SAP wants every ECC customer on S/4HANA by 2027. The migration pitch looks compelling in the SAP slide deck. In reality, organisations that run the full programme TCO — including what SAP doesn't show you — are making a $20–80M decision with incomplete information. This guide gives you the independent analysis SAP's account team will never provide.
Why S/4HANA TCO is consistently underestimated by 40–70%
The 8 hidden cost categories SAP won't put in its business case
Third-party support as the strategic ECC extension play
How to negotiate S/4HANA pricing from a position of strength
Greenfield vs brownfield vs selective data migration — the real comparison
SAP's audit tactics for ECC customers under migration pressure
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SAP's migration business case is built on a selective view of costs and a compressed view of risk. This guide addresses the gaps — chapter by chapter.
Mainstream maintenance ends for ECC in 2027 — but "mainstream maintenance" is not "support". Extended SAP support options, what they cost, and what TPS delivers instead.
Business process re-engineering, integration rearchitecting, custom code remediation (ABAP), data migration complexity, change management, and 12–18 months of parallel running costs.
Full ECC coverage at 50–65% below SAP maintenance. Security patches, regulatory updates, customisation support, interoperability — with no migration deadline. The economics of staying on ECC independently.
Independent cost, risk, and timeline analysis of the three S/4HANA migration paths. Which approach suits which organisational context — and what the consultants won't tell you about each.
Seven tactics for reducing S/4HANA licence and implementation costs by 20–40%. How third-party support as a credible alternative changes your negotiating position with SAP.
How SAP uses the licence audit process to accelerate migration decisions — and how to defend your ECC environment against audit exposure while evaluating your options independently.
"We were eighteen months into a S/4HANA programme that was running 40% over budget when we engaged GoVendorFree. The independent TCO analysis they provided — which our SAP account team had never offered — gave us the justification to pause, renegotiate, and ultimately restructure the programme around a phased approach that saved us approximately £18 million over five years."
SAP's 2027 ECC deadline creates artificial urgency. With independent analysis in hand, you control the decision — whether that's deferring migration with TPS, renegotiating the S/4HANA deal, or executing migration on a timeline that makes business sense.