Right now, a significant number of large organisations across Europe and the US are somewhere in the middle of a question they can no longer avoid. They know their SAP ECC environment has a shelf life. They know the 2027 deadline is real. And many of them are further behind than they would like to admit, not because of a lack of intent, but because this is hard to do well.
The talent dimension is where that difficulty tends to crystallise first. And it is what we want to address here.
The migration picture is more varied than the deadline implies
SAP’s cloud migration programme is behind where the company expected it to be. The Register reported on 24 March 2026 that five years after launching RISE with SAP, on-premises software support revenues came in at €10.5 billion in 2025 against a stated target of €8.5 billion.
According to The Register, Gartner estimates that by 2030 more than 10,000 SAP customers will continue to run major parts of their business on ECC, with larger and more complex organisations disproportionately represented in that group.
These are large, deeply embedded environments that have often been in place for decades, and the decision about when and how to migrate can feel like a monumental one.
A survey of 455 organisations, reported by CIO magazine in November 2025, found that nine in ten SAP customers are concerned about rising and unpredictable subscription costs, and that 95% say making an ROI case for S/4HANA is difficult or takes significant effort. As CIO magazine reported, Gartner analyst Mike Tucciarone put it plainly: “In many ways, SAP’s biggest competitor to S/4HANA is its legacy ERP, ECC.”
The options beyond 2027 are more varied than many realise
For organisations not yet on a clear migration path, the choices extend beyond a binary decision. Extended support at a 2 percent premium is available until the end of 2030, and there is an option to continue SAP support for ECC until 2033 for customers who commit to a migration plan.
Brownfield migration, which moves an organisation to S/4HANA without requiring a full process transformation, is an increasingly common route for those who want to make the move without the complexity and cost of a greenfield implementation.
Where organisations are headed is fairly clear. How they get there, and on what timeline, depends on factors that are specific to each business.
Where migration programmes run into difficulty
For organisations already mid-programme, the evidence is instructive. Research from ISG, published by CIO magazine in February 2026, found that almost 60% of SAP migrations fall behind schedule and budget, with underestimated complexity, scope expansion, and internal capacity constraints identified as the primary causes. The research points to governance as the primary culprit, more so than the technical challenges organisations tend to worry about most.
The same research found that less than one in five companies implement new processes and technologies when migrating to S/4HANA, with nearly half making few or no changes. Time pressure and under-resourcing are significant contributing factors. Organisations that arrive on the new platform without the right expertise in the right roles at the right time often carry the same operational problems into a new environment.
Talent sits at the centre of most of these challenges
Look closely at the reasons migrations stall, and people are almost always part of the story. Whether it is unclear responsibilities across delivery partners, insufficient experienced resource internally, or arriving on a new platform without the expertise to leverage it, the common thread is resourcing.
The market for experienced SAP professionals is under sustained pressure. Demand is high across Europe and the US as more organisations move from planning into active delivery. Shortages of experienced S/4HANA specialists are now affecting most migration projects, with demand particularly acute in data migration, finance, testing, and cutover roles.
The skills required have also shifted considerably from the ECC era. Employers increasingly need professionals with hands-on experience across SAP’s Business Technology Platform, Fiori, embedded analytics, and cloud integration, alongside deep module expertise in areas such as FI/CO, SD, MM, and EWM. That combination narrows the available pool considerably, and the most experienced candidates tend to already be committed to live programmes.
Senior roles in particular, programme managers, solution architects, and senior functional consultants, are taking significantly longer to fill than standard technology positions.
“Every client conversation we have at the moment around SAP involves some version of the same question: how do we move forward without the project becoming a distraction from running the business? There’s no single right answer, but having the right people in the right roles from the start makes everything else more manageable. That’s what we focus on.”
Fabrizio Innamorati, CEO, Senovo IT
Working with Senovo IT
Senovo IT has been placing specialist SAP professionals across Europe and the US for over a decade, supporting organisations across the full scope of what these programmes require, from FI/CO and SD consultants through to solution architects and programme managers.
Treating talent acquisition as something to resolve once project scope is agreed is one of the most consistent risk factors in large SAP programmes. Engaging a specialist recruitment partner early, well before critical project phases begin, makes a material difference to both the quality and pace of team building. We have also supported a number of clients with proven delivery against complex, multi-geography SAP briefs, including placing specialist teams across eight countries for a global food and beverage business.
“The SAP talent market across Europe and the US is as competitive as I’ve seen it. The profiles that organisations need most, the people who’ve delivered full lifecycle S/4HANA transformations, are in short supply and high demand. What we bring is a network built over more than a decade, and relationships with consultants who aren’t on the open market. That’s where the real difference is.”
Fabrizio Innamorati, CEO, Senovo IT
Whether you are in early planning, actively building a migration team, or working through an extended support strategy while timelines are confirmed, we are happy to have a straightforward conversation about your options.
Get in touch at info@senovo-it.com or visit www.senovo-it.com
