We implement this solution on-prem and on cloud for our clients. Our customers use it for their entire business process and end-to-end operations. It involves everything from production, to financial planning, sales and procurement.
SAP finance practice at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Offers very well integrated technology but the technical support is lacking
Pros and Cons
- "Well-integrated multilingual technology."
- "Lacks sufficient technical support with slow response times."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable part of ERP is the well-integrated technology. The different modules talk to each other very seamlessly. The solution is also multilingual and multi-currency. It provides that level of support and is highly flexible. When it comes to integration with third-party softwares you can integrate with a lot of technologies and a lot of different data feeds. If I'm selling something on Amazon and I want to check product performance, I can directly interface with SAP and see all the dashboards and reports. That is the beauty of SAP.
What needs improvement?
We face a lot of challenges with SAP. The support is very slow. When you do get a response, it's not as technical or as detailed as a customer would expect. I've also found them to be lacking in flexibility in terms of their pricing and they are not competitive with other solutions. If you have budget constraints, then SAP might be beyond your reach; they never provide any discounts. Our on-prem customers don't want the cloud model for now because they are concerned about their data transparency, but SAP won't offer an on-prem license. Those are the challenges we currently face.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for 15 years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable but there can be product bugs or performance issues. A couple of our customers have high volumes and a lot of interfaces. They are facing challenges in terms of stability when scaling. Several of our customers with retail businesses are currently in this position. We raised requests with SAP but the response was very poor and customers were totally fed up. SAP eventually provided a workaround temporary solution. The system is running but it's not up to the mark.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support provides valuable advice but they don't respond in a timely fashion. There are delays which create pressure for the customer and eventually they will lose business as a result and will move away from SAP.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
As a consulting company, we can deploy ERP quickly. Our clients are unable to implement alone, it requires some expertise. Our last couple of deployments have taken six to eight months. The solution is easy to maintain but it requires support, either external or internal. SAP charges a maintenance fee that is quite high at 25% of your initial license cost.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution seven out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
It Asset Management Lead at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Very robust with great asset management feature
Pros and Cons
- "This is a robust solution with a lot of control measures."
- "I think that implementation could be simplified."
What is our primary use case?
We are a manufacturing company and customers of SAP.
What is most valuable?
This is a robust solution with a lot of control measures. They provide extensive documentation and I recommend it for an enterprise organization. The Asset Manager feature is great and the solution has good integration.
What needs improvement?
I think that implementation could be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for about eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have in-house support but can use external support when necessary.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is somewhat complex and requires advanced planning.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is quite expensive but for an organization the size of ours, I think it's worthwhile because of the information that goes into it and what it provides.
What other advice do I have?
If you plan to implement this solution, the most important thing is to spend time in the planning. It's important to have an extensive checklist and set up the test environment before going into production.
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
SAP ERP
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about SAP ERP. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
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Digital Transformation Manager at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Large scale deployment, but out of date
Pros and Cons
- "The stability is SAP ERP is not good only because the version is old. They could work on improving the versions."
- "There should be better support provided to be able to migrate to S/4HANA easier."
What is our primary use case?
We are using SAP ERP mostly for production and financials.
What needs improvement?
There should be better support provided to be able to migrate to S/4HANA easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP ERP for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is SAP ERP is not good only because the version is old. They could work on improving the versions.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability could be better, it is not simple to do.
We have approximately 300 users using this solution. We are not planning to increase usage.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Navision previously and then we moved to SAP ERP because of its larger scale and strategic direction from the management.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SAP ERP was complex and very rigid.
What about the implementation team?
SAP ERP requires two people for maintenance and approximately 10 people for the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is an annual subscription for the use of SAP ERP.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend others to use SAP S/4HANA because SAP ERP is out of date. It would be best to skip SAP ERP and go directly for SAP S/4HANA.
I rate SAP ERP a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
SAP Platform Advisory at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Seamless integration, plenty of features, but support could improve
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of SAP ERP is the integration. It can be seamlessly integrated across the board."
- "The user interface can be more intuitive and user-friendly by having it be more menu-driven, this would be a large benefit."
What is our primary use case?
We use SAP ERP for running the entire business enterprise. Most large companies run an ERP for their supply chains. Starting from taking orders all the processes through to delivery, such as finance.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of SAP ERP is the integration. It can be seamlessly integrated across the board.
What needs improvement?
The user interface can be more intuitive and user-friendly by having it be more menu-driven, this would be a large benefit.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP ERP for approximately 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SAP ERP is reliable and stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is highly scalable.
How are customer service and support?
There are different levels of support, with some requiring additional fees. I am not happy with any of the support I have received from SAP ERP.
How was the initial setup?
The initial implementation is very complex. It is a very large complex system.
What about the implementation team?
SAP ERP is a complex system, it takes a lot of people to maintain it. Depending on many factors of the implementation environment would determine the number of required maintenance or support staff. However, at least eight to ten people are the minimum required only to maintain and support SAP ERP. This number does not include the business or functional side of the operation of the solution, this number is only for the infrastructure side.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution can cost approximately $1 million a year for maintenance for a small-size company and can grow from there. Approximately $1 million is needed for a good-size company.
What other advice do I have?
SAP ERP is one of the best solutions. It's complex, but it can do a lot of things. If you are considering implementing SAP ERP, make sure you have a business process straight before you implement such a large solution. Streamline your business process and try to achieve standardization, instead of trying to customize things, use industry standards.
I rate SAP ERP a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
IT Manager at a engineering company with 501-1,000 employees
Has many modules, and is useful for all business processes
Pros and Cons
- "The Material Management and Sales and Distribution modules are great. The Financial Accounting module is also great."
- "It should be less complex. It should also have better integration capability. I am using the ACC version, and in this version, the integration and the communication are very difficult and complicated."
What is our primary use case?
It is for all business processes. It is for material management, financial accounting and controlling, sales and distribution, and HR.
Our SAP version is a little bit old. It is the ACC version.
What is most valuable?
The Material Management and Sales and Distribution modules are great. The Financial Accounting module is also great.
What needs improvement?
One module that is not doing well is HR.
It should be less complex. It should also have better integration capability. I am using the ACC version, and in this version, the integration and the communication are very difficult and complicated.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it in our company since 2008.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I doubt if it is scalable. That's because it is on-prem, so you have a lot of parameters, and scalability would be a little bit hard.
We have 130 people, but in my company, only about 65 people are using it. It is being used every minute of every day. There might be a plan for expanding its usage, but I am not sure.
How are customer service and support?
Every time we need technical support, we take the help of a local consultant.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't do it, but I'm sure it's complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know the price, but I know its licensing is on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Consultant at a tech consulting company with 10,001+ employees
A great all-in-one product that can scale and is stable
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is quite scalable."
- "It's very difficult to find people who are well versed in it."
What is most valuable?
It's a good solution as you get everything in one software. You get all modules in one software and therefore one doesn't have to look outside for any other software.
The solution is quite scalable.
The stability is excellent.
What needs improvement?
The solution has a few problems here and there.
It's slightly complex and can be hard to understand if you are new to the product.
The product is very, very expensive, and therefore not really suitable for smaller organizations.
It's very difficult to find people who are well versed in it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 20 years at this point. It's been somewhere around two decades. I have a lot of experience with it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it's not a problem. Users should be able to do so.
It is scalable in the sense that tomorrow if you have 10 users, you can scale it to 50 users, 50 to 100. That's not a problem. It's pretty easy to scale. SAP is now pushing cloud. It used to be on-premise. When it was on-premise you would have to change your hardware. Now, that is not necessarily the case.
How was the initial setup?
In terms of maintenance, due to the fact that the solution is complex and nobody can know everything, it's important to have at least two people on staff for maintenance that can handle it and understand how everything - or mostly everything - works. That means either hiring out experts of having in-house personnel.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very high. For enterprise-level organizations this may be okay, however, for smaller companies, it's likely not suitable.
What happens is that if small companies implement it, the maintenance cost is very high for this kind of ERP. It's a problem for those companies who want to implement ERP, and they find implementation cost is higher and the license cost is extremely high. The maintenance cost is very high as well.
What other advice do I have?
I'm an implementor.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
It covers pretty much everything. It's not that something is missing. There are better products than this, however, they are not necessarily as complete. If you're buying those products, you will have to spend money to interface with the backbone of SAP.
They're making it more user-friendly. A user has to work smart and if he's not able to work smart, we spend so much less time training people. Unless you have a photogenic memory, SAP can take a bit of work.
Other software can be learned in 15 days, however, SAP takes a while.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Senior SAP Solutions Analyst at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees
Effective business management, beneficial reports, but difficult to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of SAP ERP are the general operations. It has a good way to manage a business and do financial reporting. Overall we are happy with the robustness of the solution."
- "Reporting is why most companies need to acquire business intelligence add-on solutions, and when it comes to SAP ERP, they could improve the reporting graphical representation of the data."
What is our primary use case?
We use SAP ERP to support and manage our business process in areas, such as sales, manufacturing, distribution, shipping, financials, purchasing, marketing, opportunities, and quotations.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution has improved our organization by allowing us to simply take a product from concept to aftermarket by following the process of developing service for the company.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of SAP ERP are the general operations. It has a good way to manage a business and do financial reporting. Overall we are happy with the robustness of the solution.
What needs improvement?
Reporting is why most companies need to acquire business intelligence add-on solutions, and when it comes to SAP ERP, they could improve the reporting graphical representation of the data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP ERP for approximately 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP ERP is very hard to scale, it is very time-consuming, and once fully implemented it is normally fixed.
We have approximately 350 users using the solution. It is extensively used, every single position in the company uses SAP, which includes but is not limited to, customer service, customer service managers, purchasing, purchasing director, finance, and finance controller.
How are customer service and technical support?
We do not use support from SAP but we have third-party support.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation of the solution took approximately one year. However, this might seem like a long time but it is typical for ERP solutions.
What about the implementation team?
We used consultants to do the implementation of the solution. I have heard from colleagues the experience was not very good.
We have an internal team of seven that does all the maintenance and support of the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise those wanting to implement the solution to use a good consultant.
The solution has been in the market for a long time. It does what it says that is going to do but it requires a lot of knowledge of the business and stabilization takes time. Once it is stable, it does everything it should be doing. Any additional changes make it a little bit difficult, once you make a decision, that decision has to be carried out for the life cycle of the solution.
I rate SAP ERP a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
ERP Project Manager & Managing Consultant at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flexible with lots of great configuration capabilities and easy to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The stability and performance are good."
- "The initial setup is complex."
What is our primary use case?
The majority of the projects I was involved with were for production companies with huge manufacturing capabilities.
What is most valuable?
The solution is ideal for large enterprises. Normally, the companies begin bigger in size and have many production facilities. In terms of SAP ERP, it's best for very large organizations.
The detail of the configuration test thas appealed to me the most. I can do a lot of things in it. There are many great features on it. If you learn its code, you can do a lot of things. Generally, there's a lot of possibilities as the solution is quite vast and flexible. The possibility to configure it to fit any shape is great.
The solution can scale well.
The stability and performance are good.
What needs improvement?
The product is not a good fit for smaller companies.
It would be better if they completed the Fiori user interface. They really need to improve the interface. It would be great if even the older interface could be updated.
The initial setup is complex.
Technical support needs to be more helpful or responsive.
The training is expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with the product for three to four years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. The performance is very good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. If a company needs to expand it, it can. It's ideally for large organizations.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is not very good. We are not satisfied with the level of service we get. Microsoft, for example, offers better support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also use Microsoft.
The one thing different between this solution and Microsoft is, with Microsoft, normally the application training is relatively free or very low cost. The training for us for HANA or SAP ERP is expensive. They should think of reducing the pricing, or even offer free training, as that will help with awareness in the user and the better usage of the application.
How was the initial setup?
It's a complex application to initially set up. It takes time and you have to save a lot of small integrated details. There's so much configuration and features are available which makes the setup relatively hard. That said, it works. If you know it well, you can do it well. If you don't have the background, you will struggle.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The features on offer make it worth the price. It's not expensive in the sense that if the company needs the features, they will be willing to pay for them. They're necessary to the core business.
What other advice do I have?
I am an implementer consultant. I worked with a Microsoft partner and I've worked with an SAP partner, however, my work is as an implementer or implementation consultant.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. I find it better than Microsoft as an option.
SAP ERP is kind of a big effort. Therefore, the more learning and time taken for the implementation, the better off you will be. That said, it's an excellent solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementor
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