2027 SAP ECC Migration Challenges You Can’t Afford to Ignore

Introduction

To many SAP customers, 2027 is now or at least it feels that way. Enterprise operations have been running on SAP ECC for decades. It is stable. It is familiar. And for a lot of organizations, it’s still good enough.

But ECC customers no longer have the time. ECC migration challenges 2027 are increasingly unavoidable for SAP customers, knowing about them is essential to an efficient S/4HANA acquisition.
Pressure is mounting to replace legacy ERP systems and as 2027 looms.

• Support models change.
• Innovation slows.
• Operational risk increases.

Ignoring these issues is technical debt that is more difficult and costly to workaround.

This blog post covers the most important migration obstacles that companies are up against with 2027 looming, and why waiting is likely much more expensive than anticipated.

Why 2027 Is a Red-Letter Year for ECC Customers

SAP has telegraphed its longer-term play.

• Innovation is cloud-first.
• New functionality targets S/4HANA.
• Legacy systems receive minimal enhancements.

Extended channels are available to support, but is not a sustainable plan.

By 2027, ECC customers will be confronted with:

• Higher maintenance costs
• Reduced vendor flexibility
• Increased compliance and security risks

Realizing the ECC migration challenges 2027 is crucial for a sober and feasible planning.

Challenge 1: Duality of ECC landscape is being overlooked

The one fact that I can say is, it’s one of the biggest misconceptions in an organization assuming the migration to ECC product as a technical upgrade decision. It is not.

ECC systems can contain decades of:

• Business logic
• Custom code
• Workarounds
• Process exceptions

Those systems grew to fit the business, not to best practices. The result is that the complexity of migration tends to be much greater than anticipated. This problem lies at the heart of most ECC migration problems 2027.

Challenge 2: Custom Code That Doesn’t Make Sense Anymore

ECC systems are heavily customized.

• A lot of those customizations fixed real problems long since.
• Some are still relevant.
• Many are not.

For each migration, we need to check every single customization. This includes:

• ABAP programs
• Enhancements
• User exits
• Modifications

Moving custom code blindly involves risk and is expensive.

Cleaning the core becomes unavoidable.

Challenge 3: Data Quality and Historical Data Choices

ECC systems tend to have a lot of historical data.

• It doesn’t all need to go to S/4HANA.
• But it’s tough to decide what to port and what to retire.

Data migration effort is in turn increased due to low data quality.
It also impacts performance of the system, post go-live.

Data issues are certainly some of the most underestimated obstacles of migrating to ECC 2027.

Challenge 4: Maturity Gap to S/4HANA Design Principles

S/4HANA brings reduced data models and standardized processes to bear.

Complex, not clear — Systems Built Around Complexity Not Clarity

ECC processes are complex more than they are clear.

When organizations plan a migration, there are two taking decisions:

• Adapting business processes
• Recreating old logic via customized development

This decision impacts long-term agility.
Bending old processes to S/4HANA adds overhead and reduces the opportunity for innovation.

Challenge 5: Brain Drain and Resource Constraints

SAP migration requires specialized skills.

• The expert pool for ECC is aging.
• S/4HANA is a hot skill right now.

This creates a resource bottleneck.

Organizations struggle to find:

• S/4HANA architects
• Migration specialists
• SAP BTP developers

The talent shortage is a key contributor to ECC migration challenges 2027.

Challenge 6: Dependencies on integration across systems

ECC rarely operates alone.

It connects to:

• Legacy applications
• Third-party SaaS tools
• Data warehouses
• Partner systems

Each integration needs to be vetted and modified accordingly.
It is possible that some interfaces no longer work.

Reintegrating a redesign is often larger than anticipated and brings with it hidden costs.

Challenge 7: Destruction of business during migration

Migration is not only an IT task.

It involves:

• Finance
• Supply chain
• Procurement
• Sales
• Operations
• Testing cycles become longer.
• New processes need to be validated from business perspective.
• Downtime risks increase.

“Those organizations that undertake rapid migration end up with a lot of operational instability,” he says.

One of the most important challenges is to manage business continuity ECC migration 2027.

Challenge 8: Picking The Wrong Migration Strategy

SAP offers multiple migration paths.

Each has trade-offs:

Approach	Key Risk
System Conversion	Carries legacy complexity forward
Selective Transformation	Requires careful scope control
New Implementation	Higher initial business change

Pick the wrong way and you have:

• Rework
• Cost overruns
• Delay in schedule

The long term business goals should prescribe the migration strategy.

Challenge 9: Late Decisions and Cost Overruns

Many organizations delay key decisions:

• Scope definition
• Data strategy
• Customization approach

Last minute changes multiply consulting effort and rework.

Poor planning means migration budgets are often over and above the initial estimate.

Increasing costs – the cost of ECC migration 2027 remains a hot issue.

Challenge 10: Governance and Ownership Gaps

Migration efforts break down with unclear ownership.

• IT owns the system.
• Business owns the processes.
• Consultants drive execution.

Without strong governance, priorities conflict.
Transparency is key to successfully manage migration complexity.

What separates 2027 from previous years

Earlier, migration was optional.
In 2027, it becomes unavoidable.

External pressures increase:

• Vendor strategy
• Security expectations
• Regulatory requirements
• Competitive demands

Waiting too long takes flexibility away and increases dependency on extended support models.

The Implications of ECC Migration Challenges for Competitiveness Over the Long Term

Migration isn’t just about maintaining running systems.

It determines whether organizations can:

• Adopt AI and automation
• Use real-time analytics
• Integrate modern applications
• Scale efficiently

ECC Migration Challenges that need to be met

The task of meeting the challenges from ECC migration by 2027 for growth strategy!

Migration and Role of SAP Custom Development

Custom development forms a strategic part of today’s era of migration.

• Not inside the core.
• But around it.

Using SAP BTP, organizations can:

• Rebuild essential custom logic safely
• Extend standard functionality
• Integrate non-SAP systems cleanly

Conclusion

ECC migration blockers 2027 are real, they’re complicated and they can’t be faked. The mistake organizations make believing migration is a technical lift. Organizations that consider the move as a technical upgrade underestimate the effort needed.

• Early birds are in control.
• They reduce risk.
• They make room for improvements instead of emergency patches.

Migration is not about switching from one system to another. It’s about setting the business up for the next decade.

FAQs

Why 2027 is Crucial for ECC Transition?
There, as now legacy support models are no longer viable and innovation is all on S/4HANA.

Is it safe to postpone the migration of ECC?
Short-term hesitations are feasible, but they add to longterm expense and risk.

Can system conversion be the safest way?
Not always. Unfortunately, it tends to propagate legacy complexity.

How critical is code custom remediation?
This is one of the most important success factors for ECC conversion.

External Resource:
Wikipedia