Key Points
- 2026 is a pivotal year for organizations to plan and execute a structured SAP ECC to S/4HANA migration as ECC reaches its final phase of support.
- S/4HANA transformation is not just a compliance exercise but a strategic opportunity to modernize platforms and enable analytics- and AI-driven innovation.
- Rushed migration decisions increase risk, making a thorough, upfront assessment essential to selecting the right S/4HANA migration path.
- Sutherland’s SMART Transformation Framework uses assessment-led, tooling-driven insights to align ECC landscapes with the most effective S/4HANA transformation strategy.
Migration Pressure vs. Strategic Opportunity
For many organizations, migrating to S/4HANA is not just about meeting a deadline. It is increasingly viewed as a strategic opportunity—to modernize the technology landscape, enable future-ready capabilities, and unlock advanced analytics and AI-driven innovation.
However, the high level of anxiety among ECC customers often leads to rushed or ill-informed decisions about the migration approach. Selecting an inappropriate migration path can be counterproductive, negatively impacting existing business processes, application landscapes, and ultimately day-to-day operations.
Hence, it is highly recommended that organizations don’t panic and patiently evaluate all options through a trusted advisor to align on the optimal migration path.
The Role of the Sutherland SMART Transformation Framework
Sutherland SMART Transformation framework effectively addresses this requirement right down to the minutest level. The framework follows a defined Assess–Design–Adopt–Run–Evolve approach giving customers the ability to pick & choose elements of the framework.
Why Assessment is the Critical First Step
For an S/4HANA transformation or migration program, it is highly recommended to leverage the assessment part of the framework which can be used to do a 360° assessment of an organization’s entire landscape at minimal cost.
The assessment typically includes:
- A detailed review of the current ECC landscape
- Cloud readiness evaluation
- Mapping of all SAP and third-party applications
- Review of high-level business processes (L1–L3)
- Development of a business capability and requirements matrix
For organizations that have done a similar assessment and only want to focus on analysis of SAP ECC instances and integrated applications, the framework is suited for such assessments too. Beyond the framework, Sutherland provides a comprehensive set of tools to analyze existing ECC & integrated systems. The system assessment reports act as inputs into the evaluation technique which then maps various conversion options in line with the organization’s IT strategy and roadmap.
Tooling-driven Insights for Informed Decision-Making
Beyond the framework, Sutherland brings a comprehensive set of tools to analyze existing ECC and integrated systems. Outputs from these tools feed into an evaluation model that maps multiple conversion and migration options against the organization’s IT strategy and future roadmap.
The expected output from an ECC assessment includes standard and advanced insights such as:
- WRICEF and custom object analysis
- Simplification item identification
- HANA sizing and performance readiness
- Fiori app recommendations
- Data volume management
- Financial data quality assessment
- Innovation potential analysis
- Planned downtime estimation
- Customer–vendor integration review
In addition, the framework can support deeper assessments, including:
- SAP license optimization
- Cloud migration readiness
- Integration tooling and migration path analysis
- Data profiling and archiving strategy
- Custom code remediation
- Third-party software compatibility analysis
Each assessment is selectively activated only after aligning with the organization’s IT strategy, business priorities, and migration objectives, ensuring relevance and value.
Preparing Internally: What Organizations can do Today
Having established the importance of an early migration strategy assessment, organizations can take proactive steps by creating or refreshing existing ECC documentation such as process maps, SOPs, etc. This preparation can significantly reduce discovery time, accelerate decision-making, and lower engagement effort when working with a service provider.
To learn more about the documentation you can self-generate or to request a complimentary two-hour high-level ECC evaluation, feel free to reach out to us.
What’s Next?
In the next post, we will explore the standard migration paths available to ECC customers transitioning to S/4HANA, and how to determine which approach best aligns with your business transformation goals.
