It’s been just over one year since SAP unveiled RISE with SAP. To mark the occasion, ASUG recently discussed the 12-month mark with Jason Schaps, senior vice president and head of cloud for RISE with SAP in North America, and Mary Sibley, regional vice president of SAP S/4HANA Center of Excellence. We discussed the first year of RISE with SAP progress, advice for RISE with SAP potential customers, and what the future holds for the offering.

ASUG: How do you characterize the first year of RISE with SAP being on the market?

Mary: I would describe it as exhilarating. Globally, more than 1,000 customers selected RISE with SAP in 2021 to guide their journeys to the cloud. RISE with SAP has unlocked a new level of partnership between SAP and our existing SAP ECC customers, and it is proof that SAP is leaning in even more to support our customers. We saw a record number of ECC customers move to SAP S/4HANA Cloud. In addition, RISE with SAP caught the eye of new organizations, companies that are just starting their cloud journeys. For example, RISE saw significant adoption in the EV [electric vehicle] startup space.

Jason: The critical word here is “evolution.” One of the best-kept secrets about RISE with SAP is that despite RISE with SAP being one year old, SAP has been in the cloud ERP space for about 11 years. I always want to make that point because customers are constantly asking us, “Why would I trust you with my crown jewels when this is a brand-new offering?” The good news is that RISE with SAP is the culmination of work we’ve already been doing for the past 11 years—learning, refining, and evolving the service offering.