94% of companies plan to modernise their SAP ERP – but only 15% have a strategic vision
94% of companies plan to modernise their SAP ERP – but only 15% have a strategic vision
The findings come from the recent SAP ERP Modernisation 2026 Report, which is based on insights from interviews with 360 CIOs in nine countries.
Published on 16th July 2026
SEIDOR has launched the Report: SAP ERP Modernisation 2026, a study revealing that 94% of companies using SAP plan to modernise their ERP in the coming years.
However, only 15% aspire to a strategic transformation capable of redesigning processes around data and artificial intelligence.
The report is based on interviews with 360 CIOs from companies with more than 100 million euros in revenue across nine countries in Europe and the Americas.
It points to a significant gap between ambition and execution: many companies are modernising SAP in search of innovation, analytics, data and AI, but most projects are still focused on technology migration, operational continuity and platform change.
Javier Navarro, Global SAP Leader at SEIDOR, explained that most companies using SAP already understand that they need to modernise their ERP.
“The difference will lie in whether that modernisation remains a technology evolution or is used to simplify the system, organise information and redesign processes with AI,” said Navarro.
“The risk is not failing to migrate; the risk is migrating and continuing to operate in the same way.”
Three levels of modernisation
The study structures SAP modernisation around three cumulative levels.
The first is migration or technical evolution.
Aimed at updating the platform, ensuring continuity, moving toward cloud models and responding to the maintenance timetable of the SAP ecosystem.
It is the most widespread level and explains why ERP modernisation is set to become virtually universal.
The second level is simplification.
It consists of reducing accumulated custom developments, returning processes to the standard and moving toward a clean core model, in which extensions are managed outside the ERP core.
This level is key to recovering evolutionary capacity and preventing each update from becoming a complex project.
The third level is reinvention.
It involves redesigning processes around clean data and artificial intelligence so that ERP stops acting solely as a system of record.
It must become a platform capable of supporting decisions, anticipating scenarios and enabling new business capabilities.
According to the report, 94% of companies are at the first level, linked to migration or technical evolution.
However, only 23% incorporate effective simplification and just 15% reach the reinvention level.
For SEIDOR, this difference shows that many companies are starting modernisation but have not yet decided how far they really want to go.
AI increases ambition, but requires the core to be prepared first
Artificial intelligence is emerging as one of the main drivers of SAP modernisation.
46% of companies cite analytics, data and AI among their motivations for evolving the ERP.
However, the study shows that 72% still view AI as a layer of automation or productivity over current processes.
This approach can generate efficiency, but it is unlikely to transform the operating model unless it is accompanied by simplification, data quality and process redesign.
SEIDOR warns that many organisations could invest in AI capabilities without first resolving the factors that limit their real impact.
These factors include technical debt, excessive customisation, insufficiently standardised processes and inadequately prepared data.
“The executive committee may approve a modernisation program with innovation, data and artificial intelligence in mind and, two years later, receive a technically updated system with the same processes as before,” said Navarro.
“To avoid that gap, the key decision is not just which platform to choose, but what level of transformation they want to achieve.”
Technical debt, the major hidden opportunity
The report identifies accumulated complexity as one of the main barriers to moving toward higher-value modernisation.
71% of companies acknowledge that custom developments and technical debt make SAP evolution moderately or highly difficult, and nine out of ten would accept more standardised processes in exchange for a more evolving system.
For SEIDOR, this figure confirms that simplification will be one of the major conversations in the coming years.
It is not just a matter of migrating to a new version or a new deployment model, but of deciding which processes should be maintained, which should return to the standard, and which capabilities should be built around the core to gain flexibility.
This decision is not purely technical. It affects processes, business areas, data governance, architecture and the operating model.
For this reason, according to SEIDOR, SAP modernisation projects will increasingly need to involve business, finance, operations, technology and general management profiles.
Two decision windows: 2026-2028 and 2028-2032
The study identifies two major time windows in SAP modernisation.
The first, between 2026 and 2028, will be dominated by migration and technical evolution projects, largely shaped by the SAP ECC maintenance timetable and the need to ensure technological continuity.
The second, between 2028 and 2032, will be more closely linked to advanced simplification, process reinvention and the deeper incorporation of artificial intelligence into enterprise management.
For SEIDOR, companies that use the first window to simplify their core and organise their data will reach the second with greater real transformation capacity.
“Some companies will use this first stage to ensure technological continuity. Others will also use it to prepare their ERP for the next decade,” said Navarro.
“That is the difference between a necessary migration and a strategic modernisation.”
From ERP as a system to ERP as an ecosystem
The report also reflects a change in the way decisions about ERP are made.
In a deep transformation, companies no longer evaluate the system as a single block, but as a layered architecture: core, cloud, data, artificial intelligence, integration and specific processes.
In this context, SAP maintains a central position as a system of record and transactional platform, but the strategic decision becomes how to maximise the value of the core and how to combine it with other ecosystem capabilities.
For SEIDOR, defining the target architecture will become increasingly relevant when deciding what should remain in SAP, what should be simplified and which functionalities can be complemented from other technology layers.
The question, according to SEIDOR, is no longer simply “which ERP do I continue with?”
It has become “how do I turn my core SAP into a simpler, connected and intelligent platform?”
The role of the technology partner
In this scenario, the role of the technology partner also changes.
SEIDOR believes that companies will need support not only to execute migrations, but to decide the level of ambition, prioritise processes, reduce technical debt, prepare data and build realistic roadmaps toward more automated and intelligent management models.
“It is no longer just about executing a migration, but about helping each company decide how far it wants to go and with what roadmap,” said Navarro.
“SAP modernisation does not begin with migration; it begins by deciding whether the project will remain focused on technological continuity, incorporate simplification or aspire to a real reinvention of the operating model.”
Are you contemplating a SAP modernisation?
If so: are you part of the 15% with a strategy to achieve it; or closer to the majority who don't have one? Let us know your thoughts.
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