«Rosseti Ural» Begins Migration From SAP to a Russian ERP Environment

Instead of the imported solution, Rosseti Ural’s financial and administrative operations will be automated using the 1C:Enterprise 8 platform with the 1C:ERP. Upravlenie kholdingom (Holding Management) configuration and Tantor DBMS. The project will cost the company 389 million rubles (about $4.6 million). The system must be deployed by September 30, 2028.

Financial accounting, accounts receivable and accounts payable, fixed-asset management, procurement, logistics and many other processes are currently handled through SAP ERP 6.0.

This is not simply a matter of replacing imported software with a Russian alternative. It involves modernizing the company’s entire financial and business operations environment. The digital architecture must also be completely cleared of foreign software components, including Microsoft products and components for the iOS and Android mobile platforms. All of them will be replaced with Russian alternatives, including Al't Rabochaya stantsiya (Alt Workstation), R7-Office.Professional and Yandex Browser.

The new ERP system must be integrated with Rosseti Ural’s existing information systems, including electronic document management, the treasury system, remote banking systems and many others. The scale of the assignment is substantial: Rosseti manages 2.5 million kilometers of power lines, while the group itself includes 45 subsidiaries and affiliated companies.

Replacing SAP with Russian products is a necessary part of ensuring the technological independence of major infrastructure companies from foreign software. It is also a critical information-security issue for critical infrastructure.

Prospects Through 2028: Migration as the Main Test

Rosseti Digital is responsible for the Rosseti group’s IT infrastructure, as well as for the development of corporate digital systems and information security. It will oversee the migration from SAP to the 1C platform. The project is currently at the procurement stage, and several critical steps will have to be completed by 2028 – transferring data from one database to another, configuring business processes, integrating the new system with corporate systems and putting the new ERP into production.

Looking ahead, this experience could be replicated across other subsidiaries of Rosseti PJSC. Its outcome will also be closely watched by other major companies in the sector. According to experts, about 40% to 50% of potential ERP replacement customers across the Russian market are still waiting to move forward. The high cost and complexity of the transition are holding many of them back. Meanwhile, experts say replacing these systems does more than improve operational efficiency – it also creates additional value for companies.

How the Energy Sector Moved Away From SAP

The project being undertaken by Rosseti Ural is a clear sign of an established industry trend. In 2022, Russian energy company Fortum began moving from SAP to 1C. In 2023, Neftogaz i energetika completed its migration from German to Russian software.

Large companies are not merely adopting off-the-shelf solutions; they are also developing their own. In 2024, RosHydro PJSC took this approach and began developing an accounting system with the T1 holding to replace SAP. More broadly, since 2022, energy companies have been moving from using individual Russian products for specialized tasks toward building full digital environments that manage their business processes end to end.

A Model for the Enterprise Software Market

Rosseti Ural’s example sends an important signal to Russian vendors developing ERP systems. Demand for such solutions is gradually increasing, even as many potential customers remain cautious. Russian ERP developers themselves say that products incorporating artificial intelligence technologies will have the strongest prospects going forward. Such technologies are already being tested in the oil and gas, transportation and machinery industries. Implementation examples show that these platforms are already delivering measurable results – reducing costs and increasing productivity.

When people say that there is no need to spend anything on maintaining SAP because the licenses have already been purchased and everything is working, they forget to count the salaries of the people needed to maintain it and, more importantly, the fact that the organization is still operating with processes that are, on average, seven years old. Replacing imported software creates additional value for the company. First, a well-executed ERP deployment delivers savings because a large team will no longer be needed to maintain the automated process in the future. Second, a company may need to automate new business processes or enterprises, and in that case, it can also use only replacement solutions

Alexey Telkov

CEO of Galaktika Corporation JSC