Delivering a Successful SAP Project in 2026: Lessons Learned from Nearly 30 Years in the Field

Everyone is talking about S/4HANA, generative AI and SAP BTP. The promises keep growing, and so do the deadlines. But when you ask a consultant with nearly thirty years of hands-on experience what really makes an SAP project successful, the answer is surprisingly reassuring: the fundamentals have barely changed.

We recently sat down with Olivier, an SAP consultant with a unique background. He started his career as a developer before moving into functional logistics consulting, working across retail, manufacturing, utilities and large international organisations. Here's what we took away from our conversation.

Start Small, Build Strong

One of the most common mistakes at the start of an SAP project is trying to do too much at once. Some organisations attempt to cover every requirement from day one. Others go in the opposite direction, saying, "Let's start small and we'll deal with the rest later." Too often, that "later" never comes.

"The foundations should be laid by a relatively small, but highly skilled team."

The lesson is simple: a focused team with the right expertise will build stronger foundations than a large group working without clear direction.

Standard First. Custom Only When It Creates Real Value

For more than twenty years, SAP experts have recommended sticking to the standard solution whenever possible. The right approach starts with a simple blueprint: define the business need, compare it with what SAP already provides, assess whether the business can adapt, and only then evaluate whether a custom development is truly justified.

The most expensive trap is believing that "our business is different." Almost every organisation thinks its processes are unique. The result? A growing number of custom developments that become increasingly difficult and costly to maintain. In many cases, developments are created simply because nobody took the time to check whether the functionality already existed in standard SAP.

This is where an experienced consultant makes all the difference: asking the right questions before writing a single line of code.

"I sometimes struggle to understand why entering an invoice should be so different from one company to another. At the end of the day, it's still an invoice."

Nine times out of ten, the business need is far less unique than people initially believe.

True custom development is rare. It's the functionality that genuinely gives your organisation a competitive advantage. Everything else should be challenged. Quite often, ten days of manual work cost far less than maintaining a custom development for the next fifteen years.

With SAP S/4HANA, especially in its Cloud edition, embracing the standard is no longer just a recommendation. It's becoming the norm. And that's actually good news. The more standard your system is, the easier it becomes to upgrade, maintain and evolve.

Detect Problems Early and Act Fast

Every project faces challenges.

What separates successful projects from struggling ones isn't the absence of issues. It's how quickly they're identified.

"Once a large ship starts sailing in the wrong direction, you don't turn it around in two or three days."

That's why early warning signs matter. An experienced external consultant can often spot risks long before they become major problems, precisely because they're not caught up in the day-to-day project dynamics.

Change Management Is About People

On one international programme following a company acquisition, two teams from different cultural backgrounds found it difficult to work together.

The solution didn't come from technology.

It came from spending time together, working side by side on-site.

"Relationships develop naturally, and eventually people start accepting the new system."

Patience, presence and human interaction remain some of the most effective drivers of successful change management.

Sometimes, simply working together is still the best solution.

SAP Is Built to Last... and So Are Its Skills

One of SAP's greatest strengths is longevity.

A royalty calculation solution implemented in the early 2000s was still running successfully more than fifteen years later. Even better, the customer had extended it to support additional business processes over time.

Another advantage is the portability of SAP expertise. If your finance expert leaves tomorrow, you'll find another SAP Finance consultant almost anywhere in the world who can step in quickly.

With a proprietary in-house application, losing the one person who understands the system can quickly become a serious business risk.

A robust ERP is also protection against dependency on a single individual.

AI Is an Accelerator, Not a Substitute

SAP's generative AI assistant, Joule, builds on SAP's own knowledge base as well as lessons learned from thousands of customer projects, including what has worked... and what hasn't.

It can draft project plans, produce first versions of documentation and accelerate many routine tasks.

The right approach is simple: let AI save time, then let humans provide judgement, context and experience.

The same applies to development. Modern frameworks such as RAP make development faster than ever.

But faster doesn't automatically mean better.

"A company needs one consistent way of working. You can't build everything using fifty-six different tools."

New technology should never be adopted simply because it's new.

IT isn't there to look impressive.

It's there to make business processes more efficient.

That's the compass every technology decision should follow.

What We Believe at Sapristic

A successful SAP project isn't the one that adopts every new technology.

It's the one that builds solid foundations, embraces standard solutions whenever possible, identifies risks early, brings people along the journey and always keeps technology serving the business, not the other way around.

That's exactly how we work at Sapristic.

We translate business needs into sustainable SAP solutions, without chasing every new trend.

Planning an SAP project? Preparing your S/4HANA migration? Wondering whether a custom development is really necessary? Let's talk.