SAP ECC6’s end-of-support in 2027 is one of the biggest looming events in enterprise IT. For ECC6 customers, this is not just a technical deadline. It is a strategic inflection point.

History shows that when core platforms reach end-of-life, organizations face a choice: upgrade blindly or use the moment to modernize with intent. The past offers valuable lessons for those preparing to navigate the ECC6 cliff. Organizations that learn from those lessons can avoid repeating mistakes and instead build foundations for agility, innovation, and resilience.

Lessons From Previous Sunsets

Across enterprise technology, major platform retirements have followed a familiar pattern…

  • SAP’s move from R/3 to ECC in the 2000s forced customers into costly, disruptive upgrades
  • Oracle transitions from E-Business Suite to Fusion, and the fallout from its acquisitions of PeopleSoft and JD Edwards.
  • IBM Maximo to MAS, where customers faced high migration costs and limited innovation.

Each created a fork in the road. Companies that simply “lift and shift” often carry forward inefficiencies, rising costs, and vendor lock-in. Those that seize the moment to streamline processes, rethink architecture, and diversify their technology stack set themselves up for greater agility, innovation, and resilience

The lesson is clear: technology sunsets are not just end points. They are turning points.

SAP ECC6 flow chart from 2020 to 2027

The ECC6 Deadline: A Familiar Dilemma

Today, SAP ECC6 runs thousands of enterprises worldwide. The approaching deadlines, clouded by mixed messaging, put leaders in a familiar position:

  • Extend support at a premium.
  • Lift and shift to S/4HANA and hope it delivers.
  • Or take a new path altogether.

The risks of a narrow or reactive choice are significant:

  • Lock-in: another decade of rigid infrastructure with limited innovation.
  • Cost escalation: S/4HANA migrations are resource-intensive, often delayed, and unpredictable.
  • Data chaos: Gartner reports 83 percent of data migration projects go over budget or suffer disruption.
  • Innovation delay: Every dollar spent on forced upgrades is a dollar not invested in futureproofing.

Don’t Let History Repeat Itself, Build for Tomorrow

Every major technology sunset has offered a choice: repeat the mistakes of the past or take a smarter path forward. Looking back, four lessons stand out..

  1. Act with intent, not fear. In past transitions, delays only deepened dependency on legacy systems and increased costs. Those that acted decisively were able to reset strategy and create momentum. With the IFS Accelerator for SAP, organizations can modernize without years of disruption, moving at their own pace.
  2. Focus on outcomes, not labels. Companies that aligned transformation with business priorities, rather than following a vendor roadmap, consistently achieved greater value. IFS Cloud connects ERP, EAM, and Service in a composable platform, ensuring transformation delivers tangible results.
  3. Put data at the center. Many migrations faltered because data was treated as an afterthought. Where clarity, governance, and quality were prioritized early, the difference between success and failure was unmistakable. IFS Cloud embeds governance and clarity into operations, making data a driver of decision-making and innovation.
  4. Avoid monolithic lock-in. Each cycle rewarded those who diversified their enterprise stack and embraced modularity. Those who stayed locked into a single vendor faced higher costs and limited flexibility. IFS Cloud’s modular, AI-powered architecture avoids another decade of rigid upgrades and unlocks continuous innovation.

From Deadline to Opportunity: Building Beyond ECC6

These lessons should shape how organizations approach the ECC6 deadline. Rather than treating it as a painful compliance exercise, it should be seen as a chance to fundamentally reshape enterprise architecture.

Those who take the smarter path can adopt composable, industry-focused ecosystems, accelerate innovation cycles instead of deferring them, and reduce long-term dependency on a single vendor. The opportunity is not only to modernize technology but to create lasting flexibility for the future with IFS.

Every technology sunset creates winners and losers. The winners are those who use forced change as a catalyst for strategic transformation. As ECC6 nears its end, leaders should remember: this isn’t just about surviving 2027. It’s about building the foundation for the next decade of innovation.

Learn what this decade defining decision means for you if you’re an CIO, COO, or CFO here, and don’t migrate by default. Innovate by design with IFS.