DSAG Investment Report 2026: Investments must be economically viable

In many companies, budgets for IT in general and for SAP in particular will increase in 2026 – however, investments will be more targeted and subject to more critical scrutiny than in the past. This is the conclusion of the DSAG Investment Report 2026 published by the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG). According to the report, 38% of companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have higher overall IT budgets than in the previous year. For 35%, spending will remain the same, while 24% are planning smaller budgets. In terms of SAP software, 43% of companies are increasing their budgets. Twenty-six percent of respondents have unchanged SAP budgets, while 28% plan to make smaller investments.

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Companies under economic pressure

DSAG CEO Jens Hungershausen summarizes the results of the DSAG Investment Report 2026 as follows: “The budget trends reflect the ongoing economic pressure that many companies are under. Energy prices, geopolitical uncertainties, and a tense market environment are leading to investments being scrutinized more critically and, in some cases, postponed – including in the SAP environment.”

SAP continues to play a central role in the field of enterprise software. For 36% of respondents, the relevance of SAP is increasing, for 48% it remains at the same level, and only 16% believe that the importance of SAP software will decline. When asked which challenges have a direct impact on their SAP investment decisions, companies most frequently cited the following aspects: profitability of investments in SAP software (79%), economic conditions (79%), SAP license and contract design (70%), end of maintenance (63%), and implementation of legal requirements (59%).

Process optimization and efficiency gains as drivers

Companies pursue three main goals with their investments in SAP solutions: They want to advance the digital transformation and modernization of their business processes, they expect increased efficiency and optimized costs, and they want to ensure greater compliance and security. Overall, SAP investments are under greater scrutiny today than in the past. “Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, rising costs, and complex licensing and maintenance models, SAP investments must be innovative, economically viable, and resilient,” says Jens Hungershausen.

Organizations take their time with the SAP S/4HANA transformation

In 2026, companies will be investing heavily in SAP S/4HANA. Forty-two percent are planning high and medium investments for SAP S/4HANA on-premise, 22% for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, and 6% for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. The figures confirm the findings from previous years that the SAP S/4HANA transformation is primarily focused on the on-premise option and the controlled private cloud environment.

Around half of those surveyed say they will have completed the move to SAP S/4HANA by the end of 2030. Due to the complexity of their system landscapes, an earlier changeover is not realistic. Accordingly, they are also prepared to pay higher fees for extended maintenance from 2027 onwards. Thirty-seven percent expect to have SAP S/4HANA in productive use by 2027.

Strategic target vision of SAP Business Suite?

Around one-third (35%) of companies base their investment decisions on the target vision of the “new” SAP Business Suite, consisting of SAP Cloud ERP, SAP Business AI, SAP Business Data Cloud, and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). This is particularly noteworthy for SAP Business AI and SAP Business Data Cloud, as these are two relatively new products that have nevertheless already gained a certain relevance for companies’ planning. For 62%, the target vision of SAP Business Suite has not played a role in investment planning to date.

SAP BTP dominates SaaS investments

When it comes to software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, 39% plan high and medium investments for SAP Business Technology Platform and 23% for SAP SuccessFactors. SAP Business Data Cloud is close behind in third place with 22%. Within SAP BTP, companies are investing primarily in integration (45%) and analytics solutions (38%). Application development and automation (27%) and artificial intelligence (16%) are also being considered in investment decisions for SAP BTP.

When it comes to AI use, 43% of companies have already implemented specific use cases. What is striking here is that more than three-quarters rely on non-SAP solutions for artificial intelligence. From DSAG’s perspective, one reason for this is that non-SAP solutions often enable faster access, while companies are hesitant to use SAP-based AI scenarios due to complex licensing models and heterogeneous system landscapes. In addition, many companies still use on-premise systems or highly customized landscapes in which AI innovations have only been usable to a limited extent so far.

Conclusion: Strong focus on efficiency and costs

Companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland remain willing to invest in their IT and in SAP – but with a much sharper focus on cost-effectiveness, benefits, and risk. Digital transformation and process modernization remain key drivers for investments, but cost optimization, efficiency requirements, and regulatory and security-related standards are also increasingly becoming the focus of decision-makers. The bottom line is that SAP remains strategically relevant, but in 2026, investments must be more economically viable, technologically integrable, and future-proof than ever before. Innovation alone is not enough – what matters is its measurable added value in the overall business context.