Managing SAP RISE Contracts: A Lifecycle Playbook

Managing SAP RISE Contracts: A Lifecycle Playbook

Successfully managing an SAP RISE contract from signing to renewal requires a proactive, strategic approach. Unlike traditional SAP licensing, RISE with SAP is an all-in-one subscription service that bundles software, cloud infrastructure, and support into a single contract.

Organizations must actively govern their RISE agreements rather than adopting a “set and forget” mindset to maximize value and minimize risks over the contract’s lifecycle. This means continuously tracking usage against entitlements, enforcing contract terms, planning well ahead for renewals, and maintaining leverage through independent expertise.

The strategy is to stay in control of your SAP RISE journey. That involves regularly monitoring consumption and costs, ensuring SAP delivers on promised services and service levels, and preparing early for key junctures such as renewal negotiations.

By doing so, CIOs, IT leaders, and sourcing professionals can avoid common pitfalls—like surprise fees, compliance issues, and vendor lock-in—and keep the upper hand in their relationship with SAP. The following playbook outlines the challenges to watch for and the strategic steps to take at each stage of the RISE contract lifecycle.

Problem Overview

Many organizations enter a RISE with SAP agreement expecting a simplified, cloud-based SAP experience, but post-signing challenges often emerge. After the ink dries on the contract, companies may find that moving to an all-inclusive SAP subscription introduces new complexities and demands diligent management.

One common issue is a false sense of security: assuming that SAP will handle everything. In reality, customers still bear responsibility for monitoring their usage, compliance, and the scope of services received. The shift from owning licenses (CapEx) to subscribing (OpEx) means costs are ongoing and can escalate if not controlled.

Another frequent problem is misaligned expectations between business stakeholders and IT. The business might believe the RISE deal covers “everything” and solves all future needs, while IT teams discover gaps or additional tasks that weren’t included.

For example, essential services like data migration or certain integrations might have been left out of the contract, leading to unplanned expenses and project delays. Additionally, organizations often lack visibility into the cloud environment managed by SAP, making it harder to track system performance or usage patterns.

Without careful oversight, these issues can result in budget overruns, compliance risks, or under-delivered value, eroding RISE’s anticipated benefits.

Ultimately, the problem boils down to managing a long-term vendor relationship under a new model.

SAP RISE ties the customer to SAP’s infrastructure and support for several years, so any contract oversight or management complacency can have lasting consequences. The following sections describe key challenges in this scenario and how to address them head-on.

Key Challenges

After signing a RISE with SAP contract, organizations should be aware of several common pitfalls and challenges that can arise during the agreement’s lifecycle.

These include:

• Tracking Entitlements vs. Consumption: Under RISE, SAP provides a defined set of entitlements (such as the number of users (often measured in Full User Equivalents, or FUEs), system resources, or cloud services like SAP BTP credits). A major challenge is continuously tracking actual consumption against these entitlements. If usage exceeds what was contracted, it can trigger additional fees or compliance issues; if usage is far below entitlements, the company may be overpaying for unused capacity. Many companies struggle with this visibility and routine monitoring. Implementing tools and processes to regularly measure users, transactions, and resource use is critical to avoid surprises. Not tracking consumption leaves you vulnerable to either budget creep (through unnoticed overages) or wasted spend on “shelfware” in the cloud.
• SAP Audit Risks: Moving to a cloud subscription does not eliminate SAP’s audit rights or compliance responsibilities. SAP can still audit your RISE environment for indirect usage, user counts, and other metrics to ensure you don’t exceed contract terms. SAP has leveraged compliance checks to upsell customers into RISE or additional services. Post-signing, organizations must remain vigilant about compliance—especially with indirect access (when non-SAP systems connect to SAP data) which can incur license fees. Without careful management, a routine audit could uncover unlicensed use of SAP functionality or integrations creating extra documents (e.g., through a third-party e-commerce system), leading to hefty, unexpected charges. Compliance governance and periodic internal audits are necessary to mitigate this risk.
• Managing Renewal Pricing Uplifts: RISE contracts have fixed terms (often 3 to 5 years), after which you must renew to continue service. A significant challenge is the renewal stage, when SAP may apply price uplifts or changes in terms. Unlike perpetual licenses, where you could simply not renew maintenance, with RISE, you have no option to lapse – a lapse would mean losing access to your SAP system. This leverage often enables SAP to push through substantial price increases at renewal if protections aren’t in place. Some standard RISE contracts include annual price escalators (around 3% per year) or simply allow SAP to quote a much higher price for the next term. Companies that don’t negotiate caps or renewal terms upfront can face sticker shock when their subscription cost jumps in the later years.
  Additionally, suppose the business needs to scale down (fewer users or less capacity). In that case, the current deal may not allow cost reduction until renewal, and even then, SAP might raise the unit prices. Preparing for renewal well in advance and negotiating price protections (such as caps on increases or rightsizing of services) is vital to avoid being locked into an untenable cost structure.
• Migration and Implementation Costs: A common misconception is that “RISE will take care of everything, including migration.” In reality, the RISE subscription covers software, infrastructure, and standard services, but migration and implementation efforts are largely separate. Many organizations are caught off guard by the significant costs of moving from their old environment to RISE. These costs include data migration, system conversion, testing, re-platforming customizations, training users on new systems, and perhaps hiring system integrators or SAP services for the migration project. If these needs were not explicitly included in the RISE contract, they become out-of-scope expenses that can easily run into six or seven figures. Failing to account for migration costs can bust the business case for RISE. It’s crucial to plan for these from the start and, where possible, negotiate some migration assistance or incentives. Otherwise, the “subscription fee” is just the tip of the iceberg – the true cost of adopting RISE is higher when you add the one-time transition expenses.
• Vendor Lock-In and Hyperscaler Challenges: RISE with SAP is a bundled offering that can create significant vendor lock-in. Upon signing, customers often terminate their existing SAP licenses and convert to a subscription, meaning they no longer have a perpetual right to use the software outside RISE. The SAP ERP system runs on infrastructure managed by SAP (often hosted on a hyperscaler like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, but contracted through SAP). This model limits the customer’s flexibility in a few ways. First, you no longer have a direct relationship with the cloud provider – all infrastructure changes or negotiations (for performance, capacity, region, etc.) must go through SAP, which can be less responsive and more costly than dealing directly with AWS. Second, switching away from RISE (for example, returning on-premises or moving to another cloud model) becomes difficult and expensive. You would likely need to re-purchase SAP licenses or pay significant fees to transition, and migration out of the SAP-managed environment can be as complex as the initial move in. SAP is aware of this lock-in, which can reduce your leverage in negotiations – they know that customers will find it painful to leave, making it easier for SAP to dictate terms over time. Additionally, any specific cloud-related negotiations (like taking advantage of a better deal from Microsoft Azure or optimizing cloud costs) are not directly in the customer’s control under RISE. This challenge means customers must negotiate as much flexibility as possible upfront (such as exit clauses or portability options) and maintain leverage through the threat of alternatives (even if largely a bluff) during renewal discussions.

Comparison Table: RISE vs. Traditional SAP vs. Alternative Models

To understand the implications of SAP RISE over its lifecycle, comparing it with traditional SAP licensing (on-premises) and an alternative cloud approach (such as hosting SAP on a hyperscaler without RISE) is helpful.

The table below outlines key differences:

Strategic Playbook

To proactively manage the SAP RISE contract, IT and sourcing leaders should follow a strategic playbook that covers ongoing management, preparation for key milestones, and leveraging expert help.

Below are the key strategies and recommendations:

1. Establish Ongoing Consumption Tracking:

Set up governance to continuously track your usage versus entitlements. Don’t wait for SAP to tell you if you are over- or under–implementation of internal license management practices. For example, run SAP’s own license measurement tools (such as USMM and LAW) every quarter to monitor your users and package consumption.

Monitor metrics like number of active users (vs. contracted FUEs), transactions, and any consumption-based services (e.g., BTP credits, storage, API calls). If you find your usage trending above what you purchased, address it immediately – you may need to curb usage or discuss a contract adjustment to avoid compliance problems.

Conversely, if you’re far below your entitlement, you have leverage to potentially reduce scope at renewal or to reallocate resources elsewhere. Ensure there is clear accountability within your team for tracking and reporting these numbers.

Transparency is key: regularly report consumption and costs to IT leadership and finance, so there are no surprises. This discipline will also provide evidence that if SAP ever questions your compliance or tries to upsell, you’ll have data to counter any unfounded claims.

2. Document and Monitor SAP’s Commitments:

Treat your RISE contract as a living document. Upon signing, create a contractual obligations checklist that captures all of SAP’s commitments – from uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and support response times, to the number of included environments, user licenses, and any extra services (like specific tools or migration assistance).

Ensure you also note any negotiated special terms (e.g., a price cap at renewal, or a pool of free training hours provided by SAP). Use this checklist to hold SAP accountable throughout the term.

For instance, if the SLA is 99.7% uptime, monitor the actual performance; if SAP falls short and you have penalty clauses, claim them. If your contract included quarterly business reviews or SAP optimization services, ensure those happen.

Keep a record of issues and SAP’s resolutions in case you need to escalate. This diligent contract monitoring ensures you get what you paid for and prepares you with facts and history for the renewal negotiation.

Remember, anything not in writing is not guaranteed. So if any needs arise mid-term, formally amend the contract or get written confirmation from SAP on responsibilities, rather than relying on sales promises.

3. Prepare Early for Renewal Negotiations:

Don’t wait until the last minute to plan your renewal strategy. Given the high stakes at renewal (where SAP knows you are largely committed), start preparing 12–18 months before the contract ends. Begin by reassessing your needs: will your user counts or business scope change?

Gather data on your actual consumption and business value derived from RISE – this will inform how much of the service you need going forward.

Benchmark what a similar scope might cost outside of RISE (for example, pricing out a comparable infrastructure on a hyperscaler plus SAP support, or even evaluating competitive ERP solutions if feasible).

While you may not leave SAP, having an alternative cost baseline strengthens your hand in negotiations. Internally, identify your walk-away conditions and get executive alignment on the maximum acceptable increase or other “red lines.”

When engaging SAP, negotiate key renewal terms well in advance: aim to lock in pricing for the next term or at least cap any increase (e.g., no more than a single-digit percentage hike).

Also, push for flexibility to adjust volumes – if you anticipate needing fewer users, secure the right to reduce numbers without penalty; if you foresee growth, try to pre-negotiate price tiers for adding users or capacity so you aren’t paying full list price later. If you missed negotiating protections in the initial contract, renewal time is your chance to address them (though SAP has less incentive then, so leverage is critical).

Show SAP that you are willing to explore other options (even if switching is tough, a credible evaluation of alternatives can pressure them to be more reasonable). Essentially, renewal should be treated as a new negotiation approach with the same rigor as the initial deal because the financial impact can be just as large.

4. Uncover and Manage Hidden Costs:

Be vigilant about costs that fall outside the subscription fee. Early in the contract (and ideally before signing, but also during execution), perform a thorough review of what’s not included in your RISE agreement.

Typical areas to examine:

• Migration and implementation: Confirm whether SAP or your SI partners provide migration services. If not, budget for third-party help or internal resources for data migration, system setup, testing, and go-live support. These can be substantial—cases exist where companies incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in unplanned migration expenses because they assumed it was part of RISE.
• Ancillary SAP services: Determine if you need additional SAP products not covered in RISE (for instance, SAP Analytics Cloud, Ariba, or other satellite systems). If they weren’t bundled, you’ll have to license or subscribe to them separately (or negotiate their inclusion in a future deal). Ensure your overall SAP roadmap is understood so that adopting RISE doesn’t leave key functionality out in the cold.
• Integration and customization costs: If you have complex third-party integrations or require customization beyond what SAP’s cloud environment supports, anticipate costs for additional middleware, integration services, or extension tools. Also consider that highly customized on-premise processes might need re-engineering to fit a cloud standard – that effort has a cost in consulting and development time.
• Cloud usage overages: Monitor usage of any metered services like SAP BTP or extra storage. RISE contracts often include a baseline allotment (e.g., a set number of BTP credits or a storage quota), but if you exceed it, pay-as-you-go rates kick in, which can escalate costs quickly. Set up alerts for approaching those limits and engage SAP early if you need to increase capacity or negotiate a better rate for higher usage.
• Future growth: If you expect significant business growth (more transactions, data, users), plan how to accommodate that. It might be cheaper to negotiate additional capacity or favorable pricing now as part of your contract (ensuring predictable costs as you scale) than to pay a premium for growth later. On the flip side, avoid overcommitting to capacity you don’t need – you will pay for it throughout the term and generally cannot reduce it until renewal.
  You can mitigate these potential costs through contract negotiations (e.g., adding specific services or capacity now at fixed rates), better internal planning, or setting aside a contingency budget by identifying these potential costs. No cost should be a surprise. Keep a running total cost-of-ownership calculation for your SAP RISE program, including the subscription plus all ancillary costs, and update it regularly. This comprehensive view will help you validate that RISE is delivering the value expected, and will arm you with data if you need to challenge SAP on any unexpected charges or to negotiate future terms.

5. Leverage Independent Expertise for Oversight and Leverage:

Given the complexity of SAP RISE contracts and SAP’s strong position in these deals, it’s wise to involve an independent licensing expert or third-party advisor. Firms like Redress Compliance and other SAP licensing specialists focus on understanding SAP’s contracts, auditing practices, and negotiation tactics.

By engaging such experts, you gain insights into where SAP is flexible and where hidden risks lie. Independent advisors can help you audit your own usage before SAP does, ensuring you know your compliance status and are optimizing license assignments.

They also bring benchmarks from other clients, such as knowing what discounts or concessions similar companies secured, which can strengthen your negotiating stance.

Moreover, having a third-party expert on your side signals to SAP that you are well-prepared and have industry knowledge backing you, potentially leading to more reasonable behavior from the vendor.

Use these experts, especially when gearing up for renewal or facing an SAP audit or compliance dispute.

Their guidance can reveal options that SAP’s sales team might not mention (such as alternative licensing models or contract clauses to insist on) and can save you from costly mistakes. In short, don’t go it alone – an independent perspective will help keep SAP honest and ensure you maintain leverage throughout the contract lifecycle.

Recommendations Summary

For CIOs, IT leaders, and sourcing professionals managing a RISE with SAP contract, here are the key actionable next steps to put this playbook into practice:

• Implement Continuous License Management: Immediately set up a process (with tools and assigned owners) to regularly track SAP RISE usage against entitlements. This should include internal audits of user counts and system metrics to ensure you stay compliant and cost-efficient.
• Maintain a Living Contract Document: Compile all crucial contract terms and SAP obligations into a reference document or dashboard. Review it quarterly to verify that SAP meets its commitments (SLAs, included services, etc.) and that you’re leveraging everything you negotiated. Address any gaps or issues with SAP promptly.
• Plan Renewal Tactics Well in Advance: Don’t wait until the final year to consider renewal. Start internal discussions on future needs and budget expectations early. Engage independent experts to benchmark and help form a negotiation strategy. Approach SAP with your renewal requirements (e.g., price cap, ability to adjust user counts) well before the term ends, when you still have time and leverage to negotiate or explore alternatives.
• Identify and Budget for Non-Subscription Costs: List all activities and components not covered by the RISE subscription and assign budgets/owners for them. This includes the migration project, additional licenses or modules not in the RISE package, integration tools, user training, and potential overage fees. Proactively manage and monitor these items so they don’t derail your expected ROI.
• Engage Independent SAP Licensing Advisors: Strengthen your position by involving a third-party SAP licensing specialist (such as an independent consultancy) at critical points, especially for contract reviews, audit responses, and renewal preparations. Their insight will help you catch hidden risks and opportunities, ensuring you’re not relying solely on SAP’s guidance. This helps keep negotiations balanced and protects your interests throughout the RISE lifecycle.

By taking these steps, organizations can effectively navigate the complexities of SAP RISE from start to finish, achieving the intended cloud transformation benefits while avoiding the common traps that can diminish value. Stay proactive, informed, and assertive in managing your SAP RISE relationship, and you will maintain control over your enterprise’s SAP destiny rather than ceding it entirely to SAP.