Zeiss Group has halted the migration of its ERP system from the legacy SAP R/3 platform to the modern S/4HANA environment. The company had already invested €200 million into the project, which began in 2017, but decided to restructure its IT transformation plans.
According to CIO Carsten Trapp, the transition required significant changes to business processes rather than just IT infrastructure. The project faced substantial management challenges, and the company declined to disclose the total costs required to complete the migration.
Financial reports from the 2024/2025 fiscal year show Zeiss generated nearly €12 billion in revenue with an EBIT of €1.5 billion. The company employs 46,000 people and serves major global technology clients including ASML, TSMC, Intel, and Apple.
The decision follows reports of rising administrative costs linked to the SAP implementation. Industry data from Gartner indicates that by the end of 2025, only 39% of the 35,000 global users of the legacy ECC application had acquired licenses for S/4HANA.
