Many companies treat ERP upgrades like roof repairs. If nothing is leaking, the work can wait. The problem is that postponing upgrades rarely makes them easier. Customizations accumulate and systems become harder to maintain. Eventually, what could have been a simple update turns into a large, expensive project.

Treating ERP upgrades as periodic maintenance can lead organizations to spend heavily on custom workarounds for capabilities SAP already delivers in newer releases—or may deliver in upcoming ones.

Staying current helps reduce redundant build costs, improve time to value, and make innovation part of the operational run-rate. That's one reason ERP modernization has moved back onto the agenda for many teams. Some are responding to the approaching end of support for on-premises systems. Others are looking for greater flexibility, better user experience, or a solid foundation for new technologies like AI.

Consider two business use cases from Cimpress and Nippon Sanso. Both companies discovered that ERP modernization and continuous upgrades are valuable not because of a single go-live event, but because they make future change easier. It’s less about what happens during the move, and more about what becomes possible afterward.

A different mindset: Migration vs. modernization

ERP modernization is more than just a technical project. It often begins with these technology questions:

• Which systems should be migrated and continuously upgraded?
• Which customizations should be retained?
• How can disruption be minimized?

And here are two primary ways to look at migration vs. modernization:

Companies that see the greatest long-term benefit from modernizing tend to focus on building an environment that’s easier to maintain, improve, and embrace innovation.

Instead of preserving historical customization, businesses look for opportunities to simplify and standardize. Instead of postponing ERP upgrades for years, they establish a regular cadence and build it into normal operations. And over time, those decisions compound.

Viewed through that lens, modernization becomes more than an IT initiative. It becomes a business strategy and mindset for reducing friction.

The experiences of Cimpress and Nippon Sanso provide a clear example of how this can work in practice.

Cimpress: Staying current as a strategy

Cimpress, parent company of brands including VistaPrint in printing, marketing, and e-commerce services, didn’t approach modernization as a one-time exercise. Instead, they focused on creating a model that would make future change less costly and less disruptive.

A key part of that effort was maintaining a clean core and limiting unnecessary customization. The goal was straightforward: reduce complexity today so upgrades can be easier tomorrow.

Many businesses delay ERP upgrades because they expect frequent updates to create more work. Cimpress found the opposite. As they established a regular upgrade rhythm, the process became more predictable and manageable.

As Mukul Agrawal, IT Director at Cimpress USA Incorporated, put it: "The cost of upgrade reduces each time you upgrade."

The observation reflects a broader lesson. Keeping current helps avoid that buildup. And the benefits extended beyond upgrades themselves.

By simplifying operations and getting aligned with current releases, Cimpress proved that frequent upgrades are drastically cheaper and faster than delayed ones. In fact, when Cimpress executed an EHP6 upgrade in legacy ECC, that single project was more expensive than running three separate S/4HANA upgrades combined (from 2020 to 2022, 2023, and 2025).

For example, Cimpress processes 60 million annual transactions across its manufacturing environment. Yet, their internal team executes complete upgrades from sandbox to production in just 10 weeks.

Staying up-to-date has allowed Cimpress to deploy newer capabilities such as SAP Joule for Developers to assist in code remediation during upgrade cycles, adopt modern Fiori landing pages, and continuously roll out AI agents in digestible quarterly increments.

Their overall philosophy is captured in another statement from Agrawal: "Current is the only place to lead from." Rather than viewing modernization as a milestone to reach, Cimpress treats it as a position to maintain.

Agrawal summed up the mindset in another way: “Organizations should focus on leading the change, not chasing the version."

Nippon Sanso: Turning ERP upgrades into opportunities

For Nippon Sanso, a multi-industry gas technology provider, modernization was part of a broader effort to create a more standardized and scalable business model.

That approach shaped how they viewed upgrades. By keeping current, upgrades became smaller, more manageable efforts that could often be handled internally.

The result was not simply lower effort. It was greater flexibility.

As Jens Wiechmann, SAP IT Manager at Nippon Sanso Europe, explained, "It means more technology and more process adaptations we can consume. And as a bonus, we can build business cases around it.”

For example, Nippon Sanso transformed upgrades from a dreaded technical hurdle into a light, 3-week operational routine. By keeping a clean core, their latest upgrade cycle required zero external consultant spend ($0), achieved production cutover with a maximum downtime of 10 hours, resulting in zero post-go-live operational issues.

Staying current also enabled Nippon Sanso to consume critical business capabilities standard out-of-the-box—such as serial number tracking in stock and flexible workflows for price condition changes—eliminating the need for custom development projects.

That perspective highlights one of the less-discussed benefits of modernization: New releases expand the range of possibilities for the business.

Readiness rather than catch-up

Cesar Callejo, Chief Information Officer, Nippon Europe added, "We work much more efficiently with RISE with SAP and can tackle future issues. The standardization will allow us to optimize capacity, freeing resources to support future innovation and our ongoing digital transformation strategy.”

This philosophy is reflected in one of Wiechmann's observations: “Software is really never finished. It can just be ready.” A reality many organizations are beginning to accept: There is no final version of an ERP system.

Technology, business requirements, and customer expectations will inevitably change. So the objective isn’t to reach an endpoint, but to maintain a platform that can evolve alongside the business.

That mindset has become even more important as they evaluate evolving technologies like AI. Rather than treating AI adoption as a separate initiative, Nippon Sanso views modernization as the prerequisite.

For those still considering their next step, Wiechmann offers straightforward advice: “Don't wait too long.”

The longer modernization is delayed, the harder it becomes to close the gap. Staying up to date keeps future choices open.

Execution blueprint: Demystifying scope, roles, and testing

A primary barrier to continuous upgrades is hesitation around scope, roles, and resource constraints. Both Cimpress and Nippon Sanso provide a clear division of responsibility and a blueprint for reducing testing fatigue:

• Clear role division: Under RISE with SAP, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services executes the core technical database and application updates. Internal customer teams are freed to focus strictly on business validation and executing a repeatable operational playbook.
• Decoupling customizations via SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP): Cimpress built 100% of custom Fiori applications on SAP BTP. Moving extensions to BTP while keeping high-volume core transactions stable reduced breaking objects version-over-version.
• Targeted testing perimeter: A clean core eliminates massive SPDD and SPAU technical code remediation. Nippon Sanso narrowed business testing strictly to non-standard, modified areas, keeping testing cycles predictable and lightweight.

Shared lessons from Cimpress and Nippon Sanso

The two companies operate in different industries and faced different challenges, but their experiences point to some common lessons.

Three lessons from their modernization

1. Complexity compounds. So do the benefits of reducing it.

Legacy ERP systems often become harder to maintain because customization, workarounds, and delayed upgrades accumulate over time. Both Cimpress and Nippon Sanso took steps to simplify these environments and the ability to adapt.

2. Frequent upgrades can cost less than infrequent ones.

Conventional wisdom suggests that delaying upgrades avoids disruption. In practice, the opposite can happen. As the gap between releases grows, so does the effort required to bridge it.

Both companies found that regular upgrades became relatively easy. The process became more predictable, and the cost of future change dropped.

3. Innovation works best when it’s a habit, not a milestone.

Many businesses still approach innovation as an occasional event tied to major transformation programs.

Cimpress and Nippon Sanso demonstrated they can evaluate and adopt new capabilities as part of normal operations rather than waiting for the next large project.

Why modernization opens the door for innovation

Organizations often begin an ERP modernization with a technology objective in mind. They want to replace aging systems, reduce risk, or move to a more modern platform.

The experiences of Cimpress and Nippon Sanso suggest a broader opportunity.

Neither approached modernization as just a one-time project. Instead, both focused on creating an environment that would be easier to maintain, easier to upgrade, and easier to improve over time.

For Cimpress, that meant a clean core approach and establishing a rhythm of regular upgrades. Over time, the effort required for change decreased rather than increased.

For Nippon Sanso, modernization created flexibility. Standardized processes and regular upgrades allowed them to support growth without reworking their entire ERP.

While the two companies took different paths, they arrived at a similar conclusion: Modernization works best when it becomes part of normal operations.

From migration to continuous innovation

Why modernization makes AI easier

AI depends on more than software. It relies on current systems, well-managed data, and business processes that can adapt.

That may explain why AI should be viewed as an outcome of modernization rather than its primary justification.

Establishing a regular upgrade cadence becomes a trained muscle—helping your business to absorb AI and technology updates routinely and with complete confidence.

As Jens Wiechmann noted, "With every upgrade, we get more options."

Modernization isn’t the finish line. It helps you adapt, innovate, and stay ready for whatever comes next.

FAQ