Anthony Cecchini is the President and CTO of Information Technology Partners (ITP), an ERP technology consulting company headquartered now in Virginia, with offices in Herndon. ITP offers comprehensive planning, resource allocation, implementation, upgrade, and training assistance to companies. Anthony has over 25 years of experience in SAP business process analysis and SAP systems integration. ITP is a Silver Partner with SAP, as well as an Appian, Pegasystems, and UIPath Low-code and RPA Value Added Service Partner. You can reach him at [email protected].
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about something called the “ERP-First” approach. Maybe it came up in a transformation workshop, a roadmap meeting, or an SAP strategy session. You might be wondering—is this just another buzzword, or does it actually signal a real shift in how organizations should think about their enterprise systems?
On the surface, “ERP-First” might sound like something we’ve all heard before. After all, hasn’t ERP always been central to business operations? Wasn’t the whole idea of implementing SAP back in the day to put ERP at the heart of your company?
Yes—but there’s more to it now…
ERP-First isn’t about going back to basics or undoing what we’ve already learned. It’s about reimagining the role of ERP in a modern, cloud-based, innovation-driven enterprise. It builds on the foundational guidance that SAP introduced in the 1990s—“fit the standard, don’t customize”—but extends it with the flexibility, composability, and technical maturity that today’s platforms offer.
In this blog, we’ll walk through the historical context that shaped SAP’s original no-customization philosophy, explore how today’s technology enables a cleaner and more extensible ERP landscape, and explain exactly what ERP-First means—and doesn’t mean—in 2025 and beyond. Whether you’re running SAP ECC, migrating to S/4HANA, or just trying to future-proof your digital architecture, this article will help you understand how ERP-First fits into the next phase of enterprise transformation.
A Doctrine Born in 1994 
In 1994, SAP introduced R/3 to the North American market and brought with it more than just enterprise software. It introduced a doctrine that shaped how organizations approached business transformation. That doctrine was clear, strict, and far-reaching: fit the standard, do not customize. SAP’s message to its customers was that their software embodied best practices gathered from industries around the globe. If your internal process differed, the problem wasn’t the software—it was your process.
This philosophy wasn’t arbitrary. Customizing core ERP logic was seen as the first step on a slippery slope toward complexity, cost overruns, and brittle systems. SAP preached that to future-proof your enterprise, you needed to resist the temptation to write custom code and instead embrace business process reengineering. Companies were encouraged to change their people and processes to align with SAP, not the other way around.
Why Fit-to-Standard Made Sense
The appeal of SAP’s fit-to-standard approach rested on three pillars: upgradeability, cost control, and long-term maintainability. If businesses aligned themselves with SAP’s out-of-the-box functionality, they would avoid the minefield of upgrade failures and unsupported enhancements. More importantly, they could evolve with the platform as it advanced. SAP was on a continuous improvement journey, and customers that stayed close to the standard could reap the benefits of innovation without enduring massive change projects every few years.
It also created a sense of architectural discipline. Developers and consultants operated under tight constraints. The focus was on configuration, not customization. Projects emphasized blueprinting and gap analysis to identify where business processes deviated from SAP’s standard, and wherever possible, those gaps were closed by changing internal workflows rather than changing the software.
the Customization Fallout
Despite SAP’s guidance, many companies gave in to customization. In some cases, regulatory needs forced their hand. In others, deeply embedded legacy processes resisted change. Sometimes, the customization was simply about user comfort—delivering screens, reports, or workflows that mimicked the familiar rather than adopting new designs.
As customization spread, so did its consequences. SAP systems became bloated with custom code that had little documentation and often touched critical objects. Upgrades that should have taken months dragged into years. Technical teams spent more time managing old workarounds than delivering new value. Over time, organizations found themselves locked into their SAP version, unable to innovate without facing major technical debt.
The result was what many called “Frankenstein SAP” environments. Systems were held together by a patchwork of enhancements, homegrown modules, and unsupported objects. They still functioned, but barely. The cost to maintain them skyrocketed, and the agility to respond to changing market conditions diminished.
A Turning Point-S/4HANA and the Cloud Era
When SAP launched S/4HANA, it wasn’t just another technical upgrade. It was a strategic reboot of the ERP philosophy. The platform was built on an in-memory database that promised speed, real-time analytics, and a dramatically simplified data model. But it also came with a renewed call for clean-core principles. SAP made it clear that customers would need to let go of their legacy customizations if they wanted to realize the full benefits of S/4HANA.
Simultaneously, the cloud revolution was changing how enterprise applications were designed, deployed, and integrated. The rise of APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures created a new landscape—one where innovation didn’t require breaking the system. Instead of embedding logic into the core ERP, businesses could build modular applications that interacted with the ERP but lived independently.
This set the stage for a new concept that has gained momentum in recent years: the ERP-first approach. Though it echoes the old fit-to-standard mantra, ERP-first reflects a more modern and nuanced view of enterprise architecture in a digital world.
What Is the ERP-First Approach?
The ERP-first approach is a philosophy that positions ERP as the central platform in a company’s digital ecosystem. It asserts that when solving a business problem or launching a new capability, the first step should always be to evaluate what the ERP can do. If the requirement can be fulfilled using standard ERP functionality, then that path should be taken. If it cannot, the next step is to look at how the ERP can be extended without modifying its core.
This approach doesn’t forbid customization outright. Instead, it redefines customization. No longer does it mean modifying internal SAP objects or inserting enhancements directly into transaction flows. Today, customization means extensibility—creating side-by-side applications, APIs, and services that interact with the ERP without altering its foundational integrity.
ERP-first thinking assumes that ERP is not just a system of record, but also a platform for innovation, intelligence, and orchestration. It places ERP at the center of a composable architecture where processes, applications, and data are connected but modular.
Extensibility Without Modification
One of the key enablers of the ERP-first model is the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). This cloud-based platform allows customers to build, integrate, and extend SAP applications using modern tools and frameworks. Developers can create custom applications using the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), RESTful ABAP Programming Model (RAP), or low-code tools like SAP Build. These apps run outside the core ERP system but can still interact with it securely and efficiently.
Another enabler is the rise of event-driven architecture. With tools like SAP Event Mesh, customers can listen for events within the ERP system and trigger external workflows in real time. This allows for reactive, intelligent processes that don’t require invasive code changes. It also decouples business logic, which improves maintainability and scalability.
User experience is also evolving. The classic SAP GUI is being replaced with SAP Fiori, a modern UX framework that supports responsive, mobile-ready design. Extensions to the user interface can now be built without modifying backend logic, giving users a tailored experience while preserving system stability.
ERP-First Is Not a Reversal
At first glance, ERP-first might appear to be a return to SAP’s old doctrine. After all, it still emphasizes staying close to the standard and discourages modifying core components. But in reality, ERP-first is a maturation of that doctrine, adapted for a cloud-native world.
The original fit-to-standard approach was grounded in constraint. Don’t customize because it will hurt your upgrades. Don’t modify because it will increase costs. ERP-first, by contrast, is grounded in capability. You don’t need to modify because the platform now gives you other, better ways to innovate. You can still deliver competitive differentiation, unique workflows, and intelligent automation—but you can do it without compromising upgradeability or maintainability.
ERP-first is also more flexible. It recognizes that no two businesses are exactly alike. It allows for differentiation where it matters, but in ways that are modular and decoupled. It encourages governance but doesn’t force conformity. And it supports agility by embracing modern development practices.
Why ERP-First Matters Today and What Organizations Should Do Now
Today’s enterprises operate in a world of continuous change. Whether responding to shifting customer expectations, regulatory updates, or emerging technologies, organizations need systems that are both stable and adaptable. ERP-first offers a blueprint for achieving that balance.
By prioritizing ERP as the anchor of digital transformation, companies can ensure data consistency, process alignment, and enterprise-wide visibility. At the same time, by using cloud-native extension models, they can move fast, test new ideas, and scale innovation without putting the core system at risk.
ERP-first also enables better governance. Because extensions are built using APIs and platform services, they are easier to catalog, secure, and monitor. IT can maintain architectural discipline while business units gain the flexibility to innovate.
Perhaps most importantly, ERP-first prepares organizations for the future. As ERP platforms continue to embed artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics, staying close to the standard will become even more valuable. These advanced features depend on clean data, consistent processes, and integration with the broader SAP ecosystem. Organizations that follow ERP-first principles will be in the best position to take advantage of these innovations.
To embrace the ERP-first approach, organizations should begin by reviewing their current ERP landscape and identifying where core modifications exist. The goal should be to migrate these customizations to side-by-side extensions whenever possible. This may involve re-platforming legacy enhancements, redesigning workflows, or retraining users. Though the effort can be substantial, the long-term benefits in agility and cost reduction are well worth it.
Next, companies should invest in platforms and skills that support clean-core development. This means adopting SAP BTP for new applications and integrations, using SAP’s extension frameworks, and training developers in CAP, RAP, and Fiori. It also means creating governance processes to evaluate new customization requests and ensure they align with ERP-first principles.
Finally, organizations should adopt a mindset of continuous improvement. ERP-first is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing commitment to evolving alongside the ERP platform, leveraging its native capabilities, and extending only when necessary. It is a strategy rooted in architectural discipline but aimed at long-term innovation.
Summary
The journey from “fit the standard” to “ERP-first” is not a shift in values, but a progression in maturity. It reflects the evolution of technology, architecture, and enterprise demands. SAP’s original message—that customization should be limited—still holds true. But now, with modern tools and platforms, organizations don’t have to choose between standardization and innovation. They can have both.
ERP-first offers a way to build intelligently, evolve strategically, and transform confidently. It keeps the core clean, the enterprise agile, and the future open. For organizations navigating the complex landscape of digital transformation, ERP-first isn’t just a best practice—it’s a necessary evolution.
