What Is RISE With SAP?

Simon Carpenter

2 years ago

Launched in January 2021, RISE with SAP is SAP’s offering to help companies seize the advantages of cloud computing in their mission-critical, core systems. But cloud computing is nothing new. SAP have been leading in the cloud arena for many years with line-of-business (LOB) solutions such as SAP Ariba for sourcing and procurement and SAP SuccessFactors for human capital management. So, what is RISE with SAP, and what is the big deal?

Why has SAP launched RISE with SAP?

RISE with SAP is about modernising ERP and accelerating innovation for the digital era.

ERP has been around for three decades. It has been enormously successful, initially adopted by large organisations but now relied upon by companies of all sizes, in all industries. However, the mindsets and architectures that underpin much of the global ERP installed base (not just SAP but many other brands), may no longer be fit-for-purpose in the fast-paced digital world. Yesterday’s ERP architecture and implementations stem from a very different era:

The economy and supply chains were not globalised to the extent they are today
There was no mobile computing
The Internet was in its infancy
Integration standards and methods were clunky
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was yet to emerge from its second winter and Big Data was uncommon
In-memory computing was not economically viable
Cloud computing, as we know it today did not exist.

Today’s world is very different and the demand for innovation has been dramatically accelerated by:

Globalisation and geopolitics
Venture capital enabling digital start-ups to scale new business models very quickly
Technological advances – typified by Moore’s Law
The global pandemic – especially WFH and the way it highlighted supply chain vulnerabilities
The sustainability agenda
Increasing regulatory requirements
Generational change in the workforce.

RISE with SAP drives innovation in key business processes

These changes amount to a major inflection point for businesses. RISE with SAP is SAP’s response to our customers’ need to accelerate their innovation and transformation. This is accomplished by modernising their ERP backbone at the same time as seizing the multiple benefits of cloud computing. Furthermore, for companies that customised their ERP systems to the extent that they cut themselves off from effective innovation in the heart of their business, RISE with SAP offers a path back to a clean core based on best practices.

What is in RISE with SAP?

RISE with SAP brings together core components for successful digital transformation into a single contract:

Key software services from SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Framework:
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud as the foundation for business.
- SAP Business Technology Platform Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement Credits for integration, extensions, and innovation.
- SAP Business Network Starter Pack: ARIBA for sourcing and procurement, Logistics Business Network for logistics collaboration and SAP Asset Intelligence Network for asset management based on a shared digital twin.
- SAP Business Process Intelligence Starter Pack including SAP Process Insights (50 GB data volume and one time data load), SAP Signavio Process Manager (3 users), SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub (10 users).
- SAP Industry Cloud Solutions – as appropriate to the customer’s business scenarios.

Data-driven insights to identify the value of moving to the cloud and to shape the transition journey for each customer including:
- Process Discovery and tailored Recommendation
- SAP Readiness Check
- Custom Code Migration App
- SAP Enable Now – (content view)
- SAP Cloud ALM (application lifecycle management)
- SAP Launchpad service (1 user per FUE) and SAP Mobile Start app
SAP Enterprise Cloud Services whereby SAP takes more accountability for the customers’ SAP systems by providing Technical Managed Services and Application Management Services (as required).
The infrastructure-at-scale benefits of hyperscalers such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.

Who is RISE with SAP for?

Whilst all the components embraced by RISE with SAP are offered under a single commercial contract, this is configurable. This means RISE with SAP serves;

Existing SAP ECC 6.0 customers looking to transform to SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Existing SAP S/4HANA On Premise customers looking to transition to cloud
Companies new to SAP ERP wanting to leverage the world’s leading ERP solution

What are the benefits of RISE with SAP?

The benefits of RISE with SAP focus on business innovation, transformation and IT modernisation and will be unique to each organisation. A RISE with SAP engagement identifies and quantifies these benefits in a robust business case for each customer. That said, these are some of the benefits that customers can anticipate:

Improved business processes. Many customers are burdened by the complexity and technical debt that comes from customising and augmenting their old ERP systems. Despite these efforts, business processes are still disjointed, opaque and overly manual. It’s a bit like trying to add airbags, seatbelt pretensioners and cruise control to an old motor car. SAP S/4HANA has been completely re-architected to take advantage of digital era technologies. As a result, companies can drive higher productivity through process automation and the elimination of batch jobs. They can also derive better insights through embedded analytics on more granular data and maintain happier users through consumer-grade user experiences.
Accelerated innovation. By exploiting the innovations already embedded in SAP S/4HANA, such as AI and robotic process automation, and enhancing these with the SAP Business Technology Platform (also part of RISE with SAP), companies can accelerate their pace of digital innovation. Furthermore, by reducing or eliminating customisations, and by moving to the cloud, it becomes easier to adopt and consume the benefits of SAP’s research and development investments across the products that make up the RISE with SAP offering (€45 billion in 2020).
Making better use of scarce resources. The war for talent is real and at the same time many of the ERP professionals who laid down the existing systems are heading for retirement. By moving to RISE with SAP, where SAP takes on the technical managed services associated with running ERP, companies can pivot their IT resources from running IT to focusing on the application of services to drive transformation and business progress.
A closer relationship with SAP. Many customers want a closer relationship with the vendor whose software runs their mission-critical processes. RISE with SAP delivers this because, SAP assumes much greater accountability for the customer’s landscape and shows up every day in the customer’s business – not just running the systems but actively guiding improvements and ensuring that business value is being realised.
Innovation without upfront IT costs. Because RISE with SAP is a cloud solution, it brings the benefits of accessing digital business capabilities like SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Business Network without upfront capex on infrastructure and licenses.
Simplicity to focus on what matters. Companies can move to the cloud on a piecemeal basis, buying compute, storage, database, and operating system services as needed. However, then they must manage the complexity associated with governance, security, SLAs, consumption and so forth. Also, while a technical “lift and shift” approach may deliver some benefits to the IT department, it typically does not have a significant impact on the business. In their 2021 report, “Cloud’s trillion-dollar prize is up for grabs” McKinsey pointed out that $1 trillion value will be enabled by adopting cloud by 2030 and that “almost all of that value comes from business innovation and optimization rather than IT cost reduction.” RISE with SAP folds business and architectural value into a single contract, a guided journey and relationship where SAP is more accountable. This simplicity means that IT professionals can focus on higher value activities that move their company forward to capture their share of that $1 trillion.

RISE with SAP draws on SAP’s proud heritage of helping customers navigate change

For over 50 years, SAP has helped it customers navigate major changes in business and technology; the shift from mainframes to client-server, globalisation of business, the rise of ERP, eCommerce, in-memory computing, and mobile work. Now RISE with SAP is helping companies to move to the cloud with their most important business systems.

RISE with SAP is a strategic decision

Every company has its unique strategy, but what is common to early adopters of RISE with SAP is that they all see the value and rich possibilities inherent in the offering.

A global player in the automotive industry has adopted RISE with SAP to accelerate its digital innovation in the face of changes to the features of cars themselves – electric, shared, connected and autonomous – and changes in consumer behaviour.

Furthermore, a global FMCG company that has grown through acquisitions, wants to get better visibility, planning, and coordination across its global supply chain without losing prized regional management autonomy. RISE with SAP helps them to standardise and harmonise on a single platform, reduce costs, and drive growth through even better business performance.