SAP S/4HANA migration is an opportunity to rethink where innovation happens

For organisations still running SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC), the transition to SAP S/4HANA is no longer just another IT initiative. With mainstream support ending in December 2027, businesses are already planning how to modernise their ERP landscape and prepare for the future.

For many, the migration is also prompting a much bigger question.

Over the years, SAP has often become the place where organisations build everything from custom business logic and reporting to integrations and analytics. While these customisations solve real business problems, they also make the ERP more complex, more expensive to maintain, and harder to upgrade.

That is why clean core has become one of the defining principles of the S/4HANA transition.

Keeping the ERP focused on core business processes

The idea behind clean core is simple. SAP should do what it was designed to do: support core business processes.

Everything else should be evaluated carefully. If a capability does not need to reside within the ERP core, it should be built outside of it, where it can evolve independently without adding complexity to the ERP while supporting analytics, AI, integrations, and future business requirements.

This does not mean reducing functionality. It means moving custom development into an environment where it can evolve more quickly without increasing ERP complexity.

For organisations with years of accumulated customisations, this shift can significantly simplify future upgrades while creating more flexibility for future development.

Building beyond the ERP

Moving custom functionality outside SAP raises a natural question: how can organisations build new capabilities outside the ERP while continuing to work with trusted SAP data?

The native integration between SAP Business Data Cloud and Databricks provides a direct answer. Through the SAP BDC Connector for Databricks, organisations can securely share data between the two environments, with live, zero-copy access to SAP data products. Data remains in place rather than being moved or replicated, reducing the complexity traditionally associated with extracting and maintaining copies of enterprise data.

This creates a strong foundation for the clean core approach. SAP S/4HANA can remain focused on core ERP processes, while Databricks provides an environment for building the additional capabilities a business needs.

Development teams can use trusted SAP data alongside data from other enterprise sources to build custom applications, AI and machine learning solutions, advanced analytics, data products, and data engineering workloads without adding those capabilities to the S/4HANA core.

The connection also works in both directions. Data products created in Databricks can be shared back with SAP Business Data Cloud, allowing new capabilities to remain connected to the wider SAP ecosystem.

The result is a clear separation of responsibilities: keep core ERP functionality in SAP and build custom, data-intensive, and AI-driven capabilities outside it, without creating another data silo.

Turning enterprise data into business value

Simply moving data out of SAP does not create value on its own. The real opportunity lies in what organisations build once that data becomes accessible.

This is where modern data engineering plays a critical role. By designing reliable data pipelines, integrating enterprise systems, establishing governance, and preparing data for analytics and AI, organisations create a foundation that supports continuous innovation rather than one-off transformation projects.

At Vega IT, this is where we help our clients create long-term value. As a Databricks partner, we help organisations build modern data platforms that bring together fragmented enterprise data, support AI initiatives, and enable custom solutions without disrupting existing systems. 

Looking beyond the migration

For organisations still running SAP ECC, upgrading to SAP S/4HANA is becoming a necessity rather than a choice. With mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 ending in 2027, and optional extended maintenance available until the end of 2030, organisations need to determine not only how they will complete the migration, but what their SAP landscape should look like afterwards.

This makes the upgrade an important opportunity to address years of accumulated customisation and reconsider which capabilities genuinely need to remain within the ERP core.

A clean core approach allows organisations to keep S/4HANA focused on core ERP processes while developing additional functionality outside it. With the native connection between SAP Business Data Cloud and Databricks, this functionality can continue to use trusted SAP data without creating unnecessary copies or adding complexity back into the ERP.

For existing SAP customers, the goal should therefore go beyond completing the required upgrade. The transition provides an opportunity to simplify the ERP core and create a more flexible foundation for custom applications, advanced analytics, intelligent automation, and AI.