SAP 2024 outlook: 5 predictions for customers

5. Re-evaluation of the SAP ecosystem will parallel evaluations of SAP RISE

The introduction of SAP RISE and GROW has impacted the entire SAP partner ecosystem, including technology and service providers’ go-to-market strategies, offerings, and commercial relationships with customers. As customers evaluate RISE, they will be well served to assess the impact of adopting RISE on their existing non-SAP partnerships. 

For example, organizations with existing relationships with AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure need to determine the impact of relinquishing the workload associated with their SAP environment from their hyperscaler partner to SAP. This includes the impact on existing consumption agreements, access to potential migration credits and access to future innovations. For many organizations, the percentage of their IaaS workloads are primarily related to SAP. However, most organizations have a broader cloud strategy and relationships that need to be put into an appropriate context to ensure desired outcomes.

Additionally, many organizations have existing application management and infrastructure management relationships with Accenture, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. As organizations move SAP and other workloads to the cloud, a holistic assessment of these relationships in the context of adopting RISE must be conducted. In many cases, these agreements need to be completely reconstructed, and alignment between the responsibilities of SAP, the third-party organization, and the customer needs to be reconciled.  

Customers also must consider internal initiatives, including their own application of generative AI, its impacts on organizational structure and their managed services relationships, as well as the implementation of SAP RISE to ensure a holistic strategy is developed and effectively executed.   

In the coming year, SAP customers will be tasked with making critical decisions that will determine the success of their digital transformations, next-generation operating model, relationship with SAP, and their complementary partners. Undergoing a holistic sourcing and evaluation process will be the key to ensuring executives are effectively positioned to navigate the SAP ecosystem and make well informed decisions that position their company for success.