Thinking About RISE with SAP? Here’s What You Need to Know First.
- Adam Hislop
- Jun 24
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 1
RISE with SAP is a topic on the lips of many SAP customers at the moment—but far too often, conversations begin without a solid grasp of what the offering actually involves. There’s a lot of marketing material in circulation, but far less clarity on what RISE is, what it isn’t, and how much flexibility is available depending on your specific needs and commercial position.
I have spent the past 2 years working closely with senior leadership and IT teams across Europe to demystify RISE. Through a complimentary session that typically runs for 90 to 120 minutes, I provide a pragmatic and detailed overview of the offer—commercially, technically, and operationally—based on my direct experience helping clients evaluate and transition to SAP’s managed service model. The purpose isn’t to sell a solution, but to help customers ask the right questions and engage with SAP on a more informed footing.
We begin by laying out how SAP defines RISE: its contractual structure, the components that make up the service, and the headline benefits. This includes the infrastructure layer, technical managed services, and licensing entitlements, all of which are governed by SAP’s standard service framework. This initial overview helps establish where SAP’s responsibilities begin and end, and the impact this boundary has on your organisation’s operational model.
From there, we look at the current state of the market. While RISE now accounts for a growing share of S/4HANA sales, the majority of ECC customers have yet to commit—and for good reason. The dynamics behind these numbers reveal how different industries and geographies are approaching their cloud transitions, and why some businesses are holding back or seeking hybrid options.
One of the most important areas we explore is deployment. Although RISE is often presented as a standardised, SAP-led cloud service, there are actually multiple models available. Whether it’s a tailored option, hosted in your own data centre, or a phased hybrid approach, we help customers understand what these paths look like and what trade-offs they involve—from control and customisation to innovation alignment and commercial structure. This is illustrated through a market study conducted in Europe, which clearly demonstrates the decisions organisations have made and the rationale behind them.
We also spend time comparing RISE with the traditional “AnyPrem” model that many organisations know well. This side-by-side view provides a useful frame of reference—covering infrastructure, application support, licensing, upgrades, SLAs, and pricing. Understanding how these elements shift under RISE helps bridge the gap between current and future state, and often surfaces questions that wouldn’t otherwise be asked until too late in the process.
Customer experience plays a key role in our briefing. We share insight and anonymised feedback from those who have already moved to RISE, highlighting where they’ve seen tangible benefits—such as improved platform stability or faster access to innovation—but also where there’s room for improvement. Topics like flexibility in the face of mergers or divestments, licensing complexity, and escalation processes tend to come up frequently.
Financial implications are another critical area. RISE changes how SAP-related costs are treated from a financial reporting perspective. Whether you're dealing with IFRS alignment, assessing CapEx vs. OpEx treatment, or planning for hyperscaler funding models, we walk through the commercial impact in plain terms. We also unpack how licensing metrics—particularly FUEs—affect the size and cost of infrastructure.
Finally, we turn our attention to service operations. What are the actual SLAs included in a RISE contract? How will support work in practice? What does the customer operating model look like once you're live, and how much agility is there for future changes? We even explore timing—when is the right moment to move to RISE, and how should organisations sequence this against broader transformation goals?
The session is designed to equip you with a clearer picture of what RISE could mean for your organisation, ensuring you're fully informed before entering strategic conversations with SAP.
If you’re considering RISE with SAP, or already in discussions with SAP and want to better understand your options, we’d be delighted to speak with you. Please contact me adam.hislop@betadigital.com.au at Beta Digital to schedule your free online briefing.
