Rimini Street Extends SAP Support Through 2040, Offering Cost-Saving Alternative to Migration

Rimini Street has unveiled an extension of its support services for all SAP ECC 6.0 and S/4HANA versions through 2040, providing organisations a compelling alternative to SAP’s own support deadlines and migration requirements. This development gives businesses the opportunity to continue using their current SAP systems while remaining compliant and reducing operational overheads.

With SAP’s Mainstream Maintenance for ECC 6.0 ending in 2027 and even earlier, by December 2025, for systems on enhancement packs 0–5, many enterprises have been facing growing pressure to migrate to S/4HANA or adopt SAP’s RISE model. Rimini Street’s extended support window offers a reprieve from these deadlines, allowing companies to avoid forced transitions and instead channel their resources into strategic innovation.

Rimini Street claims organisations could reduce their annual SAP maintenance costs by up to 90% by switching to its services. The company also highlights the potential to avoid the substantial costs and risks typically associated with migrating to newer ERP platforms.

Joe Locandro, Executive Vice President and CIO at Rimini Street, spoke to the mounting pressures facing CIOs as they weigh up their ERP roadmaps:

"The problem today is that many organisations aren't migrating to the latest ERP versions because they lack the resources, time, or clarity around their long-term ERP strategy," he said.

"At the same time, budgets remain tight, and there's still pressure on CIOs to innovate. Even if SAP was to extend its own support to 2030, businesses are still being asked to commit to a future ERP model that may be entirely different."

"We predict the future of ERP will forever be changed in the next five to ten years, with ERP software replaced by new, faster and more flexible genetic ERP processes. That uncertainty creates significant risk for CIOs when it comes to investment planning. By extending support for all SAP ECC 6.0 and S/4HANA releases through 2040, Rimini Street offers a compelling alternative."

"We enable organisations to maintain existing systems without vendor lock-in, and redirecting funds typically spent on maintenance towards meaningful innovation. And if the future of ERP does become agentic, those who've taken this path will already be more agile and better positioned than those tied to a potentially monolithic ERP solution."

By decoupling support services from SAP’s timelines, Rimini Street clients are insulated from the looming end-of-support deadlines. The company, which has supported SAP customers for over 15 years, says its clients can extend the life of their ERP environments while freeing up budget for transformative projects.

The offer to support all ECC 6.0 and S/4HANA versions through 2040 applies to both existing and new clients, particularly those seeking to maximise the value of their current SAP investments while avoiding the costs and disruption tied to SAP’s upgrade path.

One such client, Nobuo Norisue, President of AUTOBACS Digital Initiative, welcomed the move:

"Rimini Street's announcement that it will support all SAP releases until 2040 is most welcome news to SAP ECC customers such as ourselves. As a very satisfied client of Rimini Support for SAP since 2016, having the option to stay on our ECC system until 2040 with the support of Rimini Street opens up many new doors for us, especially at a time when we are designing our next-generation IT foundation and architecture while balancing budgets and delivery timeline. Rimini Street's continued support provides us with more time, funds and options for a smart path forward."

Rimini Street estimates that a significant number of SAP ECC license holders, possibly as many as 20,000, have yet to move to S/4HANA, a claim echoed by CEO Seth Ravin:

"According to industry analysts, an estimated 20,000 SAP ECC licensees have not even licensed S/4HANA, and many of those who have licensed S/4HANA still have not completed an S/4HANA or S/4HANA on RISE migration."

"The SAP ECC 6.0 and older S/4HANA releases can deliver excellent and stable operations for 15 or more years with Rimini Street's proven, ultra-responsive support for SAP."

"There is no need for SAP licensees to undergo major costs, risks and disruption to their operations for a software migration that many believe is unnecessary and low value, compared to the value of investing in new technologies like enterprise AI, workflow and task automation – that can bring immediate value to the organisation."

Clients receive a dedicated Primary Support Engineer and access to a global network of SAP experts, bolstered by Rimini Street’s AI-driven service platform. Customisations are fully supported at no extra cost, and the company guarantees a 10-minute maximum response time for critical issues, although in 2024, its average response time for top-priority cases was under two minutes.

Ravin also touched on the evolution of ERP:

"We predict the future of ERP will forever be changed in the next five to ten years, with ERP software replaced by new, faster and more flexible agentic ERP processes that we are already deploying for clients," he said.
"Already, Rimini Street clients have saved USD $9 billion dollars in IT operating costs and are self-funding innovation to propel them forward without being slowed down with unnecessary, costly and risky upgrades, migrations and replatforming."

"Rimini Street clients are disruptors, not the disrupted."