There is SAP’s strategy and the reality on the ground for its customers: beware that one does not stray too far from the other.
The DSAG (the German-speaking SAP user group) delivered its message last week at its annual congress.
The motto of this 2025 edition was “The Art of Balance.” A way of telling the publisher again that cloud transformation requires balancing stability and speed.
For many companies and organizations, the journey to the “new SAP world” begins with legacy, the DSAG reminded. Its latest annual survey bears this out. 51% of respondents said they still use ECC or the old Business Suite. 42% reported using S/4HANA on-site, versus 33% in private cloud and 13% in public cloud.
In this context, the pace is not realistic for all companies, argues the association. It is therefore calling for a “margins of maneuver for individual roadmaps,” alongside harmonized architectures and operating models. More broadly, it asks SAP to be clearer about the added value of this transformation, both from an individual and sectoral perspective. And to better communicate about its innovations as well as its long-term product strategy.
This communication must include AI, with DSAG demanding particular transparency (data used, scenarios covered, costs involved). As well as making available to all customers, regardless of any cloud contract.
Functional parity and pricing transparency
The aspect of “AI for all” had already been highlighted at the 2024 congress. More generally, DSAG had called for functional parity between S/4HANA Private Cloud and S/4HANA on-prem, while already demanding clear answers on the true value proposition of the cloud and its pricing. The association had also pointed to the need for reference architectures, best-practice guides, and standard integration scenarios.
Ahead of the 2023 congress, SAP had announced that, in the future, major innovations would be offered only to customers under RISE or GROW contracts. The DSAG message felt the impact. In broad strokes: yes to cloud-first, no to cloud-only.
Beyond pricing transparency and functional parity, the association had called for better consideration of heterogeneous environments (including technologies outside the SAP ecosystem). It also suggested that the publisher involve customers and partners earlier in the development of its products.
