As the 2027 deadline for SAP ECC mainstream maintenance looms, many organizations are falling into a dangerous trap: offloading strategic migration decisions to technical implementation partners. New research suggests this reliance often triggers significant cost overruns, project delays, and a failure to align technology with core business priorities.
The transition to S/4HANA represents one of the most complex technological shifts a company can undertake. While implementation partners provide necessary technical muscle, Info-Tech Research Group warns that these firms lack the deep internal business context required to make high-level trade-offs. According to Mia Scherba, a research analyst at Info-Tech, organizations mistakenly treat the migration as a standard technical upgrade rather than a comprehensive transformation.
This oversight forces companies into a reactive posture where partners dictate the project's direction. Info-Tech identifies four primary drivers of migration failure: underestimating project complexity, making isolated decisions without considering cross-functional impacts, allowing partners to define business strategy, and neglecting organizational change management.
To mitigate these risks, the firm advocates for an internal planning phase that precedes any technical engagement. By formalizing governance and evaluating deployment methods early, leadership teams can regain control over the project's long-term value. Info-Tech’s methodology encourages businesses to audit their current landscape and document their strategic intent, ensuring that when technical partners eventually arrive, they are executing a pre-defined vision rather than guessing at organizational goals.
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