RISE with SAP Consulting
RISE with SAP is SAP's comprehensive offer for moving your ERP to the cloud — bundling SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP BTP, process intelligence tools and a subscription model under one commercial framework. But the offer itself doesn't make the migration decision or design the transformation roadmap. That's consulting. 2iSolutions provides RISE with SAP consulting — from readiness assessment and business case development through edition selection, migration strategy and go-live — as a SAP Gold Partner with a delivered RISE implementation on record.
What RISE with SAP includes — one subscription, six components
RISE with SAP is not a single product — it is a commercial bundle that packages six distinct SAP offerings under one subscription contract and one point of accountability.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
The heart of RISE — S/4HANA on cloud infrastructure as Public Edition (multi-tenant, SAP-managed) or Private Edition (full-stack, dedicated). Edition choice is the first and most consequential RISE decision.
SAP Business Technology Platform
BTP credits for Integration Suite, SAP Build extensions, HANA Cloud and AI/automation. The allocation determines how much integration and extension work runs without additional BTP licensing.
SAP Signavio Process Intelligence
Process discovery, modelling and transformation management — mapping current-state processes to S/4HANA standards and managing process change as part of the transformation, not after it.
SAP Business Network Starter Pack
Access to SAP's supplier and logistics networks — enabling digital collaboration across procurement and logistics with supply chain partners. Starter pack included; extended network available separately.
SAP Analytics Cloud
Planning, analytics and reporting on S/4HANA data — the layer that converts operational ERP data into management insights, financial planning models and real-time dashboards.
Managed Cloud Infrastructure
SAP-managed hosting on AWS, Azure or GCP — SAP responsible for infrastructure, Basis and system operations. No servers, no OS patching, no SAP system administration managed by your team.
One contract, one subscription, one responsible party. RISE consolidates what would otherwise be six separate SAP agreements — S/4HANA licence, infrastructure, BTP, Signavio, Business Network and SAC — under a single SAP-contracted subscription. Simpler commercially; complex to scope correctly before you sign.
Public Edition vs Private Edition — choosing correctly before committing
The choice between RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and Private Edition is the single most consequential decision in a RISE engagement. Choosing the wrong edition wastes implementation effort, forces scope changes mid-project and can delay go-live by months. This is where consulting earns its value.
Public Edition
Best for: businesses that can adopt SAP standard processesSAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is a standardised, multi-tenant cloud ERP — SAP manages the infrastructure and the application, and releases updates on SAP's quarterly schedule. Customisation of the core is not permitted; businesses adapt their processes to SAP standard. The GROW with SAP programme is built on Public Edition.
- Fastest path to cloud — implementation in weeks, not months
- Lowest total infrastructure cost — fully SAP-managed
- Automatic quarterly updates — no upgrade projects
- Scope limited to SAP standard processes — no core customisation
- Extensions built on BTP, not in the core application
- Best for businesses new to SAP or willing to adopt standard processes
- Requires process change management — the system won't change to fit your processes
Private Edition
Best for: businesses migrating from ECC with complex processesSAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is functionally equivalent to on-premise S/4HANA — the same ABAP stack, the same ability to customise, the same module depth — but hosted on SAP-managed or hyperscaler cloud infrastructure. The migration path from SAP ECC is well-defined and understood.
- Full S/4HANA functional scope — no capability compromise
- Custom ABAP, custom processes and industry solutions supported
- Existing ECC customisations can be migrated
- Upgrade schedule controlled by the customer (annual minimum)
- Higher infrastructure and operations cost than Public Edition
- Best for businesses migrating from ECC with complex or industry-specific processes
- Longer implementation timeline — comparable to on-premise S/4HANA
Our assessment approach: We analyse your current ECC or S/4HANA landscape — process complexity, customisation volume, industry-specific requirements and team readiness — and provide a documented edition recommendation with rationale before you commit to either path. The recommendation is based on fit, not on which edition generates more implementation fees.
Is RISE with SAP right for your business?
RISE is designed for specific scenarios. The organisations it serves best are not always the ones SAP's marketing targets. Honest consulting means telling you when RISE is the right answer and when it isn't.
ECC Customers Under Maintenance Pressure
SAP ECC mainstream maintenance ends in 2027. Organisations still on ECC need a clear migration plan — RISE with SAP Private Edition is the most structured path from ECC to cloud S/4HANA, with SAP's tooling (RISE migration programme, SUM toolset, Signavio process mapping) supporting the conversion.
Organisations Moving Infrastructure to Cloud
For businesses with on-premise SAP S/4HANA who want to eliminate data centre obligations and shift to an opex model — RISE Private Edition provides the cloud migration path without requiring a functional reimplementation. The system moves; the processes stay.
New S/4HANA Adopters — Greenfield Cloud
Organisations implementing SAP for the first time and wanting a cloud-native, subscription-based model. RISE Public Edition (GROW with SAP) delivers standardised ERP faster and at lower cost than a custom on-premise implementation — if the business can adopt standard SAP processes.
When RISE May Not Be the Right Answer
Organisations with highly customised ECC landscapes, unique industry processes not covered by SAP standard, or significant third-party integrations may find that RISE Private Edition costs exceed on-premise S/4HANA for comparable capability. We model both scenarios before recommending.
Businesses Seeking Predictable ERP Cost
RISE converts SAP from a capital licence and infrastructure investment to a subscription. For organisations that prefer opex over capex — or whose finance function requires a consistent annual ERP cost rather than lumpy capital expenditure — RISE's subscription model has genuine structural appeal beyond the technology.
Multi-Country or Group-Level Transformations
For groups running multiple SAP systems across countries or entities, RISE provides a single commercial framework for consolidating onto a unified S/4HANA landscape — with SAP as the contracted infrastructure provider across all entities, simplifying vendor management at group level.
How we consult on RISE with SAP — five stages
Readiness Assessment
Evaluating your current SAP landscape — ECC or S/4HANA version, customisation volume, active modules, integration points and technical debt. The assessment determines whether RISE is technically viable, which edition fits and what the migration effort actually involves before any commercial commitment is made.
Business Case & Edition Selection
Modelling the total cost of ownership for RISE vs on-premise S/4HANA vs staying on ECC — covering licence, infrastructure, implementation, maintenance and upgrade costs over a 5-year horizon. Edition recommendation (Public vs Private) documented with explicit rationale and the scenarios where the recommendation would change.
Process & Scope Definition
Using SAP Signavio (included in RISE) to document current-state processes, map them to S/4HANA standard processes and identify where process change is needed before implementation begins. Scope defined at the process level — not just module list — so implementation effort is realistic before contracts are signed.
Migration Strategy & Roadmap
Defining the migration approach — greenfield (new implementation using S/4HANA best practices), brownfield (system conversion retaining customisations) or selective data transition (hybrid, migrating selected processes and data). Phasing, entity prioritisation and go-live sequencing agreed before the implementation project is scoped.
Implementation & Hypercare
Delivering the RISE implementation using SAP Activate methodology — with 2iSolutions as both the consulting and implementation partner. The consulting context means implementation scope is clear from day one and scope surprises are rare. Post-go-live hypercare and AMS managed through the same team.
What good RISE consulting prevents
- Choosing the wrong edition and discovering it mid-implementation
- Underestimating customisation migration effort in brownfield conversions
- Signing a RISE subscription before the implementation scope is defined
- Insufficient BTP allocation for the integrations the business actually needs
- Process change resistance that wasn't managed before go-live
- Data migration failures from ECC that surface after cutover
SAP Activate for RISE
All RISE implementations follow SAP Activate — SAP's official methodology — with four phases: Prepare, Explore, Realise, Deploy. 2iSolutions is certified on SAP Activate and uses it as the delivery framework for every RISE and S/4HANA implementation.
Prepare
Scope, plan, kickstart
Explore
Fit-gap, process design
Realise
Configure, build, test
Deploy
Cutover, go-live, hypercare
RISE with SAP — Lumina CloudInfra
Lumina CloudInfra implemented RISE with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud with 2iSolutions as the consulting, implementation and ongoing managed services partner. The engagement covered the full RISE lifecycle — from readiness assessment and edition selection through go-live and post-implementation managed services.
The measurable outcomes emerged from the post-implementation managed services phase — the co-innovation stage of the AMS engagement — where continuous process improvements and better system utilisation delivered results beyond what the implementation itself achieved at go-live.
What makes our RISE with SAP consulting practice different
SAP Gold Partner — RISE Certified
Direct SAP Gold Partnership gives access to SAP's RISE migration tools, SAP Activate content for RISE, and the SAP partner support that RISE implementations require. Not every SAP partner is RISE certified; certification is a prerequisite for accessing the tooling and methodology SAP provides for RISE engagements.
Consulting Through to AMS — One Partner
We consult, implement and then provide managed services under the same commercial relationship. The Lumina CloudInfra outcomes (8% profitability, 10% service efficiency) came from the post-go-live AMS phase — something only the implementation partner who knows the system can deliver. Handover to a different AMS partner loses that continuity.
Honest Edition Guidance
We generate implementation revenue from both Public and Private Edition. Our edition recommendation is based on fit, not on which path generates more fees. Public Edition implementations are shorter and lower-revenue for us — we still recommend them when they're the right answer for the client.
ECC Migration Depth
Most RISE engagements involve migrating from SAP ECC. We have been implementing SAP since 2005 — through R/3, ECC 6.0, and now S/4HANA — with direct experience of what ECC customisations migrate cleanly to S/4HANA and which need redesign. This matters enormously in brownfield conversion scoping.
88-Day Average S/4HANA Go-Live
Our average go-live timeline for S/4HANA implementations — across greenfield and brownfield — is 88 days. RISE accelerators, pre-built content and our delivery methodology contribute to this. A faster go-live means a shorter period of running parallel systems and an earlier realisation of RISE subscription value.
Industry Expertise Across Manufacturing, Real Estate and CPG
RISE implementations are not generic — manufacturing S/4HANA on RISE has different process, integration and BTP requirements than real estate or FMCG. Our industry experience shapes every RISE consultation from the first assessment conversation through to go-live scope definition.
RISE with SAP consulting from a certified partner with 21 years of SAP delivery
Our RISE practice is built on the same delivery disciplines — assessment rigour, methodology adherence and co-innovation in managed services — that we apply across all SAP implementations.
RISE with SAP: frequently asked questions
What is RISE with SAP and how is it different from buying SAP S/4HANA directly?
RISE with SAP is a bundled commercial offer — SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP BTP credits, Signavio process intelligence, Business Network and cloud infrastructure packaged under one subscription contract with SAP as the primary responsible party. Buying S/4HANA directly means separate licence, infrastructure and BTP contracts with different vendors and different renewal cycles. RISE simplifies the commercial model; it doesn't change the underlying technology.
What is the difference between RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP?
GROW with SAP targets businesses new to SAP implementing S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for the first time — standardised, fast and cost-effective. RISE with SAP targets existing SAP customers (typically on ECC) who are migrating to S/4HANA Cloud — either Public or Private Edition. The technology is the same; RISE includes migration tooling, SAP Signavio for process transformation and additional support for the migration journey that GROW doesn't require.
Should we choose RISE Public Edition or Private Edition?
Public Edition is right when the business can adapt its processes to SAP standard — fast, low-cost, fully managed, no customisation of the core. Private Edition is right when the business has complex processes, extensive ECC customisations or industry-specific requirements that SAP standard doesn't cover. The answer depends on a landscape assessment; we won't recommend an edition without one. The wrong choice at this stage causes significantly more disruption than taking the time to assess correctly.
Do we have to move to the cloud if we buy RISE with SAP?
RISE with SAP is a cloud offering — the S/4HANA system runs on SAP-managed or hyperscaler cloud infrastructure rather than on-premise servers. Private Edition can run on a dedicated private cloud rather than SAP's multi-tenant infrastructure, giving more control over data residency and infrastructure configuration. If remaining on-premise is a hard requirement (regulatory, data sovereignty or contractual), RISE may not be the right commercial structure — S/4HANA on-premise with a separate cloud contract may be more appropriate.
How long does a RISE with SAP implementation take?
A RISE Public Edition greenfield implementation for an SME typically goes live in 12–20 weeks. A RISE Private Edition brownfield migration from ECC typically takes 6–18 months depending on customisation volume, data migration complexity and the number of integration points. Our average S/4HANA go-live across greenfield and brownfield is 88 days — applicable to focused-scope greenfield implementations. The consulting and readiness assessment phase adds 4–8 weeks before implementation starts but significantly de-risks the implementation timeline.
What happens to existing SAP licences when we move to RISE?
When moving to RISE, existing on-premise SAP licences are typically converted to RISE subscription entitlements — SAP provides migration credits that reduce or eliminate the net new subscription cost in the transition period. The exact conversion terms depend on your current licence type, the RISE edition selected and the negotiation with SAP at contract stage. We help clients understand the licence position and model the net cost before committing to RISE commercially.
Evaluating RISE with SAP — or already committed and need a consulting partner?
Whether you're at the assessment stage (is RISE right for us?), the edition decision (Public or Private?), or the implementation stage (how do we migrate from ECC?), we'd start with a conversation about your current landscape and what you're trying to achieve.