Leaving SAP for Dynamics, Oracle, or NetSuite: the data migration nobody scopes

Some companies are using the 2027 deadline to exit SAP for Dynamics 365, Oracle, or NetSuite. The new platform is the easy part. Extracting, cleaning, and mapping years of ECC data is the hard part.

Not every company on ECC is staying with SAP. A segment of the mid-market is using the 2027 deadline as the reason to leave the ecosystem entirely and move to a rival ERP. The decision gets made on the new platform's strengths. The risk lives somewhere the pitch rarely covers: the data that has to come with you.

• Dec 31, 2027 ECC 6 mainstream maintenance ends. Paid extended maintenance runs to 2030 at roughly two extra points of fee. Older ECC releases already lost mainstream support in 2025. The date is a planning input, not a cliff.

Why companies leave SAP

If a business is going to run a major ERP project anyway, some leaders decide it is the moment to exit a platform they find costly or heavy. The deadline becomes the trigger for a change they were already weighing. Whether that is the right call is a separate question, but the migration it sets off is very real.

Where they go

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the common destination for companies already living in the Microsoft world, where it pairs finance with Azure and Power BI. Oracle Cloud ERP draws larger organizations that want deep financial forecasting. NetSuite draws mid-market companies that want a faster deployment. Different targets, same starting point: years of ECC data that has to move.

• 40% of the migration timeline is discovery and data cleansing. Pre-move cleansing with validation rules cuts post-migration defects by about 60% and post-go-live performance issues by about 25%. The work you skip up front returns as production incidents.

The data problem does not change platform

This is the part that surprises people. Standing up Dynamics or NetSuite may be simpler than an S/4HANA program, but the data migration is not easier. You still have to extract the legacy data, clean it, deduplicate it, and map it to a different model. The same vendor entered five times is still a problem in Dynamics. Inconsistent units of measure still break loads in Oracle. Leaving SAP changes the destination schema, not the condition of what you are moving.

What decides whether BI on SAP is trusted

• Raw tables, no governance. Fast then wrong. Every workbook redefines metrics, performance degrades as content multiplies, and the dashboards stop agreeing. Trust erodes.
• Governed semantic layer. Trusted. Metrics defined once, clean data feeding the tool, certified content. The numbers reconcile and leadership acts on them.

Tableau and Power BI both work well on a governed foundation. The tool matters less than the layer underneath it.

Source: Thinklytics BI and analytics practice, 2026.

How we help, platform-agnostically

Our work is the data layer, and the data layer does not care which ERP you land on. We profile, cleanse, deduplicate, reconcile, and map legacy enterprise data whether the target is S/4HANA, Dynamics 365, Oracle, or NetSuite. If you are weighing a move off SAP, measure the condition of your data first, so you scope the switch on evidence instead of optimism. Don't move the mess. Clean it first.

Frequently asked questions

Why are companies leaving SAP instead of upgrading?

A segment of mid-market organizations treats the 2027 deadline as the moment to exit a costly ecosystem. If they are going to do a major project anyway, some decide to move to a platform they see as nimbler or cheaper to run rather than re-platform within SAP.

Where do they go?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the common choice for companies embedded in the Microsoft world, pairing finance with Azure and Power BI. Oracle Cloud ERP attracts larger organizations wanting deep financial forecasting, and NetSuite attracts mid-market companies wanting rapid deployment.

Is moving to a new ERP easier than going to S/4HANA?

The new platform may be simpler to stand up, but the data migration is not easier. You still have to extract years of ECC data, clean it, and map it to a different model. Leaving SAP changes the target schema, it does not reduce the cleansing.

Do you only work on SAP-to-S/4HANA migrations?

No. Our work is the data layer, and it is platform-agnostic. Extracting, cleaning, deduplicating, and mapping legacy enterprise data is the same discipline whether the destination is S/4HANA, Dynamics 365, Oracle, or NetSuite.

What usually goes wrong on a platform switch?

Teams scope the new system carefully and treat the data migration as a side task. Then duplicate customers and vendors, inconsistent codes, and missing fields surface during loads into the new model, and the project slips at the worst time, near go-live.

What is the first step if we are considering leaving SAP?

Measure the real condition of your ECC data before you commit to a target platform or a date. A readiness assessment shows what will be hard to move regardless of destination, so you scope the switch on evidence.