SAP IdM Alternatives: Considerations, Strategies & Solutions
SAP Identity Management (IdM) will no longer be maintained after 2027, making now a critical time for users to evaluate an alternative Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution. Choosing the replacement that's right for your business requires expert planning and a considered strategy. This guide explores the leading alternatives to SAP IdM, evaluates their strengths and limitations, and provides a roadmap for a successful transition that enhances your organization's identity governance while protecting critical business systems.
What you'll learn:
The end of SAP IdM and its implications
At the end of 2027, SAP IdM will sunset. Even with extended support until 2030, there's no time to lose in selecting a replacement solution.
Which solution is best for your organization depends on your business requirements and key priorities. SAP environments vary in size, complexity, customization, and integration with your wider enterprise landscape. Budget considerations will also influence your decision-making process.
Why migration planning can’t wait
Resource allocation
Securing budget, selecting a solution, and planning migration requires significant lead time of up to three years.
Business continuity
Careful planning is essential to minimize disruption to critical processes and applications.
Modernization opportunity
This transition presents a chance to align with cloud-first strategies and consolidate identity management.
Operational improvements
Early planning enables enhancements to security posture, cost optimization, and user experience.
Key questions to assess your needs
As an existing SAP IdM user, you'll already be familiar with the key functions requiring replacement, including: joiners, movers, leavers (JML); business logic and policies; provisioning processes and workflows; system integrations; attestation, reporting for audit; and SAP-specific integrations.
SAP IdM excels at handling large SAP estates, saving costs through free integration with SAP systems as part of your existing SAP license when only writing to SAP systems, and offering extensive custom scripting and coding to handle complex, organization-specific requirements and highly specialized business logic.
Determining which capabilities are most important to maintain, and which to optimize or evolve, is the first step in selecting a new solution.
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Critical considerations for your SAP IdM transition
Customization vs. Simplicity
Evaluate whether your organization needs highly tailored solutions or could benefit from standardizing processes. Customization delivers precision but increases complexity and maintenance costs.
Integration landscape
Complex SAP environments (with 30+ systems) require solutions capable of handling this scale. Verify each solution's capabilities for reading custom SAP tables and available connectors for your applications. Also consider how to balance SAP-specific needs with enterprise-wide identity management requirements.
Business transformation opportunity
Use the IdM migration as a catalyst to break down silos between SAP and enterprise identity management. Consider how process changes could simplify your technical requirements, especially if you're also planning an S/4HANA migration. This decision point presents an opportunity for business process transformation that could simplify technical requirements and reap numerous organization-wide benefits.
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Resource requirements
Assess your team's capabilities against solution requirements to identify gaps in technical implementation skills, business process knowledge, and change management expertise. Consider whether partnerships with implementation experts will be necessary to supplement internal resources.
Common migration pitfalls
Prepare for typical obstacles including undocumented customizations, integration complexity, resource constraints, competing priorities, and dependencies on SAP IdM-specific capabilities. Mitigate risks through a phased migration approach with thorough planning, documentation, and robust testing at each stage.
Expert support for your IdM transition
There are plenty of options for Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) in SAP environments, and your ideal solution depends on a myriad of organization-specific factors. Whether you're replacing SAP IdM or implementing a new IGA framework from scratch, these solutions can address your SAP identity management needs while supporting broader enterprise security objectives. With the right expert guidance in place, you can turn this migration into an opportunity to support wider business objectives with targeted transformation.
Turnkey Consulting is uniquely placed to provide that expert support, thanks to our deep, vendor-agnostic expertise across both SAP and identity management domains. We understand SAP-specific requirements and challenges and can give you an unbiased evaluation of the available solutions and which might be best for you. This combines with our enterprise-wide perspective on identity governance and our ability to bridge traditionally siloed teams, giving you practical guidance in the context of your business requirements.
IGA Maturity Assessment
We evaluate your current identity management practices objectively, and create customized recommendations specific to your organization with a clear roadmap for improvement. This exercise will indicate your transition readiness, and add insight and context to your solution decision process
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