As organizations continue their digital transformation journeys, the need for agile, scalable, and cloud-ready integration solutions is more important than ever. SAP offers multiple integration tools to meet varying business needs, among which SAP Process Integration/Process Orchestration (SAP PI/PO) and SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI)—now known as SAP Integration Suite—are critical components.
While SAP PI/PO has long been the backbone of on-premise integration landscapes, the shift to cloud-based applications and hybrid ecosystems has necessitated a modernized approach. In this context, leveraging SAP Cloud Platform Integration alongside SAP PI/PO allows businesses to optimize existing investments while enabling agility, scalability, and innovation.
SAP PI/PO is an on-premise middleware tool that enables seamless integration between SAP and non-SAP systems. It provides features such as:
CPI is a cloud-based integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) that enables businesses to connect cloud and on-premise applications. Key features include:
Enterprises often operate in hybrid environments where some systems remain on-premise (e.g., SAP ECC or on-prem CRM) while others have moved to the cloud (e.g., SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Salesforce). SAP CPI bridges these environments by handling cloud-native integration scenarios while PI/PO continues to manage on-premise integrations.
SAP CPI offers elastic scalability and supports integration scenarios that go beyond traditional EDI or system-to-system interactions, such as:
This complements the robust messaging and transformation capabilities of SAP PI/PO.
By offloading cloud-centric integration scenarios to CPI, businesses reduce the load on their on-premise PI/PO systems, minimizing infrastructure costs. Additionally, CPI’s marketplace offers ready-to-use integration packages that accelerate time-to-value.
Use CPI to connect SuccessFactors (a cloud-based HCM solution) with SAP ERP on-premise via prepackaged integration flows. PI/PO can facilitate internal ERP integrations or connect to legacy systems.
Leverage CPI for API exposure, management, and consumption using the SAP API Management module, while using PI/PO to handle complex business process orchestration behind the scenes.
Use PI/PO for robust EDI integration with on-prem trading partners, while using CPI for lightweight partner integrations, using open standards and cloud connectors.
Define Clear Integration Landscape Governance
Use Prepackaged Content
Ensure Secure Connectivity
Leverage Monitoring Tools
Gradual Migration
SAP's strategic direction is clearly oriented toward the cloud-first and API-first paradigms. With SAP Integration Suite evolving rapidly, it is expected to eventually become the primary integration backbone for most customers. However, SAP PI/PO continues to play a vital role in on-premise-heavy environments and will remain supported for the foreseeable future.
By using both platforms in tandem, enterprises can future-proof their integration strategy while continuing to derive value from existing PI/PO investments.
The combination of SAP Cloud Platform Integration and SAP PI/PO offers a powerful, flexible, and future-ready approach to enterprise integration. This hybrid strategy enables businesses to respond quickly to evolving technology landscapes while ensuring continuity of core operations. Organizations looking to innovate without disruption will find this coexistence model a strategic enabler in their digital transformation journey.