Changing Integrations Between SAP and Non-SAP Systems

As businesses increasingly rely on interconnected systems, mastering the integration between SAP and non-SAP systems is crucial for ensuring continuity and efficiency.

No longer can SAP systems function in isolation; they must connect with legacy infrastructure, third-party applications, and various cloud services.

SAP consultants face evolving demands as integration becomes more sophisticated, driven by rapid technological advancements and changing business needs. Along with emerging technologies, consultants must also be aware of more traditional methods and how to integrate on-premise elements of SAP systems with innovations in the cloud.

This article briefly examines the current and future landscape of SAP integration, and offers insights on how consultants can adapt, to turn new trends and challenges in the industry into opportunities.

Increasing Integrations

While SAP seeks to cover all customer requirements for ERP systems, many businesses use a variety of non-SAP applications to handle tasks like customer management, compliance, or analytics. Consistent data flow between these systems and SAP is essential for maintaining consistency and efficiency across the business. This presents technical complexity for businesses and so is an area of opportunity for consultancies.

Consultants have used a variety of methods to connect SAP with external systems, from basic point-to-point connections to more complex middleware solutions. While SAP Process Orchestration (PO) is still used in legacy systems, SAP Integration Suite is now the preferred cloud-first platform. These both allow data to move across systems with different protocols, for smooth communication.

However, challenges remain, especially when dealing with older, inflexible legacy systems. SAP is keen for customers to adopt fully cloud-based systems, but certain elements of older SAP systems are likely to persist. Integrating these with newer cloud-based platforms presents additional complexity, particularly around latency, data security, and compliance.

While traditional integration approaches still form the basis of many projects, new technologies and methodologies are driving the need for updated strategies and continuous skill development among consultants in order to guide their clients to the right solutions.

Evolving Best Practices in Integration

The way organizations approach integration is changing. API-based strategies are becoming standard, allowing SAP and non-SAP systems to interact more modularly and flexibly.

APIs provide a way to create continual real-time data exchange, particularly when integrating with cloud services and mobile applications. This has shifted the focus from batch processing to more dynamic, and scalable integration methods.

SAP's recommended clean core architecture, which advocates minimizing customizations and keeping the core ERP system standard, is reshaping integration practices by encouraging the use of APIs, microservices, and cloud-based solutions for extending functionality. This shift demands a greater focus on externalizing custom developments and integrating non-SAP systems via standardized, decoupled methods.

But hybrid integration is still an important aspect of modern SAP systems. SAP Integration Suite, for instance, offers pre-built connectors for cloud applications, to simplify the integration process. However, hybrid environments also require consultants to address specific challenges related to cloud security and data sovereignty.

Microservices architectures are another trend reshaping integration, though adoption varies across industries depending on their cloud maturity.

By decoupling systems into smaller, independent services that communicate via APIs, microservices allow for more scalable and agile integration solutions. SAP consultants need to be comfortable moving beyond traditional service-oriented architecture (SOA) to these more flexible approaches.

Low-Code/No-Code platforms are democratizing integration, allowing non-technical users to build simple integrations. Consultants must balance the convenience these tools offer with the need for reliable governance and security, so they are used appropriately within the broader enterprise architecture. In this way their role may lean towards advisory services and training, so that non-specialists on client teams can receive guidance on how to contribute to integrations in a way that is consistent with best practices, compliance, and security.

Advanced Integration and Architectures

For advanced SAP consultants, understanding the shift from SOA to microservices is essential. The modular nature of microservices reduces the risk of widespread system failures and offers better control over individual functions. This approach also allows for independent scaling, particularly in cloud environments, where agility is a key concern.

In event-driven architecture (EDA), systems communicate based on events. This reduces latency and allows for more immediate responses to real-time data changes. Event-driven architecture (EDA) is an emerging trend, particularly in industries like finance and retail, where real-time data changes are critical.

Consultants should also familiarize themselves with Integration Platforms as a Service (iPaaS), which simplify the integration of on-premises and cloud systems by offering pre-built connectors and data transformation tools. As cloud-native solutions become the norm, mastering iPaaS platforms will be crucial for delivering scalable, efficient integration projects.

Emerging Trends Shaping the Future of Integration

AI-driven automation is becoming increasingly necessary, automating tasks such as data mapping and anomaly detection. These AI tools reduce manual work and allow consultants to focus on overseeing more complex operations. As AI continues to evolve, consultants will need to ensure these tools are aligned with business goals and governance structures.

Edge computing, where data processing happens closer to the data source, is another significant, but still emerging trend. As industries like manufacturing and logistics adopt edge devices, SAP systems must be integrated with these distributed systems. This introduces new challenges related to data synchronization and security, which consultants will need to manage.

Blockchain is also beginning to play a role in integration projects that require high levels of data integrity and transparency, particularly in supply chain and finance sector. Consultants should explore the potential of blockchain in facilitating decentralized and secure transactions between SAP and non-SAP systems.

Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) platforms are also gaining popularity, offering pre-built integration solutions that reduce the complexity of custom development. Consultants must learn to evaluate and manage these vendor-driven solutions to ensure they meet business needs and regulatory requirements.

Managing Data Across Systems

Data management remains one of the most complex aspects of integration. Ensuring consistent, accurate, and available data across SAP and non-SAP systems is critical for successful business operations.

Master Data Management strategies are essential in maintaining consistency, particularly when working with diverse systems. SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) provides a framework for managing data within SAP, but consultants must still ensure that these processes extend to external systems through sophisticated data synchronization and monitoring techniques.

Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) processes are another key element of data management in integration projects. SAP consultants must design ETL pipelines that efficiently move and transform data between systems with varying databases and formats.

Data virtualization is emerging as a powerful tool, allowing access to data from different sources without physical movement. While simplifying integration, data virtualization introduces new considerations for security and governance, especially as data moves across geographic borders.

As systems become more interconnected, consultants must also implement strong encryption protocols, access controls, and auditing mechanisms to protect data and maintain compliance with regulations such as GDPR.

Security and Compliance in Modern Integration

Security and compliance are central concerns. As data moves between SAP and non-SAP systems, it must be protected, especially when crossing borders or engaging third-party providers.

The Zero Trust security model, which assumes that no entity is inherently trustworthy, has become a critical framework in this context. For SAP consultants, designing secure integration solutions requires implementing robust identity and access management policies, as well as ensuring that data is encrypted both in transit and at rest.

API security is another critical area, given that APIs are the main communication channel between systems. APIs must be secured through protocols like OAuth and Mutual TLS, and consultants need to monitor traffic for anomalies that could indicate cyberattacks.

Compliance with global regulations adds another layer of complexity. SAP consultants must ensure that data shared across systems complies with regional laws and standards, such as GDPR, particularly when working with personally identifiable information (PII).

Threat detection systems powered by AI are increasingly being integrated into these projects to provide real-time security monitoring.

These tools can detect and respond to suspicious activity, helping to prevent breaches before they occur. Auditing and logging mechanisms ensure ongoing security compliance and offer visibility into system access and data transfers, making it easier for consultants to identify potential vulnerabilities.

DevOps and CI/CD for SAP Integration

As integration projects grow more complex, many organizations are turning to DevOps practices to improve efficiency and reliability.

Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, in particular, streamline the process of integrating changes and deploying updates across SAP and non-SAP systems. These enable quick and secure deployments, minimizing downtime and ensuring that integration logic is consistently tested and refined.

Setting up CI/CD pipelines requires SAP consultants to manage version control and automated testing for integration code, whether it’s APIs or ETL scripts. This also involves containerization, using tools like Docker, which allows integration components to run consistently across different environments. Kubernetes further automates the deployment and scaling of containerized applications, making it a valuable tool for managing integrations in large-scale environments.

Career Implications and Evolving Roles for SAP Consultants

Changes to standard practices in SAP and non-SAP integration is pushing consultants toward more multidisciplinary roles.

Today’s SAP consultants need SAP knowledge, and also expertise in cloud platforms, AI, microservices, and security. This shift is driving demand for consultants who can navigate both technical and strategic aspects of integration, including vendor management as Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS) solutions grow in popularity.

Security considerations require expertise in encryption, identity management, and advanced threat detection. Consultants must also adapt to AI-driven automation, to oversee AI systems that manage workflows autonomously. This requires consultants invest in continuous learning and certification in areas like cloud platforms and API management, to remain at the cutting edge.

Consultants who are excelling in this area are expanding the scope of their role, positioning themselves as architects of future-proof integration strategies that meet the rapidly changing demands of enterprise IT.

Planning for the Future of Integration Projects

Looking ahead, SAP consultants must now develop flexible integration strategies.

As technology evolves more rapidly, integration projects must be scalable and adaptable. This requires modular architectures, such as microservices and API-first strategies, that allow systems to grow and change with business needs.

Cross-functional collaboration will also be critical, with consultants working closely with security, DevOps, and cloud teams to ensure that integration projects run smoothly.

Performance monitoring will remain essential, as bottlenecks in one system can have a cascade of effects across the enterprise. Consultants also need to consistently implement real-time monitoring tools that allow for diagnostics and troubleshooting.

One of the most significant challenges will be balancing short-term needs with long-term scalability. Consultants must guide clients toward integration solutions that meet immediate business goals while remaining adaptable to future demands which may require more substantial investments. Vendor management will also become a growing responsibility as IaaS platforms become more common, requiring consultants to evaluate vendors and manage complex sets of service agreements.

As AI, blockchain, and edge computing become more embedded in enterprise operations, SAP consultants will also need to incorporate these technologies into their integration plans.

Mastering integration between SAP and non-SAP systems has become a critical skill for SAP consultants as enterprise IT ecosystems grow increasingly complex and interdependent.

Consultants need to act as trusted advisors in this space and demonstrate the ability to balance technical expertise with strategic oversight: guiding clients through the challenges and opportunities of modern integration environments.

We now live in a world where data is the fuel of enterprise, and integration experts are the professionals we trust to manage the flow of data in a responsible and profitable manner. It will become increasingly rewarding, and desirable as a career path in SAP consulting, as the demand for expert guidance grows in volume.

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