With the introduction of RISE with SAP, the software company has given customers a ready-made path forward to SAP S/4HANA and the cloud. The bundled, subscription-based offering is only a couple of months old, but there are some questions that ASUG members might still have about the offering and how it can be leveraged. This FAQ will answer some of the biggest questions about RISE with SAP, while also pointing readers to the great resources—events, webcasts, and editorial content—where we covered these topics in greater detail. Read on to find out more about RISE with SAP.

What is RISE with SAP?

At its core, RISE with SAP is a bundled subscription service aimed at helping SAP customers adopt SAP S/4HANA, move to the cloud, and ultimately transform into “Intelligent Enterprises,” an idea the software company has been touting for a few years. When SAP CEO Christian Klein first unveiled RISE with SAP a few weeks ago, he described it as “business transformation as a service.” In a conversation with ASUG, Sven Denecken, COO of SAP S/4HANA and head of product success at SAP, described the offering as being “like a concierge service to get that business transformation going.”

What does RISE with SAP help customers do?

According to the software company, RISE with SAP will help customers with three distinct things: redesigning business processes, technical migration, and building the Intelligent Enterprise. The end goal is to have customers live on SAP S/4HANA and operating in the cloud.

What exactly is included in RISE with SAP?

A few things are included in the bundle, all of which are controlled and managed by a single contract. First, and most importantly, is SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Customers also get access to what SAP is calling “infrastructure as a service,” meaning that they have the ability to choose their hyperscaler to run their cloud infrastructure.

The bundled package also includes access to business process intelligence tools—like the Process Discovery tool—which will help customers analyze their business processes and data so they can effectively reconfigure their landscape. Additionally, RISE with SAP also gives customers access to embedded tools and services—like the SAP Readiness Check and SAP Learning Hub—to help customers achieve a seamless technical migration. Finally, RISE with SAP also comes with the SAP Business Network Starter Pack along with consumption credits for the SAP Business Technology Platform.

How much does RISE with SAP cost?

We don’t have a concrete answer on that yet. But, in a Q&A session for media and analysts, Klein emphasized that RISE with SAP would be a subscription model that would allow customers to pay as they go. If you’re interested in pricing information for your company, reach out to your SAP account executive.

When is RISE with SAP available?

Right now. You can literally start your SAP S/4HANA journey at this moment.

What does “one contract” actually mean?

SAP has been highlighting the fact that RISE with SAP—and all the parts of the offering—is controlled by one SAP contract. This is true. All the software, infrastructure components and technical services included in RISE with SAP are indeed managed by a single contract. But many RISE with SAP customers will likely need more than one contract to manage their entire SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation (more on that in a minute).

Where do SAP partners fit into RISE with SAP?

Long story short, partners do figure into RISE with SAP. While your RISE with SAP contract will cover all parts of this newest offering, partner advisory, implementation, and application management services will need to be contracted separately. Robin Manherz, VP and chief performance officer at SAP, joined an ASUG for an Executive Exchange Virtual Roundtable on Feb. 2 to discuss RISE with SAP. She indicated that SAP had worked pretty closely with certain partners with the go-to-market with RISE with SAP, but that systems integrators that companies contract to help with the implementation of the new ERP platform will have to be contracted separately.

In a later ASUG webcast, Damien Johnson, chief architect for customer success at SAP, joined David Wascom, SVP of executive programs at ASUG, to discuss SAP partners and RISE with SAP. Johnson reiterated that SIs will have to be contracted separately. He also discussed other ways SAP partners are involved in RISE with SAP. Not only can partners help RISE with SAP customers implement SAP S/4HANA, but they can also sell RISE with SAP via the SAP PartnerEdge platform.

What hyperscalers are available for me to use with RISE with SAP?

All the big ones: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba Cloud, and IBM. Take your pick.

Are hyperscalers also contracted separately?

No. The agreement with your hyperscaler of choice is also controlled by the RISE with SAP contract. “SAP will be the single point of contact, despite who you choose as your provider,” Klein told the audience during the RISE with SAP announcement.

Where does Signavio fit into all of this?

SAP acquired Signavio, a business process management company, and announced the new addition during the RISE with SAP introduction webcast. Specifically, Signavio will help customers during that first phase of RISE with SAP, as they are reevaluating and redesigning their business processes.

Geoff Scott, ASUG CEO, sat down with SAP CEO Christian Klein for a virtual Q&A on RISE with SAP, where the two discussed some of the finer details of the offering. Klein talked about the importance of transforming business and business processes with the migration to SAP S/4HANA. “Now, with RISE [with SAP] and the acquisition of Signavio, we can really make sure we own the business process intelligence layer right away,” Klein said.

ASUG also hosted a webcast with Brian Duffy, president of cloud at SAP, to discuss RISE with SAP, where they touched on the Signavio acquisition. “With Signavio, what we have is the opportunity to provide a holistic, flexible suite of process transformation solutions for customers to help them really design what the end state is going to look like. That includes business process design, benchmarking, gap analysis, improvement, and process change management.”

How is RISE with SAP different than SAP Leonardo?

To some observers, RISE with SAP appeared to be fairly similar to SAP Leonardo. In an interview with ASUG, DJ Paoni, president of SAP North America, discussed how the two offerings are different. While RISE with SAP is focused on migrating customers SAP S/4HANA, SAP Leonardo—according to Paoni—"offered AI developed on the platform for certain scenarios, but it wasn’t introduced in the context of business processes or embedded in our applications.” He also made the point that, unlike SAP S/4HANA, AI is not a function SAP customers are hoping to buy separately. Christian Klein also addressed this topic during his Q&A webcast with ASUG.

Are there any companies that have successfully used RISE with SAP?

Yes. During his introduction, Klein discussed how there were over 130 companies who piloted RISE with SAP and are already on this journey.

If I’m already on SAP S/4HANA in an on-premises environment, can RISE with SAP still help me?

The short answer is yes. ASUG hosted a webinar with Josh Greenbaum, principal of Enterprise Application Consulting, and Jon Reed, co-founder of Diginomica. When asked this question, Reed said that, yes, it absolutely makes sense to research RISE with SAP if you are already on SAP S/4HANA but are hoping to make the transition to the cloud.

What’s going on with the new partnership between SAP and Microsoft?

One of the many subplots to come out of the RISE with SAP unveiling was the announcement of SAP deepening its partnership with Microsoft. During the introduction event, Klein said that Microsoft Teams will be embedded in core applications like SAP S/4HANA.

Later, during his interview with Geoff Scott, Klein said this was part of SAP trying to create a frictionless enterprise and noted that the working world is going to look a lot different after COVID-19. This partnership will help customers as they are trying to share vital documents and information with their colleagues and easily collaborate.

Will my company be able to implement a hybrid cloud approach using RISE with SAP?

Yes, in addition to going with either a public or private cloud approach. During the first week of the ASUG Best Practices: SAP S/4HANA Virtual Experience, Matthew Donovan, director of SAP S/4HANA business and market development at SAP, took some time to answer some questions about RISE with SAP.

“We are not locking our customers into one model,” he said when asked this question. We will support our customers regardless of how they want to structure their landscape.”

RISE with SAP will have lots of flexibility to support the hybrid needs of customers.