Walldorf, February 26, 2026 – Rising budgets, but more differentiated investment decisions: The Investment Report 2026* from the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) shows that SAP remains relevant for user companies – but investments are being made in a more targeted and critical manner. S/4HANA continues to gain momentum. On-premises is still the more common choice here. Cloud models, new SAP target visions, and artificial intelligence (AI) are attracting interest, but still have to prove their economic benefits. Not all companies will have completed the S/4HANA transformation by 2027 and are therefore accepting higher maintenance costs. From DSAG’s perspective, the results make it clear that investment decisions are based less on vision and more on the question of feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and integrability.
After SAP sent out the investment report questionnaire once in 2025, DSAG was once again in charge of collecting the figures this time around. As a result, fewer large companies were surveyed compared to the 2025 investment report. “Accordingly, the DSAG Investment Report 2026 is more comparable to the Investment Report 2024 than to the Investment Report 2025,” explains Jens Hungershausen, DSAG Chairman of the Board. This is also reflected in the top 5 industries. “This year, public administration is once again more strongly represented, which, based on experience, has a slightly different investment focus,” says Hungershausen (see survey basis).
IT and SAP budgets continue to grow
Overall, IT and SAP investment budgets at many companies will continue to rise in 2026. However, the increase will be less than in 2024. The total IT budget will increase at 38 percent of the companies surveyed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH), compared to 43 percent of the companies surveyed two years ago. It will remain the same at 35 percent (2024: 36 percent) and decrease at 24 percent (2024: 18 percent). In terms of investments in SAP, 43 percent of the companies surveyed are increasing their budgets (2024: 46 percent), 26 percent are keeping them unchanged (2024: 32 percent), and 28 percent are reducing them (2024: 19 percent). “The development of budgets reflects the ongoing economic pressure that many companies are under. Energy prices, geopolitical uncertainties, and a tense market environment are leading to investments being scrutinized more critically and, in some cases, postponed – including in the SAP environment,” says Hungershausen. From DSAG’s perspective, companies are investing in a more targeted manner without fundamentally questioning SAP.
SAP remains relevant
This assessment is also consistent with the responses to the question about the relevance of SAP for the future direction of companies and organizations. Here, 36 percent say that relevance is increasing, 48 percent say it is remaining the same, and 16 percent say it is decreasing. These figures differ only marginally from those of previous years.
In addition, this year’s survey asked for the first time how strongly certain challenges influence SAP investment decisions. The top five challenges:
- Cost-effectiveness of investments in SAP software: 79 percent
- Economic conditions: 79 percent
- SAP license and contract design: 70 percent
- End of maintenance: 63 percent
- Implementation of legal requirements: 59 percent
For the first time, respondents were also asked about the overarching goals that shape SAP investment planning. The top three answers were: digital transformation/process modernization, cost optimization/efficiency improvement, and compliance/security. „The results clearly show that companies no longer view SAP investments in isolation. Digital transformation and process modernization remain the key drivers, but they are clearly accompanied by the need to operate more efficiently and reliably meet regulatory and security requirements,“ says Hungershausen. ”Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, rising costs, and complex licensing and maintenance models, SAP investments must be innovative, economically viable, and resilient.“
Investments in S/4HANA
DSAG Investment Report 2026: To what extent are the following ERP solutions relevant to your SAP investments? (Comparison 2023-2026)
The results of the question regarding the extent to which the ERP solutions SAP ECC, SAP S/4HANA (on-premises), SAP S/4HANA (ERP private cloud/RISE), and SAP S/4HANA (ERP public cloud/GROW) are relevant for SAP investments in 2026 are as follows: Forty-two percent of respondents plan to make high and medium investments in S/4HANA (on-premises), while 22 percent want to invest high and medium budgets in the private cloud variant and 6 percent in the public cloud variant. Ten percent plan high and medium investments in SAP ECC.
From DSAG’s perspective, the results confirm the known trend: Many user companies continue to rely on on-premises or controlled private cloud models for their S/4HANA transformation and make differentiated decisions based on compatibility, investment protection, and migration effort. “The comparatively low willingness to invest in the public cloud shows that, from the customer’s point of view, functional depth, integration capability, and reliable framework conditions are still decisive factors. What remains important is genuine freedom of choice between operating models with a clear roadmap and planning security,” says Hungershausen.
Some SAP ECC customers are planning with Extended Maintenance
DSAG Investment Report 2026: What are your future plans for SAP ECC?
Those who stated that they are planning to invest in SAP ECC were also asked about their future plans with SAP ECC. Almost half of the respondents said they are planning to switch to SAP S/4HANA by the end of 2030. This means they will be subject to Extended Maintenance at an additional cost. Thirty-seven percent want to switch by the end of 2027, while 4 percent are targeting the switch by the end of 2033 and thus plan to use SAP ERP, Private Edition, transition options. „The fact that some companies are not planning to switch to S/4HANA until 2030 does not mean that they will wait until then to make the switch. Rather, they simply need this time due to the complexity of their system landscapes. I see this as a reflection of the reality in IT departments. Skills shortages, parallel transformation projects, and limited budgets are also causing schedules to be pushed back – even if this results in higher maintenance costs,“ says Hungershausen.
Relevance of SAP ECC and older Business Suite continues to decline
DSAG Investment Report 2026: Which of the following SAP ERP solutions do you use in your company or organization? (Comparision between 2024 and 2026 only.)
When asked about the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions used, S/4HANA On-Premises is ahead this time with 56 percent (2024: 44 percent) over SAP ECC and the older SAP Business Suite with 54 percent (2024: 68 percent). Compared to the 2024 Investment Report, the use of S/4HANA Private Cloud has increased slightly. 17 percent (2024: 11 percent) rely on S/4HANA Private Cloud. 5 percent (2024: 6 percent) choose S/4HANA Public Cloud.
Added value must be recognizable
For the first time this year, companies and organizations were asked how relevant the SAP Integrated Toolchain (Cloud ALM, Signavio, LeanIX, WalkMe) is to them. Twenty-four percent already use the toolchain partially or fully, while 39 percent plan to use at least parts of it. Seventeen percent do not plan to use it, while 16 percent say they are not familiar with it or do not consider it relevant. Four percent did not provide any information.
Another new question was how strongly companies base their investment planning on SAP’s target vision for the “new” SAP Business Suite (Cloud ERP, SAP Business AI, SAP Business Data Cloud, and Business Technology Platform). Thirty-five percent of respondents said they do so very strongly/strongly, while 62 percent said they do so less strongly/not at all. Four percent did not provide any information. „The picture is similar for both the integrated toolchain and the target vision for the new SAP Business Suite: Companies expect clear statements on added value, integration into existing landscapes, and economic viability. Only then will strategic target visions be translated more strongly into real investment decisions,“ says Hungershausen. He adds: ”Considering that comparatively new products such as Business AI and the Business Data Cloud are already part of the target vision for a good third of respondents, this is a positive message.“
BTP and SuccessFactors remain frontrunners
In terms of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions and their relevance for investments in 2026, the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) ranks first with high and medium investments of 39 percent (2024: 33 percent). SuccessFactors ranks second, with 23 percent (2024: 21 percent) planning high and medium investments. In third place is the new SAP Business Data Cloud (including Datasphere) with 22 percent, which was only introduced by SAP in 2025 and therefore could not be included in the 2024 investment report.
When asked to what extent individual areas of BTP are relevant for SAP investments, 45 percent (2024: 27 percent) of respondents plan high and medium investments in integration, followed by analytics solutions with 38 percent (2024: 34 percent). For application development and automation, 27 percent (2024: 17 percent) of respondents plan high and medium investments in BTP. And for artificial intelligence, 16 percent (2024: 2 percent).
Most participants have not yet implemented AI use cases
DSAG Investment Report 2026: Have you already implemented AI use cases, and what stage are these use cases at?
When asked about artificial intelligence, 43 percent say they have already implemented AI use cases, while 51 percent have not yet implemented any and 6 percent did not provide any information. Of those respondents who have already implemented use cases, 77 percent stated that they have them in production or use with non-SAP solutions, while only 3 percent rely on SAP for this. 65 percent are in the test phase with non-SAP solutions, compared to 8 percent with SAP solutions. Sixty-two percent are conducting a proof of concept with non-SAP solutions and 26 percent with SAP solutions. “These figures should be viewed in the context of the survey basis and the varying complexity of application scenarios. Different requirements apply to a use case in the SAP environment than to the use of, for example, standard solutions based on large language models,” says Hungershausen.
From DSAG’s perspective, the results underscore that the use of AI in companies is not yet widespread in the context of specific use cases. While non-SAP solutions currently often enable faster access, there is still reluctance when it comes to SAP-based AI scenarios – not least because of complex licensing models and heterogeneous system landscapes. It is important that customers make their existing system landscapes clean-core-ready in order to take full advantage of the multitude of SAP-based scenarios. „A reality check also shows that the use of AI in business processes is still rather difficult. The fact that corresponding use cases are predominantly implemented with non-SAP solutions is also a signal to SAP. Many companies still work with on-premises systems or highly customized landscapes in which AI innovations have only been usable to a limited extent so far. As a user association, we would like to see more freedom of choice, transparency, and realistic migration paths here,“ says Hungershausen.
Conclusion
The DSAG Investment Report 2026 shows that SAP remains relevant for the majority of user companies, but investments are becoming more selective and prioritized more strongly based on economic considerations. Digital transformation and process modernization remain key drivers, but are increasingly caught between cost optimization, efficiency requirements, and regulatory and security-related requirements. Investments continue to focus on S/4HANA on-premises, while cloud models are gaining momentum. Some SAP customers need more time to switch to S/4HANA and are willing to accept higher maintenance costs in return.
When it comes to topics such as the SAP Integrated Toolchain, the target vision for the new SAP Business Suite, and artificial intelligence, the picture is consistent: interest is there, but concrete implementation remains cautious in many cases. Investment decisions are based on feasibility, cost-effectiveness, integrability, and predictability. From DSAG’s perspective, the 2026 Investment Report makes it clear that user companies have clear expectations of SAP: transparency, freedom of choice, economically viable models, and realistic migration paths. Whether and how strategic target visions are reflected in investment decisions depends on how well they can be implemented under these conditions.
Assessment of key findings from Switzerland and Austria
Markus Bierl, DSAG Executive Board Member, Switzerland:
„Given the continuing tense global market situation, it is understandable that companies are scrutinizing their investments very closely. When asked how strongly certain challenges influence their SAP investment decisions, 79% of respondents cited both the economic conditions and the cost-effectiveness of investments in SAP software. This sends a clear message to the software company: transformation projects involve high costs and resources. If SAP wants to lead its customers to new solutions and the cloud, the company must create compelling incentives and offer rapid, tangible added value.
The responses to the “new” SAP Business Suite also underscore this picture: The majority of respondents have so far based their investment planning less strongly or not at all on the new target vision. In other words: SAP solutions yes – but not at any price and only if the benefits are clearly recognizable.
Walter Schinnerer, DSAG Executive Board Member, Austria:
„From DSAG’s perspective, it comes as no surprise that many user companies continue to prefer on-premises solutions for their S/4HANA transformation – and, when it comes to the cloud, predominantly opt for controlled private cloud models. After all, cloud solutions cannot be implemented in the same way in all companies and industries. Regulatory requirements and security requirements sometimes set narrow limits here. In addition, it remains to be seen in practice to what extent sovereign cloud offerings actually meet specific requirements.
That is why the appeal to the software company is once again: less pressure to migrate to the cloud, more focus on reliable framework conditions, functional depth, and sustainable planning security. Transformation requires a sense of proportion. It also remains true that innovations must not be reserved exclusively for the cloud, but must also be available to S/4HANA on-premises customers with a comparable scope of services – in the interests of genuine freedom of choice and in the interests of users.“
Survey basis
Between December 8, 2025, and January 21, 2026, 198 people took part in the survey. Only one person per member company was surveyed. These were CIOs, CC managers, or contact persons exclusively from user companies. The top five industries were dominated by mechanical engineering, equipment, and component manufacturing with 12 percent, followed by the public sector with 9 percent and the chemical industry with 8 percent.
The utilities and consumer goods sectors each accounted for 7 percent of participants. Forty percent of companies employ between 500 and 2,499 people, 28 percent employ 5,000 or more, 20 percent employ between 2,500 and 4,999, and 12 percent employ between 0 and 4,999 people. 73 percent of the companies have their headquarters in Germany, 10 percent in Austria, 12 percent in Switzerland, and 5 percent in other countries. Unlike the 2025 Investment Report, DSAG sent out the survey itself this time, rather than SAP. As a result, significantly fewer large companies were surveyed than in the last survey.
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