SAP Business One at 30: What Three Decades Teach Us (and Where AI Takes the Next One)

Most business software does not last three decades. Vendors get acquired, platforms get replaced, and customers move on every few years, often at great cost. SAP Business One is the exception, and the reason says a lot about how growing companies should choose and run their ERP.

SAP Business One turns 30 in 2026. SAP’s anniversary story credits customer retention in the upper 90% range, 1.2 million daily users, and a partner-only model, and names AI as the next chapter. SAP featured Third Wave’s Forge AI as one of two partner AI examples, running inside the SAP Business One web client.

After 23+ years as an SAP Business One partner, we read SAP’s 30th anniversary article with real pride. Below are the lessons I take from three decades of SAP Business One, what the two customers SAP featured say about choosing an ERP, and what the AI chapter means for your business.

Why SAP Business One Lasted 30 Years

SAP Business One lasted 30 years because customers rarely leave. SAP reports retention in the upper 90% range, and customers tend to leave only when the business itself closes or gets acquired. Two things drive the number: software flexible enough to grow with the company, and partners who stay for the long run.

Darius Heydarian, global head of Partner Enablement for SAP Business One, put the point plainly: “Looking back at the last 30 years, we’ve had almost no customer churn.” SAP sells and implements SAP Business One only through partners, and many of those partners have 20+ years of experience behind them.

The partner model matters more than most buyers realize. Your partner is the team configuring the system, fixing problems at month-end, and planning each upgrade. In 23+ years, Third Wave has delivered 500+ SAP Business One implementations with 98.7% client retention as an SAP Gold & Master Partner. The same principle sits behind both numbers: stay close to the customer, and the customer stays.

Thirty Years in Six Milestones

SAP Business One grew from a small-business ERP built by an Israeli startup into a platform with 1.2 million daily users. The milestones show steady reinvention: acquisition by SAP in 2002, SAP HANA in 2011, the web client in 2020, native AI in 2026, and version 11 previewing in 2027.

• The roots: a small-business ERP built by Israeli startup Top Manage.
• 2002: SAP acquires Top Manage and renames the product SAP Business One.
• 2011: SAP Business One becomes one of the first SAP solutions on SAP HANA.
• 2020: SAP introduces the SAP Business One web client.
• 2026: native AI arrives in the web client with Ask AI and AI user-defined queries.
• 2027: version 11 opens for initial partner preview.

Each step kept existing customers on board instead of forcing a rip-and-replace. Version 11 continues the pattern, with updates without downtime, native deployment on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, and cloud storage integration with Google Drive and OneDrive. Our post on the SAP Business One web client roadmap covers what version 11 means for your planning.

What Long-Time Customers Say About Choosing an ERP

The two customers in SAP’s anniversary story make the same point from different angles: choose an ERP flexible enough to bend to your business, because you only want to make the decision once. One has run SAP Business One for 20+ years. The other runs several connected businesses on a single system.

Vereens Stores, a U.S. supplier of fertilizers and turf management solutions, has run SAP Business One for more than 20 years. CFO and co-owner Andee DiCola credits the ability to adapt the software to the business, rather than reshape the business around the software. She sees AI helping next with reporting, data analysis, and flagging unusual transactions and exceptions.

Design Resources, Inc. (DRI), a Third Wave customer, designs and sources branded apparel and runs several interdependent businesses on SAP Business One. CIO Joe Leimer said, “Whenever ownership is exploring a new venture, the flexibility of SAP Business One hasn’t been a limit for us.” He describes choosing an ERP as “a decision you only want to make once.”

Both stories match what we see across our customers, DRI included. The companies getting the most from SAP Business One treat the system as a long-term foundation, extend the system as the business changes, and keep a partner close enough to know the business as well as the software.

The Next Chapter: AI Built In and Built On

The next chapter of SAP Business One runs on two tracks of AI. SAP builds AI into the web client, with Ask AI and AI user-defined queries released in August 2026. SAP also opens the platform to partners through MCP server integration, and SAP’s AI Partner Innovations Playbook already lists 54 partner solutions.

Ask AI answers contextual questions about data a user is authorized to see, such as shipping costs, delivery times, or product alternatives. AI user-defined queries let non-technical users build shareable lists in plain language. Peter Dominik, global head of SAP Business One Product Management, said version 11 “will be aligned with the Autonomous Enterprise strategy,” with room for agentic AI and partner extensions.

Joost Tigelaar, who leads SAP global sales for SME Solutions, noted customers value the flexibility of the solution and the strength of the partner ecosystem, and increasingly expect AI and automation. The expectation is fair. Thirty years of transaction history sits inside SAP Business One, and AI is the best tool yet for putting the history to work.

Why SAP Featured Forge AI

SAP featured Forge AI as one of two partner AI examples because Forge works inside the SAP Business One web client and acts on live data. SAP describes Forge searching invoices, creating goods receipts, raising support calls, and canceling orders, with a person confirming any irreversible action.

Forge AI is the AI agent platform Third Wave built for SAP Business One. Forge reads SAP Business One live through the Service Layer, reasons across your other systems, and drafts the work for your team to approve. More than 50 people now work in Forge every day, and the number keeps growing.

The human confirmation step is deliberate. Harney & Sons Fine Teas grew Forge from one production pilot to 15 people across four teams on SAP Business One, with nothing posting to SAP until a person approves. Thirty years of trust in SAP Business One rests on accurate records, and Forge is built to protect them.

What 30 Years Means for Your Business

For a business already on SAP Business One, 30 years means a platform with a long future, a clear move to the web client, and AI arriving in the system you already run. For a business choosing an ERP, the anniversary makes the case for a platform and a partner built to last.

We understand the instinct to wait. Your system works, your team knows the screens, and AI still feels new. But the gap between companies using AI on their ERP data and companies waiting widens every quarter. The 30-year track record means you do not have to replace anything to start. You build on the foundation you already have.

Picture your team a year from now. Questions answered from live data in minutes. Routine transactions drafted for approval instead of typed by hand. A web client your people reach from any browser. The same SAP Business One records, put to far more use.

Build on the Next 30 Years with Third Wave

Building on SAP Business One’s next chapter takes three steps.

1. Talk to Third Wave. Book a conversation about your SAP Business One plans.
2. Map the opportunity. Match the web client and AI to your team’s daily work.
3. Start small. Go live on a fixed-scope first project, then grow.

Book a conversation with our team to plan your next chapter on SAP Business One. Want a fast first step? The Forge Startup Project gets your team live on Forge in as little as two weeks, for a fixed $2,500.