According to the SAPinsider 2025 SAP S/4HANA Migration Detailed Findings Report, cost remains the primary barrier to SAP S/4HANA migration, with 62% of organizations citing high project costs as a key challenge in their planning and project roadmaps. This concern persists despite the coming end of maintenance for older ERP systems and the business value S/4HANA delivers once live.
And while the benefits of SAP S/4HANA, including real-time analytics, process simplification, improved performance, and a platform for transformation, continue to drive adoption, many organizations are stuck at the starting line because expensive migrations threaten IT budgets and corporate financial goals.
Migrating to SAP S/4HANA is not just a technical upgrade; it is a data, process, and systems transformation. A large portion of migration costs come from:
- Data volume and complexity: larger systems require more HANA memory, longer migration windows, and greater complexity.
- Project duration and risk: 55% of organizations also see long timelines as a major pain point. The more data they move and the customizations they address, the longer and riskier the project is.
- Infrastructure costs: especially when migrating to in-memory HANA or to managed cloud platforms (like RISE with SAP). Costs can be very high depending on the size you need to purchase to fit the data you are migrating.
But high upfront costs don’t have to be a blocker. When companies account for data volume management strategies in the preparation phase of their transition, they see massive cost reductions. For example, data archiving can save around 50% on storage-related expenses alone. It also brings hardware and infrastructure savings, improved system performance, and faster data access.
For example, some companies like Grainger saw a $4.4M cumulative savings by cutting data volume by 60% and reducing ongoing growth by 85%. This enabled a faster, NetZero downtime for S/4HANA migration. Others, like TTI Inc. enhanced system performance by 19% after implementing automated data archiving solutions like Data ASSIST. The solution also reduced database size by 60%, lowered hardware and hosting costs, and significantly improved scalability to support future growth.
Let’s explore strategies to reduce costs when migrating to S/4HANA:
Solution #1: Data Archiving: Reduce What Gets Migrated to S/4HANA
Effective data archiving is one of the most impactful levers for reducing migration scope and cost. Archiving removes inactive, obsolete, or outdated transactional data from the active database to a more cost-beneficial solution. It helps reduce system size, cutting migration run times, and reducing infrastructure needs post-migration.
Benefits of archiving ahead of migration include:
- Smaller database footprint: less data to convert and move to SAP HANA means fewer HANA GB and lower licensing and hosting costs.
- Faster S/4HANA migration cycles help reduce run times for technical conversion tools and database movement.
- Better performance post-go-live: a leaner system generally performs better, with shorter batch windows and faster reporting.
- Lower maintenance and storage costs because archived data can be retained externally at a fraction of HANA storage costs.
Solution #2: SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) for Retention Management
SAP ILM builds on traditional archiving by embedding retention, compliance, and governance into the lifecycle of enterprise data. ILM supports compliant, automated archiving that meets corporate governance needs, another critical foundation for successful S/4HANA migration.
With ILM, organizations can:
- Define legal retention and deletion policies so that data is archived or removed in accordance with regulations (explore more on setting retention periods here).
- Manage legal holds and secure historical data (e.g., for audit or litigation) without bloating the live database.
Solution #3: Data ASSIST: Automation and Ongoing Database Growth Control on S/4HANA
Data ASSIST goes beyond one-time archiving; it automates the identification, scheduling, and execution of archiving processes. By keeping databases lean even after the initial archiving project, Data ASSIST helps organizations control growth and contain costs after their S/4HANA migration, preventing surprises when in the new system.
This tool ensures:
- Regular cleanup of inactive data from production systems
- Retention management simulation, allowing for viewing ROI at the start of the project
- Scheduled archiving workflows that require minimal manual intervention
- Remove the manual work from archiving, preventing human errors
- Centralized dashboards to monitor archive jobs and database health
Real Customer Results
Organizations that prioritize data volume reduction before embarking on SAP S/4HANA migrations often realize significant cost savings while simultaneously reducing project risk and complexity.
For example, Waters Corporation achieved a 55% reduction in its active SAP database footprint as part of its preparation for RISE with SAP. By archiving large volumes of inactive and historical data before migration, Waters significantly reduced the amount of data that needed to be moved into its new environment. The result was an estimated $5.5 million in savings tied to infrastructure optimization, lower HANA footprint requirements, and reduced migration effort. Beyond cost savings, the organization entered its cloud transition with a leaner, more efficient system positioned for long-term scalability.
Similarly, Grainger leveraged a disciplined archiving strategy while preparing for its SAP S/4HANA migration. Through structured data management and automation, the company reduced database growth by up to 85%, dramatically reducing the volume of data carried forward. This initiative resulted in approximately $4.5 million in cumulative savings by minimizing migration workload, lowering infrastructure requirements, and shortening project timelines.
These examples underscore a critical truth: when organizations address data volume before migration, they fundamentally change the cost structure of their SAP transformation.
Solve the Data Challenge to Solve the Cost Challenge
For many organizations, the hesitation to move to SAP S/4HANA is not about capability; it is about cost predictability and financial risk. When 62% of companies cite high project costs as the primary barrier, it becomes clear that controlling scope is essential. One of the most effective ways to control scope is to control data.
Data archiving, ILM, and automation solutions such as Data ASSIST provide a structured, compliant way to reduce database size, manage growth, and eliminate unnecessary data from the migration footprint. By shrinking what needs to be moved, organizations reduce technical complexity, infrastructure sizing, migration timelines, and overall consulting effort. At the same time, they establish long-term governance processes that prevent database bloat from returning post-go-live.
The path to SAP S/4HANA does not have to be defined by cost barriers. With a proactive data strategy, organizations can enter migration projects leaner, more efficient, and financially prepared. When data is optimized first, the business case becomes clearer, the risk becomes lower, and the return on investment becomes stronger, transforming S/4HANA from an intimidating expense into a strategic opportunity for modernization and growth.
Explore The Ultimate S/4HANA Pre-Migration Guide for phase 0 step-by-step.
