SAP is the cornerstone of identity management framework for many companies. The impending discontinuance of support for SAP Identity Manager (SAP IdM) and SAP Governance, Risk and Compliance (SAP GRC) by 2027 is likely a major project that many have just begun to plan for. While SAP announced a successor o SAP GRC called the “SAP GRC for HANA 2026”, there is no named successor for SAP IdM.
With over 440,000 SAP customers, the sunsetting of SAP IdM and replacement of SAP GRC will impact many. The impending migration to a new identity management/governance solution requires diligence and forethought to ensure the fine details are addressed. Some guidance could be valuable in terms of what to look for in a solution and how to simplify the migration process.
Here are a few important considerations that can simplify your migration strategy and protect your environment:
Business Continuity
The primary goal of every migration is minimal disruption to business continuity. This holds true regardless of what solution is being considered. Many identity management solutions can take 10-12 weeks to implement, so it is understandable that companies may not be eager to start this process, as it can cause serious disruption to the flow of business, impacting identity management and security for customers, partners, employees and other identity account types.
This is not ideal for obvious reasons – a disruption in business processes can result in lost business, impact to reputation, and more. A solution that allows continuity of business, access to data, and general ease of transition will help maintain “business as usual”, keeping users, customers and other stakeholders satisfied.
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Familiarity, Ease of Administrative Transition
If you have been using SAP for decades and are comfortable with the user experience and functionality, this can be an important consideration, as it will allow your migration team to work with the skills they have. This enables that team to stand the new solution up more quickly and easily and simplifies and streamlines the administration of the new solution of choice.
Analysis and Cleanup Prior to Migration
A pending identity management solution migration is the perfect opportunity to clean your environment to gain efficiency and reduce your attack surface moving forward. Take a good look at your ecosystem and identify duplicate identities, standing privileges and other potential improvements that could protect and streamline your environment. Some solutions on the market will help you analyze your identity ecosystem and make improvements prior to migration.
Integration With Other Solutions in the Ecosystem
As I mentioned earlier, minimal disruption to your ecosystem, users and stakeholders is imperative to ensure business continuity. In addition to the importance of maximizing uptime during migration, current and future integration with other solutions within your identity environment can help to reduce gaps in your identity management and security strategy, thereby reducing your attack surface and protecting your environment from breach.
Solutions that work together to solve deeper and broader challenges and create the opportunity for solutions such as behavior-driven governance, privileged access governance, and enhanced Active Directory and Entra ID governance, will bolster your identity management and security strategy and reduce your risk profile.
System migrations require resources and time, neither of which many companies have in abundance today. Take the time to develop a set of goals and non-negotiables. Research solutions that help you achieve those goals and provide the value you need moving forward – today and into the future. It’s best to spend time planning to ensure that executing the migration is smooth and efficient.
