Where Next with SAP ?
September is when the SAP machine starts again.
Everyone is back from the beach. Budgets come back into focus. Programmes accelerate towards December or Easter cutovers.
And everywhere you look: AI, AI, AI.
Before you restart the SAP agenda, ask one question:
If we were choosing our SAP direction today, would we still choose the same route?
Because the landscape has moved significantly.
This is no longer just ECC versus S/4HANA. It is sovereign cloud, data, Industry AI, wrap-around agents, robotic edge, microservices, composable ERP, Business Suite, automation, hyperscalers and a much bigger question about how much of the existing estate really needs to change.
A strategy written two or three years ago might still be right.
But don't assume it is.
The bigger risk is drift. The programme exists. The budget exists. The roadmap says what happens next. So everyone keeps going.
Meanwhile SAP changes. AI changes. The economics change. The options change.
Doing nothing is also a strategy. Sometimes it is the most expensive one.
Then comes the question I think matters even more:
What happens after modernisation?
Because, in many ways, modernisation is over.
Getting onto a modern SAP platform is no longer the finish line. The challenge now is how customers consume SAP, how they deliver change faster, and how they turn AI into measurable business value.
We have spent years talking about getting to S/4. That conversation has moved on.
Now we need to ask what capabilities organisations actually need to survive and succeed.
How do you consume SAP differently, rather than blindly buying AI credits?
How do you deliver change differently? Enterprise Kaizen is my answer.
How do AI, agents and robotics become part of the operating model?
And most importantly, how do you close the growing gap between AI investment and AI value?
That is the conversation CIOs, CFOs and SAP leaders should be having this September.
Don't restart the machine until you know it is pointing in the right direction.
If you are asking "Where next with SAP?", message me for our practical guide.
And if you want to take advantage of the free Dragon ERP "Where Next with SAP?" Executive Shaping Session, message a Dragon
Need help
That's where I come in, message me or buy me a coffee its that simple and lets have a chat
Alisdair
About the Author
Alisdair Bach helps CIOs and CFOs solve complex SAP problems and shape what comes next. He advises boards, investors and executive teams on SAP strategy, assurance, architecture, commercial decisions and how SAP should be consumed, delivered and embedded across the enterprise.
An independent SAP analyst, author and lecturer, Alisdair challenges conventional industry thinking. He is the author of The SAP Omniverse and the originator of SAP Upcycling and Enterprise Kaizen. His work anticipated the extension of ECC and the arrival of AI and Joule on existing SAP landscapes, challenging the assumption that every organisation must rip out its current estate and start again.
Through Dragon ERP, Alisdair combines original thinking with decades of practical delivery experience across private equity, public sector and international organisations. When an SAP programme is struggling, he provides board-level assurance, forensic diagnosis and experienced turnaround leadership to help executives regain control and determine the right way forward.
