RISE with SAP: 5 Things to Know

⇨ A significant portion of SAPinsiders we’ve surveyed about RISE with SAP still have limited knowledge about some RISE with SAP components.

⇨ RISE with SAP is designed to help SAP customers transition their processes to, and run them in, the cloud.

⇨ Prior to the RISE with SAP offering, an organization moving to the cloud needed to sign software application licenses with multiple parties, identify a hyperscaler, and hire application providers for implementation and management services.

RISE with SAP has generated significant interest from members of the SAP community.

RISE with SAP “initially combined SAP’s newly acquired business process intelligence solution with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, technical services to smooth the transition process, cloud infrastructure, and consumption credits for the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) in a single contract,” writes SAPinsider’s Robert Holland, Vice President of Research, in his November 2021 RISE Benchmark Report. In the two years since the release the offering has been redefined to focus more on driving business innovation, with SAP BTP providing the means for that innovation which is centered on the cloud ERP core which is RISE with SAP.

SAP describes RISE with SAP an opportunity to transition from existing ERP data and processes to the cloud with reduced risk and without compromise. But there is also an emphasis on facilitating that move to the cloud rather than just providing the architecture to make that move possible. An initial lack of knowledge about the offering has also started to shift with 85% of those taking SAPinsider’s updated research saying that they were at least somewhat familiar with RISE with SAP.

Despite elevated awareness and high hopes, there is still much to learn about RISE with SAP. Here are five things you should know.

#1. Cost. We continue to find that a significant portion of SAPinsiders we’ve surveyed about RISE with SAP still have limited knowledge about some RISE with SAP components. While they claim to know most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud, what is attracting organizations to RISE with SAP is the cost associated with the offering. At the same time, cost is also an area of concern for organizations when it comes to RISE with SAP and conversations with customers have shown that there is both the potential for significant savings as well as additional expense..

Areas of interest regarding RISE with SAP comparing 2021 and 2022 survey results

Holland points out that it’s no surprise cost is most interesting to organizations when it comes to RISE with SAP. His research has found that lowering costs is a primary focus for organizations as they move SAP workloads to the cloud, and it is extremely important to those deploying SAP S/4HANA.

Cost hasn’t diverted focus away from transformation, however. The top three roles that respondents see RISE with SAP playing within their broader SAP S/4HANA projects in 2021 were transformative in nature — including process, data, and change transformation.

#2. Partners. Concerned about what support will look like for a mixed vendor landscape? You’re not alone — a majority of respondents to SAPinsider’s RISE Benchmark Report share this concern, and it makes sense. Our recent integration report reveals that 90% of respondents are supporting non-SAP-to-SAP integration scenarios.

A key decision associated with SAP’s BTaaS offering, says Holland, is selecting which partners you’ll work with, including for hosting, advisory, implementation, and application management. Holland advises specifying early on where the implementation will be hosted, and reminds SAPinsiders that the RISE with SAP deployment will be hosted in SAP’s environment with the provider you select — not your own.

“This means that connectivity will need to be configured if you want to use data from your RISE with SAP deployment in your other cloud-based or on-premise applications and environments,” he says.

#3. Security. RISE with SAP is designed to help SAP customers transition their processes to, and run them in, the cloud. During a RISE with SAP deployment, part of a company’s cybersecurity is handed off to its cloud partner and SAP — but some tasks remain with the customer. You must understand where these responsibilities and liabilities end.

 “In the classical on-premise world, everything was under the control and responsibility of the customer. Now, with the transformation approach, SAP customers are required to re-think roles, responsibilities, and liabilities,” write SAP authors Uemit Oezdurmus and Gunnar Kosche. SAP created the Secure Operations Map (SOM) to help customers address cybersecurity areas from a holistic perspective (see Overview of SAP Secure Operations Map below).

Overview of SAP Secure Operations Map

 

The authors explain that although the SOM was designed based on SAP’s view of security topics, needs, and branches, it can also be mapped to other well-known cybersecurity frameworks such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework or the German Federal Cyber Security Authority’s IT-Grundschutz. “What is particular to the SOM is that it can be used globally for the SAP environment.”

Read this technical article, originally published in SAPinsider Magazine 2021, Issue 3, and understand the impacts of RISE with SAP on security and compliance.

#4. Contracts. Prior to the RISE with SAP offering, an organization moving to the cloud needed to sign software application licenses with multiple parties, identify a hyperscaler, and hire application providers for implementation and management services. This required that multiple commercial constructs, governance structures, service-level agreements (SLA), and support agreements be put in place. “With RISE with SAP, organizations arrange implementation and management services with the application provider and the rest is managed by SAP, reducing the number of SLA contracts, and other pain points,” writes Akash Kumar in his article, Demystifying Contracts and Licensing with RISE with SAP. He explains that RISE with SAP includes a cloud subscription (SAP S/4HANA Cloud), and then divides the licensing into four dimensions:

1. 1. Direct user access to digital core
   2. Digital access (aka, indirect use via APIs)
   3. Industry and line-of-business (LOB) solutions
   4. Infrastructure add-ons.

In conclusion, Kumar says: “RISE with SAP has simplified the contract process and accountability; however, the SAP S/4HANA license has become more complicated, including indirect access. Customers should invest some time in doing an analysis of their current licenses and then map them to the SAP S/4HANA licenses to avoid high cost and unused applications.”

Read the full article for a detailed breakdown of what to ask to optimize your RISE with SAP license, costs, and discounts.

#5. SAP S/4HANA. In addition to concerns about how support for a mixed vendor landscape and project transparency will work with the RISE with SAP offering, SAPinsiders are also concerned about how RISE with SAP will impact the move to SAP S/4HANA. Holland’s research explains that while many organizations have licensed SAP S/4HANA (at least 22,000 customers according to the SAP data cited in his report), “more than 30,000 existing enterprise ERP customers have yet to make the move.” Choosing a partner with experience implementing SAP S/4HANA was rated by respondents as a top requirement for transformation and RISE with SAP.

Holland warns: “Securing a partner that has the experience not only implementing SAP S/4HANA but also performing transformation and standardization is critical to a successful transformation. However, securing these partners may become more difficult as 2027 approaches, as more organizations are looking to make progress on their broader transformation and SAP S/4HANA initiatives.”

 To help customers understand the impacts of RISE with SAP on SAP S/4HANA projects and determine if SAP’s offering is right for their digital journey, SAP’s Damien Johnson recently presented during an SAPinsider virtual session on what RISE with SAP means for SAP S/4HANA projects.

Where will RISE with SAP reside in your organization’s transformation strategy? Consider these five areas when evaluating a potential deployment to support your operations.