End of maintenance for SAP ECC in 2027: What companies can still do now

At the end of 2027, SAP will end mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7. This affects SAP ECC 6.0, SAP CRM, SAP SCM, and other components. The end of maintenance is a move that SAP announced some time ago. Nevertheless, many companies are uncertain: What exactly are the deadlines? What will change and when? And how much leeway do companies actually have left?

This blog post sorts through the facts, organizes the various timeframes and deadlines, and shows what options companies realistically can take.

Well-planned instead of haphazard – Lay the groundwork for the move to SAP S/4HANA

An overview of the deadlines

Various dates are circulating regarding the end of support for SAP ECC. This causes confusion, but can be clearly resolved: Mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 with Enhancement Packages 0 through 5 ended in late 2025. Companies still running these versions are already in what is known as Customer Specific Maintenance. This means: no regular support, no legal updates, and only limited security updates.

Maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 with Enhancement Packages 6 to 8 will end in late 2027. This is the deadline that applies to the majority of existing SAP customers. After this date, there will be neither new features nor full support. However, companies can purchase optional Extended Maintenance through the end of 2030. This extends support by three years but costs an additional two percentage points on top of the existing maintenance fee. Extended Maintenance is intended as a transitional solution, not a permanent arrangement.

In addition, for RISE with SAP customers, there is the “SAP ERP, Private Edition, Transition Option” offering, which theoretically allows for operation until 2033. However, this option requires that the company is already on HANA and is committed to the RISE with SAP model in the long term.

SAP S/4HANA Compatibility Packs – An often overlooked factor

In addition to maintenance periods, there are also the so-called SAP S/4HANA Compatibility Packs. These are functionalities from the SAP ECC environment that were temporarily transferred to SAP S/4HANA because the successor features were not yet available when SAP S/4HANA was launched. The usage rights for the majority of these SAP S/4HANA Compatibility Packs have already expired at the end of 2025. For some areas, such as Transportation Management, Customer Service, and certain functions in Production Planning – Process Industries (PP-PI), the deadline runs until December 31, 2030.

What does this mean in practice? Companies migrating to SAP S/4HANA now must address the issue of SAP S/4HANA Compatibility Packs directly. Unlike in earlier migrations, where companies could first make the technical switch and then address functional adjustments later, today both must be handled simultaneously. This increases the project scope but is feasible if it is factored into planning early on.

What’s still possible

Despite the approaching end of support for SAP ERP, there’s no need to panic. If you start planning today, you still have plenty of time for a careful migration. Depending on the scope, typical SAP S/4HANA implementations take between 12 and 24 months. A project start in mid-2026 is therefore entirely realistic, allowing for go-live by the end of 2027 or at least using Extended Maintenance as a bridge.

Even those who opt for Extended Maintenance should actively use the time gained. Three years may sound like a long period, but it isn’t when you consider the complexity of an ERP transformation. Preparatory measures such as master data cleansing, analyzing the process landscape, and evaluating the appropriate operating model (on-premise, Private Cloud Edition, Public Cloud Edition) can be started right now.

What is no longer an option

Waiting and hoping that SAP will extend the deadlines again is not a viable strategy. With its commitment to maintain SAP S/4HANA through 2040, SAP has sent a clear signal: The future lies in SAP S/4HANA, and investments in the latest ERP generation are secure in the long term.

At the same time, the market for SAP S/4HANA consultants is expected to become even tighter starting in 2027. According to the DSAG Investment Report, nearly 50% of existing SAP customers plan to complete their migration by the end of 2030. Those who start late will be competing with many other companies for the same resources, leading to higher costs and longer lead times.

The topic of third-party support is also occasionally discussed as an alternative. Certain providers promise to support SAP ECC for several more years. What is often overlooked here is that these offerings cover day-to-day operations but do not provide access to SAP innovations, do not offer support for regulatory changes at the usual pace, and offer no prospects for further development of the IT landscape. Perhaps an option as a short-term stopgap, but absolutely not recommended as a long-term strategy.

Conclusion: The question is not if, but when

The end of maintenance for SAP ECC is well known by now and is not a sudden deadline. It is a clearly defined timeframe that gives companies sufficient leeway for an orderly transition—provided they know how to make use of that leeway. The first step does not have to be a full-scale migration decision right away. An assessment of the current system landscape, a realistic evaluation of the migration effort, and a comparison with available resources are sufficient to set the right course. Those who do this groundwork today will have significantly more options tomorrow.