10 questions about RISE with SAP

What is RISE with SAP? What are the benefits of SAP's new offering and how does RISE relate to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud? We answer your questions about RISE with SAP.

Definition: RISE with SAP

With RISE with SAP, SAP wants to make it easier for its customers to move to the cloud and accompany and support them in their individual transformation with "Business Transformation as a Service". The package includes a range of products, tools and services.

What advantages does RISE with SAP offer, what elements and technologies does it contain exactly, how does the offering fit into SAP's portfolio and for whom is RISE with SAP intended - answers to these and other questions can be found here.

1. What is RISE with SAP?

RISE with SAP is an offering with which SAP wants to make the transition to the cloud as easy as possible for its customers and provide them with individual support for the entire transformation to an "intelligent" company.

For this reason, SAP also refers to it as "Business Transformation as a Service" (or, in events, as "all-round carefree concierge service").

RISE with SAP comprises five core elements: the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Business Process Intelligence (BPI), the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), access to the SAP Business Network and various integrated tools and services.

The individual components are bundled in one package with just one contract ("ONE offer, ONE Contract"). The offer is based on a uniform subscription.

Companies can use RISE with SAP completely independently of the company's starting point, its own size and industry, and the speed of its transformation. SAP introduced RISE with SAP at the beginning of 2021.

The infrastructure can be hosted on SAP or hyperscalers such as Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure. Implementation and consulting services from SAP or partner companies to support RISE with SAP must be ordered separately by companies.

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2. What are the advantages of RISE with SAP?

RISE with SAP has several benefits that can be divided into three areas:

  • the business benefits for companies,
  • the continuous and accompanied transformation, and
  • the reduction of complexity with regard to contracts, operations and business processes.

The business benefit for companies is primarily that the individual transformation can be completed more quickly.

For example, solutions such as Business Process Intelligence, SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Business Network are available for this purpose - in addition to the core element SAP S/4HANA Cloud. For example, business processes can be analyzed and understood with the help of analysis and simulation and subsequently improved or renewed.

Another advantage is the continuous support of companies, because transformation with RISE with SAP is not understood as a project, but as a continuous process.

SAP promises ongoing and individual support - regardless of a company's starting point and the speed of the transformation.

Last but not least, RISE with SAP is about greater simplicity. The streamlined commercial approach therefore comprises only one contract.

This contract governs collaboration with SAP and thus with just one partner for software and support, infrastructure operation, and technical services.

The offer applies to companies of all types, industries and sizes. The companies themselves choose the starting point, the pace and the operating model that best suits them (public or private cloud).

3. What is included in RISE with SAP?

The offering comprises five core elements.

First and foremost, this includes SAP S/4HANA Cloud, a modular cloud ERP solution. Customers can basically choose between a public cloud solution and a private cloud solution from SAP, each of which can be part of RISE with SAP (for example, the RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition).

In the cloud, companies can run their business processes in an end-to-end stable and scalable manner using SAP best practices.

The second core element is called Business Process Intelligence (BPI). This solution helps companies analyze, understand and optimize their processes.

Another element is SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP's solution for extending and integrating solutions and applications (from SAP, partners, or third-party vendors). RISE with SAP provides customers with a consumption credit for SAP Business Technology Platform.

The fourth core element is the entry-level package for SAP Business Network - a network of more than five million companies in around 200 countries. It enables companies to collaborate with all trading partners throughout the supply chain.

SAP Business Network brings together the Ariba Network, the SAP Logistics Business Network, and the SAP Asset Intelligence Network under one roof since mid-2021.

Last but not least, various technical tools and services are available as part of RISE with SAP - the fifth core element of the offering. These include, for example, SAP Readiness Check or Custom Code Analyzer.

RISE with SAP can be extended with packages for specific industries (currently automotive, consumer goods, machinery, equipment and components, retail and utilities) and business areas (human experience management and modular cloud ERP).

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4. What does RISE with SAP have to do with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

RISE with SAP is inextricably linked to SAP's strategy shift to the cloud group - and thus also to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

In particular, the offering is designed to help companies move to the cloud with a whole range of innovations and solutions. The SAP S/4HANA Cloud (as public cloud or private cloud) is therefore one of the core elements of RISE with SAP.

5. How do RISE with SAP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud differ?

With RISE with SAP, SAP supports companies in their transformation to the intelligent enterprise and on their way to the cloud.

The RISE with SAP offering is therefore inconceivable without cloud, but goes far beyond it with innovative solutions such as Business Process Intelligence, the use of the SAP Business Technology Platform or various technical tools and services.

In short, the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, as an ERP system, is a core element of the RISE with SAP offering. Those who use RISE with SAP also opt for the SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

6. The best way into the SAP Cloud - with or without RISE with SAP?

The path to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud is still possible without RISE with SAP, for example with the help of solutions such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud (Public Cloud) or SAP S/4HANA Cloud, extended edition (Private Cloud).

However, SAP today offers both the public cloud already with RISE with SAP (as RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud) and a new private cloud solution: the RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition (since 2021).

Which path is ultimately best suited for a company and whether RISE with SAP is always worthwhile must be examined carefully in each individual case. However, since RISE with SAP accelerates and simplifies the move to the cloud and SAP is increasingly gearing its offering to this, this path is likely to be the first choice for many customers today.

7. Is RISE with SAP just a new version of the HANA Enterprise Cloud?

The HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) is an IaaS offering from SAP, an Infrastructure-as-a-Service solution. SAP therefore provides companies with a complete system landscape including the corresponding applications and takes care of system operation.

RISE with SAP cannot be compared with this because the offering goes far beyond the provision of a pure cloud infrastructure. The HANA Enterprise Cloud has been the entry into the world of the cloud for some companies. RISE with SAP is now the consistent alignment of all business models and business processes to the cloud.

With RISE with SAP, companies can also decide which hyperscaler they choose to operate their infrastructure. The choices are Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Alibaba Cloud and SAP.

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8. Can any existing SAP customer also use RISE with SAP?

RISE with SAP can be used by new customers, but also by existing customers - regardless of the size of the company, the industry or the starting point of their own transformation. The offer is available

  • for companies using SAP ECC (with or without a maintenance contract),
  • for companies using SAP S/4HANA on-premise or cloud, and
  • for new customers who are not yet using SAP.

9. How to migrate from SAP ERP to RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

The change from an SAP ECC system (SAP ERP 6.0) to RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud starts - as without RISE with SAP - with an analysis of the initial situation.

Any company facing and planning a roadmap and implementation of SAP S/4HANA should by no means think only about technical issues and the technology, but also about its strategy, costs or risks.

The technical conversion of an existing system to SAP S/4HANA - if the system is not already running on SAP HANA - then in any case requires a migration to the SAP HANA in-memory database, the installation of new and simplified codes, and other adjustments.

The SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA is the tool of choice at this point and part of RISE with SAP. It provides companies with an overview of the most important aspects for switching from an SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA - starting with the compatibility of add-ons and business functions and ending with the interface analysis.

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10. Is RISE with SAP automatically part of the SAP cloud solutions?

RISE with SAP is not mandatory to use SAP's cloud solutions. Solutions such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud (public cloud) or SAP S/4HANA Cloud, extended edition (private cloud) are also available to companies "without RISE".