Support & modernization for SAP ECC and S/4HANA
Keep your SAP core.
Keep control.
Whether you run SAP ECC or S/4HANA on-premise: a practical path to extend your SAP investment, modernize your landscape, and change platform if — and when — the move is right for your business, not when a maintenance calendar says so.
These are two different things. The 30-minute SAP strategy discussion is free and carries no obligation. The SAP Freedom & Future Assessment is a separate, paid advisory engagement (from ~$15K).
Support timeline
SAP mainstream maintenance
Mainstream maintenance ends Dec 31, 2027
Independent, third-party support for SAP
Rolling 15-year commitment
Your options either way
Your core keeps running either way. What changes is who supports it — and on whose timeline you decide.
Published by Rimini Street® — independent, third-party support for SAP
*Rimini Street® states clients can reduce annual SAP support fees by up to 50%. Individual results vary; not a guaranteed or expected saving. SLA and coverage figures as published by Rimini Street. †P1 refers to case priority (P1 through P4, where P1 is the most critical). It is not a support tier — L1 through L4 describe the type of support, from help desk through managed services to product support. Rimini Street's support commitment is a rolling 15 years from the start of the term rather than a fixed calendar end date.
The context
A decision point. Not a deadline scramble.
- Dec 31, 2027
- SAP's mainstream maintenance milestone for eligible Business Suite 7 applications.
- 2028–2030
- Extended maintenance, optionally available for eligible scope.
- No end date
- Your system keeps running. What changes is who supports it.
At a glance
Many SAP ECC organizations are reviewing their ERP strategy as SAP's mainstream maintenance milestone for eligible Business Suite 7 applications approaches on December 31, 2027. Extended maintenance is optionally available through 2028–2030 for eligible scope. The milestone creates urgency to decide — it does not mean your ECC system stops running.
The same question reaches organizations already running S/4HANA on-premise. Each S/4HANA release carries its own mainstream maintenance end date, and the pressure to keep upgrading — or to move to a cloud subscription — arrives on a vendor's schedule rather than yours.
That doesn't mean every organization needs the same answer. A successful ERP strategy should reflect your business priorities, risk profile, economics, technical landscape, and readiness for change.
Large-scale ERP transformation may be the right answer. But it doesn't automatically have to be the immediate answer.
Know the upcoming SAP mainstream maintenance deadlines
Every release below has a date. Find yours.
- 2026
Dec. 31, 2026
SAP S/4HANA 2021 - 2027
Dec. 31, 2027
SAP ECC 6 EHP 6-8SAP CRM 7SAP SCM 7SAP SRM 7SAP S/4HANA 2022 - 2030
Dec. 31, 2030
SAP S/4HANA 2023 - 2032
Dec. 31, 2032
SAP S/4HANA 2025 Support continues
Every release listed above can stay fully supported.
Independent, third-party support for SAP picks up where SAP's mainstream maintenance stops — 24/7/365 coverage, custom code included, no forced upgrade. The date that applies to you is a decision point, not a cliff.
Deadlines as published by Rimini Street®. Dates apply to the specific product releases listed; confirm your own landscape's exact release and deadline.
Your options
You have three paths
One strategy does not fit every SAP customer. The right one depends on your business case, not the calendar.
Stay & Optimize
Continue on your current release — SAP ECC or S/4HANA on-premise — while improving support, reducing costs, and modernizing selectively.
Bridge & Prepare
Keep the current core stable while deliberately preparing infrastructure, data, and operations for future transformation.
Transform
Move to a new platform if — and when — readiness, economics, and the business case justify the investment.
Can you really stay where you are?
Enterprise-grade support, without the forced move
With the right operating, support, security, and modernization strategy, staying on SAP ECC — or on S/4HANA on-premise — is an option worth evaluating. Independent, third-party support for SAP, like Rimini Street's, is what makes that viable. Capabilities of that support model include:
24/7 enterprise support
Continuous coverage for your SAP ECC or S/4HANA landscape, every day of the year.
Custom-code support
Support for the customizations that standard SAP maintenance typically won't touch.
Integration support
Coverage that extends to the integrations your business already depends on.
Tax & regulatory updates
Ongoing compliance updates for the jurisdictions you operate in.
Security guidance
Security response and operational guidance for your existing environment.
Roadmap advisory
Independent guidance on whether — and when — changing platform is the right next step.
10-minute guaranteed response
Rimini Street's published SLA for P1 (Priority 1) critical cases, with 2-hour update communications.
Less than 2 minutes average
Industry-leading average response time, reported by Rimini Street.
4-hour target resolution*
Rimini Street's published SLA for critical cases, including cases involving custom code.
Rolling 15-year commitment
Rimini Street states a rolling 15-year support commitment for SAP ECC and S/4HANA, with no required upgrades.
*Resolution can be a solution, work around, or action plan, as defined by Rimini Street. P1 through P4 describe case priority, not support tier — L1 through L4 describe the type of support, from help desk through managed services to product support.
Keep the core. Modernize around it.
Support → Optimize → Innovate
Modernization doesn't have to wait for ERP replacement.
Support
Stabilize the current environment
- •Improve support responsiveness
- •Reduce maintenance economics
- •Free internal capacity
Optimize
Improve operations
- •Strengthen integrations
- •Address security and resilience
- •Improve monitoring
- •Reduce technical complexity
Innovate
Enable modernization
- •Introduce automation
- •AI-enabled workflows
- •Modern analytics
- •Cloud services
The path forward
This is a bridge. Not a dead end.
Staying on your current SAP release today does not prevent a transformation tomorrow.
In many environments, additional preparation time can be used to reduce custom-code complexity, rationalize integrations, improve data quality, simplify the landscape, and build a stronger transformation business case. Use time strategically — don't merely buy time.
Data & AI
On an older SAP version? You can still reap the full benefits of AI.
Staying on SAP ECC or S/4HANA on-premise doesn’t put modern AI out of reach. Keep your core stable on independent Rimini Street® support, let us clean and unify your data, and run production AI on top — no upgrade required to start. That is our sister Data & AI Center of Excellence.
Explore Data & AINo forced upgrade
Get the value of AI without migrating SAP first. Your ECC or S/4HANA core stays put, supported independently.
Clean, governed data
We unify your SAP and surrounding apps into one trusted source of truth on Microsoft Fabric.
Production AI on top
Forecasting, computer vision, GenAI and automation — 33 solutions, running on the landscape you already have.
Start with facts. Not assumptions.
A 30-minute SAP strategy discussion — free, no obligation, and no pressure toward a particular path. It is not the paid SAP Freedom & Future Assessment; if the Assessment turns out to be the right next step, we'll say so on the call.