Top 15 Strategies for Managing and Negotiating SAP RISE Pricing

Top 15 Strategies for Managing and Negotiating SAP RISE Pricing

As enterprises migrate from ECC to S/4HANA, SAP’s RISE with SAP bundle has become a focal point. RISE repackages S/4HANA Cloud with related software, infrastructure, and support into a single subscription contract.

This “business transformation as a service” model simplifies licensing but raises new cost-management challenges. CIOs and procurement teams should adopt a disciplined approach to control spending and get the best deal.

The following 15 strategies – drawn from industry best practices and expert experience – help clarify RISE costs and strengthen negotiations. Each strategy includes practical tips, considerations, and business impact examples.

1. Clarify the Complete Subscription Scope

Ensure you fully understand what the RISE subscription covers and does not. SAP’s RISE price is a packaged OPEX combining software usage rights, hosting, and support into one fee. To avoid surprise charges, demand transparency on every component:

• Components: Verify which ERP modules, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) credits, and Business Network services are in the bundle. For example, RISE typically includes a starter Ariba network pack and basic BTP consumption, but heavy usage beyond the starter pack costs extra.
• Environments & Support: Confirm the number of production, development, and test systems covered. Clarify if disaster-recovery or non-production environments are included or are additional. Ensure basic technical services (patching, backups, monitoring) are defined in the SLA.
• Add-ons & Integrations: Identify any needed industry solutions or third-party tools. If you rely on specific SAP add-ons or custom interfaces, negotiate their inclusion now. Redress Compliance warns you to explicitly list products/services in the contract and “watch out for any gaps” (e.g., DR, dev systems).

Impact: A clear scope prevents budget overruns. For instance, one company discovered after signing that dev systems were not included, adding 20% to their bill. You avoid such retroactive costs by spelling out included services (and negotiating gaps up front).

2. Optimize User Licensing (Full Use Equivalents)

RISE licensing uses the Full Use Equivalent (FUE) metric instead of traditional named-user types. Each user is classified (e.g., Developer, Advanced, Core, Self-Service), and each class counts as a certain number of FUEs.

To minimize costs:

• Map and Cleanse Users: Inventory your SAP user base and map roles to RISE FUE categories. Eliminate or reassign unused, duplicate, or overlapping user IDs before negotiation. Overestimating FUEs leads to inflated fees.
• Optimize User Mix: For lower-tier roles (like Employees or functional users), consider whether FUE assignments can be minimized. For example, a user with limited inquiry access might fit a lower FUE category.
• Plan Growth Carefully: Align FUE counts with actual headcount and forecasted growth. Don’t pad the numbers “just in case” without clear demand. You can add more FUEs later, so push for flexible true-up terms.

Experts note that proper FUE planning can greatly affect total cost. In one case, reclassifying or retiring dormant accounts before deal-signing trimmed the required FUE count by 15%, yielding a corresponding subscription saving.

Always negotiate to capture only needed FUEs: “Overestimating FUEs can significantly inflate costs”.

3. Break Down and Benchmark Cost Components

Instead of viewing RISE as a single line item, decompose it into its core parts. This reveals which areas are most expensive and where discounts apply.

Key components include:

• Software Subscription: Covers S/4HANA software rights (replacing on-premise license plus maintenance). This portion depends on the scope of ERP modules and FUEs. Negotiate aggressive discounts here.
• Infrastructure & Hosting: Cloud resources (HANA DB instances, compute, storage, backups) and SAP’s technical management. Costs scale with data volume and system count. To benchmark, estimate what equivalent AWS/Azure resources would cost, then compare to SAP’s price. This highlights any SAP hosting premium.
• SAP BTP Credits: RISE includes a bucket of SAP BTP service credits (for extensions, analytics, etc.). Understand the credit quantity and its monetary value. If you’re unlikely to use them all, negotiate fewer credits or alternative uses. If you use them fully, they offset some spending.
• Business Network (Ariba, etc.): The starter pack (e.g., limited Ariba transactions) is included. If you expect heavy procurement transactions or many trading partners, estimate the extra costs beyond the starter pack and budget them.
• One-Time Transformation Costs: The subscription does not include data migration, integration, and consultancy. Factor in these project costs separately. Check if SAP or partners offer migration incentives or fixed-price service packages to mitigate them.

By breaking out these pieces, you can question each charge. For example, if SAP quotes a certain price per FUE, you can ask, “How much of that is raw hosting vs. SAP service margin?” Redress suggests asking SAP to break down the cost components.

That transparency lets you benchmark rates (e.g., storage per GB on Azure) and negotiate accordingly. In practice, such analysis often reveals that the SAP bundle carries a 10–20% premium over straight infrastructure costs, which you can use as leverage.

4. Right-Size Infrastructure and Plan for Scaling

S/4HANA workloads vary widely, so do not overbuy or under-provision cloud resources. Key steps:

• Initial Sizing: To size your HANA databases and servers, use historical CPU, memory, and storage usage. Do not accept SAP’s default sizing without review. Over-provisioning means wasted subscription costs. For example, negotiate the next lower tier if your current DB is well under the maximum SAP slider.
• Stepped Rollout (Step-in Model): SAP can allow phased licensing: you buy only the “first cut” of required FUEs and capacity now and add more as you go live. Take advantage of this. In one case, a client purchased only the ERP modules and users needed in year 1, deferring others until year 2, thereby reducing year-1 cost and aligning spending with benefits. Negotiate a schedule of additions instead of an up-front full roll-out.
• Scaling Flexibility: Agree on how to add (or drop) capacity. For example, if your business grows, ensure you can procure extra CPU/storage at a predictable price (ideally at the same discounted rate). Conversely, if downscaling is needed, ask if unused subscriptions can be reassigned or reduced at renewal.
• Edition and Customization: Choose between RISE Public and Private editions. The public is cheaper but less customizable; the private cloud allows more flexibility (e.g. custom code) but “is generally more expensive than S/4HANA Public”. Align the edition to your needs – you may save by staying on the public edition if full customization is not required.

Impact: Getting sizing right and scheduling purchases can save millions. For instance, by negotiating a step-in model, a services firm reduced its initial subscription by 20% and phased extra spending into later years when revenues justified it.

Always quantify how database size and expected growth drive costs and bake in options to adjust as usage evolves.

5. Negotiate Term Length, Price Escalations, and Exit Terms

RISE contracts lock you in for multiple years (typically 3–5). Guard against open-ended increases:

• Escalation Caps: Demand a cap on annual price increases (e.g., CPI + 1-2%). Without it, SAP’s standard GTCs allow multi-percent hikes. Redress highlights that escalation caps are “two of the most critical terms.” Capping increases prevents surprise budget spikes (SAP often targets 3–5% annual raises otherwise).
• Renewal Rights: Ensure the contract specifies the renewal notice period and process. Lock in any negotiated discounts or volume tiers into renewal. For example, require that any additional FUEs in future years be added at the same per-unit price you negotiated this time. Don’t allow SAP to reset the rates unfavourably on renewal.
• Exit/Termination Clauses: Since RISE abandons your perpetual licenses, you need an exit strategy. Negotiate data export and transition assistance clauses at term-end (ideally including a defined handover service period). Consider asking for the right to purchase perpetual S/4HANA licenses if you choose to leave – otherwise, you have nothing to fall back on. Redress advises making sure you can retrieve data and continue operations outside RISE.
• Dual-Use Credits: If you must run ECC alongside RISE during migration, negotiate credits to offset dual maintenance fees. For example, in one deal, SAP gave credits to reduce the cost of running ECC in parallel, easing the financial burden of the transition period.

Impact: Well-negotiated term clauses protect your long-term costs. A global retailer capped its RISE increases at 2% annually – otherwise, it would have faced roughly 30% higher fees over five years.

They also secured an end-of-term data export and a limited right to relicense on-prem, greatly reducing lock-in risk.

6. Leverage Volume Tiers and Discounts

SAP cloud pricing often has volume discount tiers, but you won’t see them unless you ask. Use volume as leverage:

• Request Tier Transparency: Require SAP to reveal pricing at higher volume levels. Redress notes that SAP “typically provides minimum purchase levels for additional volumes.” Customers should get those details in writing. Knowing the next discount breakpoint helps you decide whether to increase commitment.
• Pre-Buy for a Discount: Consider securing a slightly larger volume upfront to reach a lower per-unit tier if your forecast allows. For example, adding 5% more FUEs might drop the cost per FUE by 10%. Compute the net savings vs. the extra spend and negotiate accordingly.
• Protect Unit Prices: Negotiate a clause that future volume additions (e.g., year 2, year 3) are charged at the final per-unit rate you achieve now. This “volume protection” ensures that you don’t lose the discount you earned if you buy more later.
• Monitor Usage vs Commit: Track your actual consumption versus committed volume. If you overestimated, ask SAP at renewal if you can reduce volume commitment at the negotiated tier. If under, expand early before the tier breaks change.

Impact: A mid-size manufacturer discovered that buying 150 more FUEs (just enough to hit the next discount tier) would yield a 12% lower FUE rate. By pre-purchasing that tier, they achieved substantial savings over the contract life. Knowing volume pricing tiers and locking in protections is a powerful cost-reduction strategy.

7. Include Add-Ons and Customization Costs

RISE’s core bundle may not cover all enterprise needs. Identify any additional functionality and negotiate it into the deal:

• Industry and Functional Modules: Determine if essential SAP modules (e.g., advanced SCM, CRM, industry-specific solutions) are included or extra. If not included, push to have them bundled or identify their costs.
• Customization Requirements: Private cloud RISE allows more customization than Public cloud. If you need significant custom code or 3rd-party integrations, verify that RISE will support them or plan to adapt to the public edition’s restrictions. Remember that the private edition is generally more expensive than the public one, so justify its cost with actual needs.
• Bundled Tools and Credits: Many customers forget that RISE includes BTP and Network credits. Use those fully: if you plan to extend SAP, these credits offset some development/integration costs. Conversely, if you won’t use them, negotiate their amount down or convert them to services.
• Additional Components: If you expect to add new SAP cloud products (like Ariba and SuccessFactors) later, clarify how they will be priced under the same umbrella. Redress notes that adding extra SAP components to RISE incurs separate fees. Budget for those in advance or discuss rollover options.

Impact: One enterprise ensured its critical EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) module was included in the RISE bundle, avoiding a later surprise license cost. Another organization realized too late that their planned AWS IoT integration required extra BTP credits; by negotiating the credit allowance upfront, they covered the expense without overspending. Early clarity on add-ons keeps your TCO predictable.

8. Align Migration and Transformation Services

The RISE subscription covers the platform, but you still need a migration and change management plan (and budget). Integrate services strategically:

• Bundled Services: Ask what migration services SAP or partners include. Some RISE offers come with fixed-price migration packages or workshops. If available, leverage these. If not included, negotiate discounts on SAP or partner project rates. For example, SAP may offer a migration “starter pack” at a reduced cost for early movers.
• Migration Incentives: SAP has provided incentives (like license credits or extended ECC support) for early S/4 migrations. Engage SAP on these programs. If you mention exploring other options (third-party support, for instance), SAP often sweetens offers. Redress notes that deals may include unused ECC extensions or service credits as bargaining chips.
• Dual-Run Budgeting: Plan how you’ll handle parallel operations. If you must run ECC and RISE concurrently, quantify the cost of the overlap. Negotiate dual-use credits (as mentioned in section 5) or minimize extra costs.
• Training and Change: Clarify if basic user training or adoption support is included or available. These change management items can be negotiated as part of the broader deal, especially with partners involved.

Impact: One retail client cut its implementation cost by 15% by negotiating a fixed-price migration package with a certified partner. In another case, a company extended its ECC maintenance with a third-party provider to extend negotiation leverage; SAP responded with a 10% migration credit plus two free consulting days. Aligning services and incentives can significantly offset RISE fees.

9. Secure Robust SLAs and Support Levels

The default RISE service levels might not meet all enterprise requirements. Review and strengthen them as needed:

• Uptime Guarantee: SAP’s standard RISE SLA is around 99.5% uptime. If your business is critical (e.g., 24/7 operations), negotiate a higher SLA (e.g., 99.9%) or add-ons like “Preferred Care” support. Alternatively, seek enhanced remedies for SLA breaches. Redress recommends negotiating stronger SLA credits or exit rights, as claiming them after an outage is much harder.
• Response Times: Ensure the SLA spells out response and resolution times for high/critical issues. Demand specifics (e.g., response within 30 minutes for Severity 1) if your operations depend on rapid recovery.
• Multi-Tiered Support: Clarify the ” standard ” support under the base subscription. If SAP’s 24×7 Support (usually included) isn’t enough, see if you can bundle higher tiers. Document these in the contract.
• Escalation Paths: Define clear escalation paths and points of contact at SAP. Having a named sponsor or account lead for critical issues can improve outcomes.

Impact: A pharmaceutical company negotiated a 99.9% SLA for production systems (vs the default 99.5%). This was justified by a small incremental fee but saved them from substantial revenue losses during a future cloud outage. Ensuring strong support terms also avoids costly downtime that can far exceed any SLA premiums.

10. Build Contract Flexibility and Renewal Protections

Don’t let the bundled nature of RISE trap you into inflexibility. Explicitly negotiate for change-management options:

• True-Up/True-Down: Ensure the agreement allows true-ups (adding users or capacity) at the negotiated rates. Negotiate the ability to true-down (reduce commitment) on renewal if actual usage has dropped, or at least reassign unused entitlements.
• Reassignment: In multi-subsidiary environments, get permission to reassign license entitlements between entities (e.g., move FUEs from one BU to another) without penalty. This can be valuable if the business mix shifts.
• Contract Amendments: Define a process for mid-term scope changes. For example, if you add an industry solution or onboard a newly acquired entity, having a pre-agreed change workflow avoids renegotiating from scratch.
• Pricing Holdovers: Cement any negotiated discounts or price caps so that they survive into renewals. Don’t assume a fresh negotiation – instead, incorporate the benefits into the contract terms. Redress stresses keeping protections like volume discounts or price locks explicitly written in.

Impact: A company wanted to reduce its ERP user count after a merger. Because it had negotiated flexibility, it could renegotiate its FUE commitment at renewal, cutting its next-year fees by 12%. Without that term, it would have been locked into paying for the full, unused headcount.

11. Mitigate Indirect Access Licensing Risk

RISE does not eliminate SAP’s indirect access policies. Any non-SAP apps or bots that create SAP transactions still require licensing.

To prevent hefty audit bills:

• Audit Interfaces: Inventory all interfaces and third-party software writing to SAP. Identify potential “hidden” use (e.g., web portals, external databases, RPA scripts).
• Digital Access Plan: Understand SAP’s Digital Access license (for indirect access) and how it applies under RISE. Often, you’ll need extra Digital Documents or Engine licenses. Negotiate these as part of the deal.
• Minimize Access: Where possible, redesign processes to limit indirect calls. Use SAP-certified connectors or gateways that report usage. For example, ensure all orders from a supplier portal flow through SAP IDocs so usage is tracked.
• Independent Review: Consider a pre-negotiation audit by an expert (see strategy 14) to quantify indirect usage. This allows you to budget accurately or negotiate a buffer in advance.

Impact: After going live, a financial services firm found that its legacy billing system triggered millions of SAP documents monthly. By identifying this before signing RISE, they could negotiate the Digital Access license requirement upfront rather than facing a large audit adjustment later.

12. Compare Alternative Deployment Models

Before committing, benchmark RISE against other approaches. RISE offers convenience, but alternatives may be more cost-effective:

• Self-Managed Cloud: You could move to S/4HANA Cloud on your terms (e.g., direct AWS/Azure contract) or keep a hosted private cloud. This allows negotiating hyperscaler rates separately. According to Redress, many large companies prefer managing cloud contracts directly to avoid “the layer of SAP in between”. This can yield lower infrastructure costs and flexibility in support. However, you lose the single-vendor simplicity and some bundled perks (like included BTP credits).
• On-Premise with Support: Some organizations stay on ECC or S/4HANA on-prem with third-party support. Redress notes third-party support (Rimini, Spinnaker) can cost ~50% less than SAP maintenance. This extends the timeline to move to RISE, giving more negotiation leverage or spreading costs.
• Hybrid Approaches: Consider splitting workloads. For example, run core finance on RISE but leave non-critical modules on-prem. This hybrid model can optimize cost/performance but requires careful licensing.
• New SAP Offerings: SAP’s GROW with SAP (for smaller entities) or other cloud packages might be available for certain lines of business. It’s wise to explore these if they fit your scale.

Impact: A global manufacturer conducted a 10-year TCO analysis of RISE vs. self-managed cloud vs. on-prem. They found that moving only supply chain modules to RISE (for faster innovation) and keeping finance on-prem was optimal.

This dual approach saved ~15% of the projected cloud spend. Doing the legwork on alternatives strengthens your hand in RISE negotiations, ensuring SAP knows you have options.

13. Leverage Third-Party Support and SAP Incentives

Your negotiation toolset includes outside support and SAP’s promotions. Use them strategically:

• Third-Party Support: Engaging an SAP-independent support vendor can cut maintenance costs and extend ECC life. As noted, companies like Rimini Street offer comparable SAP support at about half the price. This delay tactic can give you time to negotiate better RISE terms or spread the transition cost. Be aware, though, that SAP may offset support credits if you go early to RISE.
• SAP Migration Incentives: Let SAP know you are eyeing alternatives (E.g., third-party support, competitive ERP). SAP often responds with incentives: license conversion credits, extended support, and free migration services. Redress points out SAP has offered benefits such as ECC support through 2033 or migration credits for early adopters. Explore these by explicitly asking for deals applicable to your situation.
• Competitive Tension: Invite proposals from multiple SAP partners or evaluate non-SAP solutions for sub-modules. Even an implied competitive tension can prompt SAP to present a more compelling package.

Impact: A retail chain told SAP it was considering both Microsoft and Oracle ERP alternatives. SAP countered with a RISE offer that included a 15% license credit and no-cost training, which more than covered the price difference. Similarly, by temporarily shifting maintenance to a third party, a company gained leverage to extract a deep RISE discount when it finally migrated.

14. Engage Independent Licensing Advisors

SAP licensing and cloud contracts are complex; specialized advisors can provide crucial insight. Independent experts (like Redress Compliance) help benchmark and guide negotiations:

• Benchmarking: Advisors have market data on what discounts and terms peers have achieved. Use their intelligence to set realistic targets. As Redress advises, obtain benchmarks to know what “similar companies achieved” on pricing and SLAs.
• Unified Strategy: Align all stakeholders (IT, finance, procurement) and present a unified front. Redress recommends defining clear “non-negotiables” (budget cap, required SLAs) beforehand. Bringing an advisor to meetings can also signal you’re serious and informed.
• Contract Review: Have experts review the draft agreement. They know where SAP’s cloud GTCs have hidden pitfalls (since SAP is now less flexible in GTC negotiations). An advisor might spot an unfavourable clause or missed benefit that saves cost or liability.
• Audit Defense: Even if you don’t negotiate, maintaining a relationship with such advisors prepares you for compliance issues (like an SAP audit). Early advice on optimizing usage or adjusting license metrics (like FUE) can prevent future penalties.

Impact: One enterprise worked with a licensing advisor who identified that SAP’s proposal charged twice for a single dev system. Catching this error saved millions. Organizations that leverage external experts generally report better pricing outcomes – e.g., additional discounts and robust exit clauses – than those negotiating alone.

15. Continuously Monitor and Optimize Usage

After signing and going live on RISE, active management remains essential. Technology and usage change over time, so periodically revisit the agreement:

• Usage Audits: Set up quarterly reviews of actual usage (FUE counts, system usage, transaction volumes) versus what you subscribed to. Deactivate users who no longer need access. Adjust FUE counts at each renewal accordingly.
• Cloud Resource Monitoring: Use SAP’s monitoring tools (or your own) to track database growth, CPU hours, and storage consumption. If you see significant variances from forecasts, involve SAP to adjust sizing or commit levels at renewal. For example, negotiate a smaller tier next term if your system runs at only 60% of the allocated capacity.
• BTP and Network Spend: Track how much of the included BTP and Ariba credits are consumed. If under-utilized, request a lowering of those entitlements on renewal; if over, plan the budget for incremental add-ons. Unused cloud credits are wasted money, so ensure you get value or credit for them.
• Contractual Checks: Before each renewal, revisit key clauses. If your business needs have changed (e.g., shifting product lines, M&A), reopen discussions on scope and pricing. Maintain competitive pressure even during renewals (as Redress suggests) to keep rates favourable.

Impact: A healthcare provider discovered in a usage review that several hundred “Self-Service” user accounts were idle. By removing them at renewal, they dropped a whole FUE tier, cutting 10% from their next annual bill. Continuous oversight like this ensures you never pay for more than you use.

Summary: Managing SAP RISE pricing is a multi-faceted challenge. These strategies – from scoping the subscription to fine-tuning usage – reflect aggregated industry practice and advisory expertise. Enterprises that diligently apply such tactics typically achieve significantly lower costs than those who accept initial quotes at face value.

Independent licensing experts and procurement teams often cite anonymized cases where careful breakdown of RISE bundles, savvy volume negotiations, and rigorous compliance reviews yielded double-digit percentage savings on their SAP spend.

By combining internal rigor with external benchmarks, organizations can capture the operational benefits of RISE in terms of protecting their budgets and future flexibility.