RISE with SAP, which stands for “Rapid Infrastructure Scaling Solution,” is a software platform that allows organizations to scale their infrastructures quickly and efficiently as they grow their businesses. It is meant as a service for transitioning to the cloud. Organizations that run SAP end-to-end in their own data centers with their own servers and personnel are not motivated to use RISE with SAP. But this applies to just a few. RISE with SAP is a service for every customer who supplies any services running SAP from non-SAP suppliers. The motivations for adopting RISE with SAP follow:

• Minimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Reduction of your vertical service sourcing (reduction of suppliers and single vendor responsibility)
• Buy commodity for building differentiators
• Standardization and complexity reduction
• System landscape modernization

End Goals

The aim for moving to the cloud or adopting RISE with SAP should be to reduce complexity and enhance efficiency. Many current SAP-Landscapes are like old houses that are constantly remodeled and renovated, having many outbuildings and annexes. The influx of new SAP solutions has created redundant applications or solutions that organizations need to sunset from their existing portfolios. However, this type of simplification does not reduce costs. For organizations, the main goal must be to reduce the TCO by three components:

• licensing optimization
• elimination of maintenance fees
• flexibilization of run-fees

If there is a tailored functions requirement, organizations should abstract user interaction by using digital access instead of direct access. This is much better than "enhancing" SAP's standard functions and accumulating technical depth. The best solution is to use SAP’s standard functions and customize it to your need. However, the positive effects include modernization of the system landscape, additional security features, and the user-friendliness of the system.

Alternatives to RISE with SAP

There are many alternatives to RISE. Organizations have the option to choose a service provider who can deliver on their business needs. Although many alternatives are available in the market, there is none like SAP, as it offers a single platform, a broad user-base and supplier community, and deep market penetration. Organizations who want to use SAP conservatively have more work to do. They need at least two suppliers—SAP for the software and another for hosting and AMS. The organization would also need licenses, which are hard to reconfigure and pay maintenance for the shelf-ware. When organizations switch to hyper-scalers, they have to switch their hosting provider as well. Although there are good alternatives available, RISE with SAP is a better choice.

Influencing Factors for RISE with SAP Adoption

The starting point for any organization contemplating a move to RISE with SAP is usually an urgency for reconfiguration. This might stem from a change in business, over-licensing, or a shift in user groups from direct to indirect access. The other reason pertains to rapid business growth and the inability to handle business operations with startup-sized solutions. Cloud vs. On-Premise RISE with SAP is available as a public cloud-solution (as SAP-SuccessFactors) and also as a hyper-scaler-based private cloud on-premise solution. The SAP Cloud Platform is flexible and scalable to meet business needs in any scenario. RISE with SAP enables organizations to use SAP as an on-premise or cloud solution, or a combination of the two. It allows organizations to leverage the best of both worlds without compromising on security, compliance, and performance. Greenfield vs. Brownfield Approaches A new technology implementation strategy depends on the size of the organization, the type of technology implementation, and the level of risk management. A greenfield project starts from scratch, while a brownfield project is usually in place, and its components are moved to the new platform or technology. Greenfield strategy: In a greenfield project, a new technology is introduced, one that has not been used before. In greenfield tech implementation, organizations do not need to worry about legacy systems and there are fewer time and budget constraints. However, because there are fewer people with this technology implementation experience, it can be difficult to know what works best for the business. Brownfield strategy: This strategy involves implementing a new technology in an organization that has some legacy systems in place. Considering experience with technology knowledge, technology is easily adopted by the organization. Bluefield strategy: This is a sub-type of the brownfield strategy. In this strategy, a new system is implemented based on the existing system or platform, but uses existing parts of the old solution but minimizing the data footprint. SNP first introduced this term, as it is a specialized provider for such projects. Examples include a system conversion with current and last-year data by combining the new implementation with a system optimization scenario. Choosing the Right Modules and Setups Based on experience or evaluations, it can be said that the setup of the right modules seems easy, but it is not. The questions that come up are: What is the most appropriate tech to choose—SAP-ERP-Purchasing or Ariba, SAP-ERP-HR/HCM or SuccessFactors, BW or the SAP-Analytics-Cloud, etc.?

• Is building a global system or a regional one with a consolidation layer better or one core with the extension platform or onboard developments?
• Should the organization stick to the pure standard, use plugins or plug-specialized partner or even competitor solutions?

All these questions can throw an endless number of choices and dependencies, and multiple permutations to factor in while building a business case. However, organizations can benefit from experience in their companies, if they have some. They can also search for other organizations in their own industries that have this experience. Or, they can ask consultants and look out for partners for best-in-class processes, such as learning about plant maintenance from Aerospace & Defense rather than from their competition. Drawing scenarios and proving the concept internally with consultant advice can be helpful. Driving Change Organizational change is the hardest part of any transformation, especially S4/HANA projects. There is not only a change internally and externally along with changes in software, screens, and processing, but there is also a transformation in the way things are done. Any transformational change requires an organization’s leadership to give power to its employees to drive change. Technology implementors must understand that standards are the new requirement, not the user’s desire and that technology implementation is an ongoing process and not a one-time effort. Organizational change management is an essential part of the project that needs to happen at both the IT and business levels. Change management needs to be within the project organization, along with training on communication. Organizations should build flexibility and resilience in their organizations for absorbing external influences. To be successful, organizations must be nimble and ready to adapt to whatever the next breaking trend may be. In a world where the business ecosystem is constantly changing and unpredictable and where new technologies are emerging every day, organizations must learn to expect change.