SuccessFactors in 2026: Why AI Won't Replace a Team That Understands Migrations (and What You Need to Check Before It's Too Late)

In 2026, hundreds of companies will wake up to a message: "Your integrations have stopped working. System unresponsive."

This won't be a cyberattack. It will be the result of deprecations – the phasing out of older features and protocols – that SAP has been announcing in release notes for many months now.

And yes – SAP SuccessFactors is evolving rapidly. Recent releases brought hundreds of new features, including powerful AI-powered capabilities: Performance & Goals Agent, Career Development Agent, People Intelligence Agent, HR Service Agent.

Sounds impressive. But there's a catch.

Alongside introducing new capabilities, SAP is systematically deprecating legacy infrastructure. Onboarding 1.0 is in final deprecation stages. Basic Authentication is on a clear path to end-of-support. SFAPI and older integration patterns are being phased out in favor of newer OData-based standards.

What does this mean in practice?

Companies must simultaneously:

• Migrate away from legacy solutions (requiring deep SuccessFactors knowledge)
• Configure new AI capabilities (requiring cross-platform expertise: SF + BTP + Cloud Identity Services)
• Prepare job architecture and skills governance before enabling Talent Intelligence Hub

And they must do this while – as industry research shows – a majority of organizations admit their current skill tracking can't keep up with how fast work is changing.

Technical Depth: What Exactly Must You Change Before the End of 2026?

For SuccessFactors to stay stable and ready for new AI features, technical teams must focus on four critical areas. Ignore them, and upcoming SAP releases will feel like problems, not progress.

1. API Migration: From SFAPI to Modern OData Standards

This is the silent killer of many integrations.

SAP is retiring older communication methods, meaning some "bridges" connecting SuccessFactors with other systems (payroll, ERP, analytics) will become unsupported.

What's happening:

• SFAPI (SuccessFactors API): Is in deprecation. Integrations built on SFAPI, often used in older payroll or reporting connections, need to be redesigned to supported APIs.
• OData v2 → newer standards: OData v2 still works today, but SAP is steering customers toward newer, more efficient patterns (including OData v4) for large-scale data operations.

Why this matters:

Once SAP ends support for these legacy interfaces, there's no guarantee your integrations will survive the next upgrade. From a business perspective: data stops synchronizing when you least expect it.

2. Security: Moving to OAuth 2.0 and Certificate-Based Authentication

For years, many companies used technical users and simple login/password authentication in integrations. Convenient – but risky.

SAP has been warning: Basic Authentication is being retired and will reach end-of-support in the coming years, with timelines depending on scenario and tenant type.

What this means:

Every external application connecting to SuccessFactors will need to use modern mechanisms:

• X.509 certificate-based authentication
• OAuth 2.0 clients registered via SAP Cloud Identity Services

3. Identity: SAP Cloud Identity Services (IAS/IPS) as the New Backbone

IAS (Identity Authentication Service) and IPS (Identity Provisioning Service) are becoming the central access point for identity and access in SAP's cloud ecosystem – including SuccessFactors.

What's changing:

SAP is moving away from the model where SuccessFactors handled identity in isolation. The target architecture assumes identity is centralized in the cloud via SAP Cloud Identity Services.

Why this matters:

• Joule and AI capabilities rely on correctly resolved user identity and permissions, which IAS provides
• New SF features are designed with IAS/IPS as the default identity layer
• Integrations with Microsoft 365, Teams and other tools are simpler and safer with a consistent identity model
• Old, flat integrations directly to on-premises Active Directory are increasingly a limitation

4. Talent Intelligence Hub: The AI Foundation Most Companies Lack

This is the biggest data model shift in years. Without it, most promises of "AI in HR" remain marketing slides.

Talent Intelligence Hub is a unified capability and skills layer connecting:

• Job profiles
• Skill libraries
• Career paths
• Performance and goals
• Recruiting and internal mobility

The problem:

In many organizations, Employee Central data is messy. Job Profile Builder (JPB) has never been consistently used or mapped to a clean skills model. Skill libraries are full of duplicates ("Java Developer" vs "Java Engineer"), vague descriptions, missing proficiency levels.

AI can't work miracles on this.

The Real Problem: AI Requires MORE Expertise, Not Less

For years, companies have heard:

Reality looks different.

AI in SuccessFactors requires MORE technical and operational expertise than ever before.

Joule won't fix:

• ❌ Misconfigured RBP (Role-Based Permissions)
• ❌ Poorly designed job profiles
• ❌ Duplicates in skill libraries
• ❌ Integrations built on Basic Auth and SFAPI
• ❌ Missing IAS/IPS
• ❌ Chaotic data architecture

What's more – modern SuccessFactors is no longer "just an HR system." It's an ecosystem demanding knowledge across:

• SAP SuccessFactors (application and configuration)
• SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)
• SAP Cloud Identity Services (IAS/IPS)
• Integration Suite and modern APIs (OData, events)

Summary: How to Start Preparing?

Preparing for upcoming changes isn't a "last-minute before deadline" project. It requires close collaboration between HR, IT and data architecture experts.

Need support with the technical side? At Smart People, we work with certified SuccessFactors consultants who've guided companies through complex SF migrations and AI readiness assessments. If your internal team needs external expertise – we're here.