Introduction – Why RISE Contracts Require Hard Negotiation
SAP markets RISE with SAP as a turnkey “business transformation as a service.” In reality, it’s a multi-year subscription with heavy lock-in and few customer safeguards. All your core ERP elements – licensing, hosting, support – are under SAP’s control, so every contract term affects your cost and flexibility.
“RISE negotiations are not about features — they’re about control and exit freedom.”
Read our overview article, RISE with SAP Contracts: Negotiation Guide & Key Considerations.
Key Levers in RISE Negotiations
Concentrate on these high-impact levers in your RISE deal:
1. Term Length & Renewal Flexibility: SAP likes 3–5 year terms with auto-renewal and no early exit. Don’t accept that. Keep the initial term short (around 3 years) to maintain leverage.
Remove any automatic renewal — you should decide if you renew, and on what terms. Also, cap any renewal price increase (e.g., ≤3% yearly) so you’re not ambushed by big hikes later.
Checklist:
- Limit the initial term to 3 years.
- Require advance notice (e.g., 120 days) before renewal – no silent auto-renewal.
- Cap renewal price increases (e.g,. 3% per year max).
2. FUE Counts & Role Mapping: RISE pricing is based on Full User Equivalents (FUEs). Misjudging user roles can inflate costs by 20–30%. Make sure SAP shows exactly how they calculated your FUE count, and conduct your own user audit. Make sure light, self-service users aren’t counted as full “Professional” users. Optimizing roles can dramatically cut your subscription cost.
For example, 500 users might cost ~€1 M/year (~€2k each), whereas 5,000 users could be under €500 each. Volume discounts are huge, so right-size your FUE count.
Negotiation Tip: Get SAP’s FUE conversion ratios for each user type at the outset. Don’t wait until the final quote. By verifying their math, you can catch overcounts and challenge them before signing.
3. Infrastructure & Hosting Choices: Under RISE, SAP decides the cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP). The standard contract gives you no say in this. Name your preferred cloud platform and region in the contract, and require that SAP cannot change it without your approval.
This ensures your compliance needs are met and prevents SAP from moving your workload to a different data center to save themselves money.
Contract Clauses to Challenge or Redline
Scrutinize and push back on these key contract clauses:
| Clause | SAP’s Default | Your Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Early Termination | Not allowed (100% of fees due if you exit early). | Allow contract exit after Year 3 with minimal penalty. |
| Renewal Pricing | “Then-current” list price (uncapped increase). | Cap renewal increases (e.g. ≤3% per year). |
| FUE Adjustments | User count locked for full term (no reductions). | Allow ±10% FUE adjustment annually without penalty. |
| Data Export | No guaranteed data export or assistance. | Guarantee data export rights (format, timeline) and SAP’s help at term end. |
| Infrastructure | SAP chooses or can change your cloud host at will. | Lock in your chosen cloud provider; require your sign-off for any changes. |
| SLAs | Basic uptime SLA, minimal credits for outages. | Strengthen SLAs (higher uptime, faster recovery) + meaningful credits or termination rights for serious breaches. |
Sample Clause: “Customer may adjust the contracted FUE quantity by up to 10% annually based on actual usage, without additional fees or penalties.”
Leveraging Existing Investments
Leverage your existing SAP spend to improve the RISE deal:
- License credits: If you already own SAP licenses (with maintenance), use SAP’s conversion program to get credit toward RISE. Insist on credit for the full value of your licenses and prepaid support – not a token fraction.
- Dual maintenance relief: Don’t pay double during migration. Without a deal, you’d pay on-prem maintenance and RISE fees in parallel. Negotiate a maintenance holiday (waiver) for any overlap period so you’re not double-billed. Also get dual-use rights in writing – permission to run your old and new systems in parallel until cutover.
Action Point: Share your current SAP license and support records during negotiation. This evidence supports your requests for credits and special terms by quantifying the value you bring as an existing customer.
Negotiating Exit & Reversion Rights
Plan an escape hatch from RISE before you sign:
- Data export: Ensure the contract guarantees full data export if you leave. Define the format (database dump, CSV, etc.), timing (e.g., within 30 days of termination), and SAP’s duty to assist. You must be able to retrieve your data and run with it.
- Reversion option: Try to include a right to revert to on-prem or another platform after the RISE term. For example, an agreed path to purchase a traditional S/4HANA license if you exit RISE. Having this in your back pocket forces SAP to keep earning your business.
- Termination assistance: Negotiate a brief post-termination support period (maybe 60–90 days). This gives you time to transition systems and data without service disruption. It prevents an abrupt cutoff if you decide not to renew.
Expert Note: SAP won’t hand you these exit provisions unless you ask. Getting data export, reversion, and transition clauses in the contract significantly lowers your risk.
Commercial Timing and Leverage
When you negotiate, you can improve what you negotiate:
- Year-end pressure: SAP’s fiscal year ends Dec 31 (and quarter-ends are key). The biggest discounts usually appear in Q4 or right before a quarter closes. Schedule your negotiation so that SAP is hungry to close the deal in that window – you’ll see far better pricing and terms.
- Bundle deals: If you’re also renewing other SAP products (like SuccessFactors or Ariba), bundle them in your RISE negotiation. A multi-product, larger deal gives you more leverage. SAP will bend further on RISE to avoid risking all your business.
- Ignore the fake deadline: SAP might claim “this offer expires this week.” Assume it’s a sales tactic. Take the time you need. As quarter-end approaches, their urgency will only increase – and so will their willingness to sweeten the deal.
Negotiation Strategy: Stay patient and be willing to say “not now.” If SAP believes you might delay approval (or pursue alternatives), they’ll sharpen their pencil. Use their timeline against them.
Read our contract checklist, RISE Contract Checklist: Critical Clauses and Terms Every SAP Customer Must Negotiate.
Legal & Governance Safeguards
Treat a RISE contract like a major outsourcing agreement – get your legal and governance safeguards in place:
- Cross-functional review: Involve IT and legal/procurement together in contract review. Ensure data residency, security, and compliance terms are explicitly covered. Know where your data will reside and that SAP commits to necessary standards (e.g., GDPR, industry-specific rules).
- Enforceable SLAs: Don’t accept weak SLAs with token credits. Define real remedies if SAP misses key SLAs. For example, chronic downtime could trigger larger credits or even allow contract termination. Make sure an escalation process is in writing for major service failures.
- Change control: Establish a strict change control clause. SAP shouldn’t be able to alter service scope or pricing mid-term without your approval. Likewise, if you need to expand usage or add services, have a process (and pre-agreed pricing metrics) for those changes.
- Audit & compliance: Ensure SAP’s compliance obligations are documented. Require that SAP maintain relevant certifications (ISO, SOC, etc.) and support any audits or regulatory inquiries you face. If your regulators need to audit the cloud environment, SAP should cooperate as part of the deal.
Governance Tip: Form a RISE steering committee within your organization (IT, finance, procurement stakeholders).
Meet regularly to monitor SAP’s performance (SLAs, support quality), track your usage vs. contract entitlements, and plan for renewals well ahead of time. Ongoing governance will help you catch issues early and assert your rights throughout the contract.
Example: RISE Negotiation Outcome
A global manufacturer was quoted €12 M over 5 years (6,000 FUEs) for RISE.
By reclassifying 800 miscategorized users (a 15% FUE reduction), insisting on a 3-year term with a 3% renewal cap, and securing reversion rights plus data export support, they saved €3.2 M. More importantly, they gained a clear exit path if the RISE deal no longer suited their needs.
Common SAP Tactics to Watch Out For
Be ready to counter these SAP sales tactics:
- The 24-hour ultimatum: “Sign now or lose the discount.” This is pure pressure. In reality, SAP will extend or re-offer the discount rather than lose the deal. Don’t let a fake deadline dictate your decision.
- “All-inclusive” pitch: “Everything is covered in your RISE fee.” Actually, it’s often not – extras like certain integrations or high data volumes will cost more. Always ask what’s not included, and assume anything not listed isn’t included.
- Hidden renewal tricks: Auto-renewal or price-hike clauses are often hidden in the fine print – find and fix them now, before they bite.
- Audit scare: “Stay on old licenses and you might get audited.” SAP sometimes implies this to push cloud deals. Don’t let audit threats cloud your judgment. Decisions should be made on business merit, not fear.
Expert Insight: Recognizing these tactics helps you stay in control. The less rushed or intimidated you are, the better terms you’ll secure.
5 Negotiation Actions Before You Sign a RISE Contract
- Double-check SAP’s FUE count with your own audit.
- Cap all renewal and infrastructure cost increases.
- Secure data export and exit rights in writing.
- Stick to a 3-year term and no auto-renewal.
- Negotiate at quarter-end or year-end, and bundle deals where possible.
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