Understanding RISE with SAP: What Executives Need to Know

When SAP introduced RISE with SAP, it was positioned as a simplified path to the cloud — a single contract, a single vendor, a single destination. For many executives, that simplicity is appealing. For those who have been through large-scale SAP transformations before, it raises a different set of questions.

This article offers an independent perspective on what RISE with SAP actually is, what it is not, and what executives should understand before committing.

RISE with SAP is a subscription offering that combines several components under a single commercial agreement:

• SAP Cloud ERP (RISE with SAP for existing on-premise customers or SAP GROW, depending on the contract)
• SAP Business Process Intelligence, including process mining and benchmarking tools
• SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) credits for integration and extension
• Infrastructure, either on SAP's own data centers or a hyperscaler of SAP's choosing
• Foundation for Business AI — agent led tool chain including AI assistants
• SAP Premium Engagement support services

The appeal is consolidation. Rather than negotiating separate agreements for licenses, infrastructure, and support, RISE wraps them into a single subscription with a predictable annual fee.

The simplicity of the packaging can obscure important distinctions that matter significantly at contract time.

It is not a fixed-price transformation. RISE covers the software and infrastructure subscription. The implementation — the system integrator fees, the data migration, the change management, the custom development — is entirely separate and typically represents the majority of total program cost.

It is not infrastructure-agnostic. While SAP offers RISE on multiple hyperscalers, the choice of infrastructure provider is often constrained by SAP's own commercial relationships. Organizations that have existing commitments with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud may find that RISE does not align cleanly with their existing agreements.

It is not a clean break from legacy complexity. For organizations running heavily customized ECC landscapes, RISE does not eliminate the need for a complex migration. The S/4HANA conversion work remains, regardless of the commercial wrapper.

Before entering RISE negotiations, executives should have clear answers to the following:

What edition of SAP ERP are we actually buying? The distinction between SAP GROW and RISE with SAP is significant. SAP GROW is a true SaaS product with limited customization. RISE with SAP offers more flexibility but is closer to a managed hosting arrangement than a cloud-native deployment.

What happens at contract renewal? RISE with SAP contracts typically run three to five years. Understanding the renewal terms, price escalation clauses, and exit provisions before signing is essential. These terms are negotiable — but only before the contract is executed.

How does RISE with SAP interact with our existing SAP licenses? Organizations with significant on-premise SAP license investments need to understand how those assets are treated in a RISE with SAP transition. In some cases, existing licenses can be credited; in others, they are effectively stranded.

Who owns the infrastructure relationship? In a RISE with SAP arrangement, SAP manages the infrastructure relationship with the hyperscaler. This can simplify operations but also reduces the customer's direct leverage with the cloud provider.

RISE with SAP can be the right path for the right organization. For companies that want to accelerate their move from on-premise ECC to the next generation SAP ERP suite, reduce internal infrastructure management burden, and consolidate their SAP commercial relationship, the bundle offers genuine value.

For organizations with complex existing landscapes, strong hyperscaler relationships, or significant customization requirements, the calculus is more nuanced. The simplicity of the commercial model should not be mistaken for simplicity of execution.

The most important thing an executive can do before entering RISE with SAP negotiations is to obtain independent advice — from someone with no commercial relationship with SAP, no implementation revenue at stake, and no incentive other than protecting the client's interests.

That is precisely the role Astraeus Advisory Group was built to play.

If you are evaluating RISE with SAP and would like an independent assessment, contact a partner directly. No salespeople. No intake queues.