's aggressive push to transition customers from on-premise ERP systems to cloud-based S/4HANA subscriptions.

While 77% of respondents said they are open to SaaS in principle, 92% expressed concern about escalating and unpredictable costs under SAP's current model.

According to the data, 95% said building a positive ROI case for S/4HANA is difficult or genuinely challenging. Around 30% of ECC users, the study found, have effectively stopped looking to SAP for innovation altogether.

"This is consistent with my own conversations with SAP customers over the past few years," said Vile.

"One after another has simply reset their expectations as the reality became increasingly obvious to them." 

The findings highlight a major shift underway, as more customers adopt a "multi-vendor composable ERP" strategy - integrating best-in-class solutions from various suppliers to drive innovation, particularly in areas like AI.

"It's good to see so many SAP customers now fully embracing the idea of open composable architecture and the use of loosely coupled third-party solutions to meet ERP needs," Vile said. "This business-led, rather than supplier-led approach, pays dividends in terms of flexibility, control and access to new innovations."

Customers combining open composable architectures with third-party support report above-average performance 83% of the time, compared to just 27% under traditional SAP-led models. Lady

Hays added: "As SAP customers navigate costly forced migration decisions and the loss of valuable perpetual licences, we're seeing a decisive shift toward composable ERP strategies that deliver faster innovation and real business value."

Hays believes SAP's shifting strategies and messaging are a large part of the problem. "SAP leadership appears to be focusing more on investors than on their customers," he said. "Policies, packages, and prices are confusing when they don't make sense, are overly complex, or change frequently."

Dale Vile, co-founder and analyst at Freeform Dynamics.

The research did not include a regional breakdown in its published report, but Vile shared qualitative insights from the 40 Australian and New Zealand participants.

He noted that organisations in the region tend to focus more on operational efficiency, often run heavily customised ERP systems, and are less convinced by SAP's SaaS proposition.

"Our ANZ sample generally came across as less willing or confident to push back against SAP," he explained. "This may well be down to the skew towards smaller customers compared to other regions - larger customers inherently have more power when dealing with suppliers."

Industry-wise, the research found that regulatory-heavy sectors such as financial services and utilities are more likely to run ERP on-premise, while manufacturers exhibit higher levels of customisation and a strong interest in open, composable strategies.

Despite regional and industry nuances, the key drivers are universal: organisational size and the scale of the SAP environment are the biggest influences on customer sentiment.

When asked about the long-term future for SAP, Hays acknowledged the company's legacy and reach.

"SAP is a respected brand worldwide," he said. "Their software is very stable and mature, providing a transactional backbone for businesses across many industries. But innovation is now happening outside systems of record."

According to Hays, Rimini Street intends to use the study to promote greater awareness of alternative support models that enable SAP customers to regain roadmap control. "We will use this study report to spread the word that most SAP customers desire more control, predictability, and roadmap freedom," he explained.

He also noted that many SAP practitioners are unaware of third-party support options.

"Even after 20 years of Rimini Street offering third-party support to enterprise software licensees, I'm often surprised at how many SAP practitioners don't realise that viable, business-first alternatives exist," Hays said.

Vile, reflecting on the broader dynamics at play, dismissed the idea of open hostility between SAP and its customer base. "It's not outright war between SAP and its customers, as some suggest," he said. "It's more an ongoing conversation and negotiation that I think will continue for years to come."

He added: "The risk for SAP is that customers are waking up to the fact that they have more choice and power than a lot of them previously perceived."