Navigate Your Enterprise Transformation: RISE with SAP

By Dave Bigot, Vice President - SAP Practice

Keywords: RISE with SAP, SAP implementation, cloud ERP, business transformation, digital transformation, Brownfield, Greenfield, GyanSys

Overview

In today’s dynamic business environment, enterprises face numerous challenges and opportunities. From evolving supply chains and fluctuating talent pools to rising interest rates and the disruptive potential of Generative AI, companies must adapt swiftly to thrive. Many organizations struggle with outdated systems that hinder growth, efficiency, transparency, and security. The ability to innovate, optimize operations, become a data-driven company, and deliver exceptional customer experiences is paramount. This is where RISE with SAP comes into play, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions to drive enterprise transformation.

Moving to RISE: Key Considerations

• ECC support ending in 2027
• SAP innovations only on S/4HANA
• License metrics changes
• Understanding Digital Access
• Understanding SAP operations cost
• Decision: on-prem vs. cloud
• Innovation roadmap

Understanding RISE with SAP

RISE with SAP is an all-encompassing business transformation as a service (BTaaS) offering. It provides a holistic approach to enterprise transformation, combining SAP’s powerful ERP capabilities with cloud infrastructure, business process intelligence, and industry-specific solutions. RISE with SAP is designed to help larger businesses and industries streamline their operations, innovate, and achieve sustainable growth.

RISE with SAP is a tailored-to-fit cloud ERP that adapts to your organization’s unique transformation. With RISE, you can:

• Run on your own standard
• Adopt Best Practices where applicable
• Modernize your business
• Keep the control

With RISE with SAP, customers using SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enjoy the flexibility of custom configurations and extensions. However, this flexibility also means that release upgrades and updates require careful planning, preparation, and execution to maintain business continuity.

While private cloud deployments offer customers greater control, they also place the full responsibility for upgrades on themselves. To support customers in this process, SAP provides a range of tools and services, many of which are included in RISE with SAP.

• All RISE with SAP customers will get more Business AI capabilities, services, and tools for faster adoption
• RISE with SAP Premium Edition customers can take advantage of more capabilities included in the package to unlock the value of data and optimize their supplier network
• New RISE with SAP Methodology tools and services to help customers move to the cloud leveraging a Greenfield, Bluefield, or Brownfield approach

Why RISE with SAP?

1. Accelerated Innovation: With RISE with SAP, businesses can leverage the latest technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and IoT, to drive innovation and stay ahead of the competition.
2. Enhanced Agility: The cloud-based nature of RISE with SAP allows organizations to scale their operations quickly and efficiently. This agility is crucial in today’s fast-paced business environment.
3. Improved Efficiency: By streamlining business processes and automating routine tasks, RISE with SAP helps organizations improve efficiency and reduce operational costs.
4. Better Decision-Making: Real-time data analytics and insights enable businesses to make informed decisions, enhancing their strategic planning and execution in support of becoming a Data Driven Company.
5. Sustainable Growth: RISE with SAP supports sustainable business practices, helping organizations reduce their environmental impact and achieve long-term growth.

What do you miss out by not investing in RISE now?

Your business's ability to quickly adopt and benefit from innovations is a key driver of its success. By not upgrading regularly, you risk missing out on valuable features and functionality that SAP invests heavily in developing.

SAP allocates over $6 billion annually to research and development, with a significant portion dedicated to SAP S/4HANA. This investment results in numerous standard innovations released to customers each year.

Failing to upgrade regularly means forgoing the incremental value these innovations can bring to your business, as illustrated in figure below [1]. Additionally, you may waste resources developing custom code for processes or features that are already addressed by standard SAP functionality in newer releases.

Going forward, certain strategic cloud innovations will be exclusively available to customers using cloud ERP with RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP. These innovations include:

Artificial Intelligence: Bridging the gap between innovation potential and tangible business value.

Sustainability: Adapting to the evolving global landscape requires a true cloud model to keep up with sustainability initiatives.

Industry Innovation: To deliver the combined benefits of industry-specific solutions and continuous innovation, we have adopted a modular approach, developing new, differentiated capabilities tailored to specific industries.

What kind of Support is available for customers who are already on RISE?

For customers already on RISE with SAP, as part of the Application Managed Services (AMS), GyanSys can help in the following:

1. Comprehensive Managed Services: Providing end-to-end managed services, including system monitoring, backups, disaster recovery, and performance tuning.
2. 24/7 Technical Support: Continuous support is available to address any technical issues promptly, ensuring minimal downtime and disruption.
3. Proactive Maintenance and Updates: Regular updates and proactive maintenance are performed to keep systems secure and optimized.
4. Strategic Advisory Services: Offering strategic advisory services to help customers align their SAP landscape with business goals and drive continuous improvement.

What should be the approach for other applications if SAP is migrated to cloud/RISE?

When migrating SAP to the cloud with RISE, it’s essential to consider the integration and compatibility of other applications:

1. Assessment and Planning: Conduct a thorough assessment of all applications to understand their dependencies on SAP systems. This helps in planning the migration strategy.
2. Integration Strategy: Develop an integration strategy that ensures seamless communication between SAP and other applications. This might involve using middleware or APIs to facilitate data exchange including services offered in SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP).
3. Phased Migration: Consider a phased approach to migration, starting with less critical applications to minimize risk and disruption.
4. Testing and Validation: Rigorously test all integrations in a staging environment before going live to ensure that all applications work correctly with the new cloud-based SAP system. Considering developing testing automation strategy will support initial project but ease the future upgrades and have an impactful Return on Investment.

After RISE migration, how will existing support get affected?

Post-migration, the support landscape will change in several ways:

1. Enhanced Support Services: With RISE, support services are often enhanced due to the managed nature of the service. This includes better monitoring, faster issue resolution, and proactive maintenance.
2. Shift in Responsibilities: Some support responsibilities will shift from internal IT teams/partners to SAP, allowing internal teams to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance.
3. Improved Performance and Reliability: The migration to a cloud environment typically results in improved system performance and reliability, reducing the frequency and severity of support issues.
4. Ongoing Optimization: SAP provides continuous optimization services to ensure that the system remains efficient and aligned with business needs.

Key Components of RISE with SAP

RISE with SAP is a comprehensive solution from SAP that facilitates the migration of any on-premise SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA system to the cloud. Its core components include:

1. SAP S/4HANA Cloud: The core of RISE with SAP, S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, is a next-generation ERP system that offers real-time data processing and analytics. It supports various business functions, including finance, procurement, sales, manufacturing, and supply chain management with a user-friendly interface.
2. Business Technology Platform: SAP BTP is the end-to-end platform that brings together all the critical areas of technology that customers need to accelerate innovation, in a single unified environment, optimized for SAP applications. This includes a unified application development environment, database, data management, analytics, planning, and integration tools, including everything our customers need to take advantage of the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence innovations.
3. Migration and adoption services: Includes standard services; option up your standard service layer [DB1] with additional and SAP Cloud Application Services (CAS).
4. Cloud Infrastructure: Managed by SAP, hosted on hyperscaler of customer’s choice.
5. Platform Extensibility: Business process creation, extension, integration, and automation.
6. Industry-Specific Solutions: SAP provides tailored solutions for various industries, ensuring that businesses can address their unique challenges and requirements.

RISE with SAP customers receive comprehensive software and support, infrastructure, and technical managed services all through a single offering.

How GyanSys Can Help?

GyanSys is a Leader in SAP S/4HANA Business Transformations. GyanSys is a leading global system integrator supporting SAP enterprise customers worldwide. As a recognized innovator in digital and process transformation, we are well-positioned to move your connected business to Intelligent ERP to support operational and financial excellence in the cloud, leveraging our industry-focused solutions. We are a global team of over 1200+ SAP S/4HANA experienced consultants with over 75+ SAP S/4HANA customer engagements

As a trusted SAP implementation partner, GyanSys offers comprehensive services to help you maximize the value of RISE with SAP. Our experienced team of consultants can assist with:

• Solution Assessment: Determining the best RISE with SAP package for your specific needs.
• Application and Landscape Simplification: Evaluating the current system landscape and recommending leveraging SAP standard capabilities to eliminate legacy systems to allow a simplified application landscape.
• Pre-Implementation projects: Pre-projects include activities such as Data Archiving, Customer Vendor Integration (CVI), Financial Data Reorganization​, Custom Code Analysis, Interface Assessment and Middleware Tool Selection​, Security Analysis​, BW Retirement + Analytics/EDW Assessment​, Finance Impact Analysis & Pre-Migration Remediation​, Cloud Infrastructure Readiness & Hosting Evaluation,​ and Licensing Optimization & Negotiations.​
• End-to-End Implementation: Providing expert guidance & leading the transformation journey throughout the implementation process.
• Customization: Tailoring RISE with SAP to your unique business requirements.
• Data Migration: Ensuring a smooth transition from your legacy systems.
• Training and Support: Providing ongoing training and support to help you get the most out of RISE with SAP.

Accelerate Your SAP S/4HANA Implementation with GyanSys SPEEDY Rapid Deployment Packages

GyanSys offers Industry-focused implementation programs for your specific needs, timing, and budget without sacrificing quality. We are SAP S/4HANA Movement certified with our proven SPEEDY SAP Qualified Partner Packages (QPPS), that deliver best practices, at a fixed price, fixed scope, 100% cloud delivery model.

Case Study: GyanSys Helps Transform RISE with SAP

Explore how a leading audio & wearables brand in India achieved a greenfield business transformation with the RISE with SAP solution. From their challenges in moving from legacy to SAP S/4HANA using the greenfield approach, as well as firm's quick wins using SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) for business process and e-commerce order automation.

Conclusion

RISE with SAP is a powerful tool for enterprises seeking to navigate their transformation journey and achieve sustainable growth. By leveraging the expertise of GyanSys, you can ensure a successful implementation and maximize the value of this innovative solution.

For more information on how GyanSys can help you accelerate your enterprise transformation with RISE with SAP, contact us today. Let’s embark on this journey together and unlock your business’s full potential.

[1] https://www.sap.com/resources/embrace-agility-and-upgrade-for-success