SAP customers are being told, “If you want AI, you need to RISE with SAP.” This is where the story falls flat.
For CIOs and IT leaders facing shrinking budgets, heightened innovation demand and very real delivery risk, the idea that the only route to AI involves a multiyear ERP reimplementation just doesn’t hold up.
Unsurprisingly, the question on everyone’s mind is this: How can SAP customers achieve Agentic AI outcomes quickly, safely and cost-effectively without unnecessary ERP reimplementation?
The short answer is Rimini Cloud™ for SAP — an approach that enables organizations to run existing SAP ECC or S/4HANA systems on modern cloud infrastructure, reducing data center costs and improving operational efficiency.
Why SAP is pushing Cloud ERP Private on RISE and what’s included
At a high level, the RISE journey involves signing up for an SAP Cloud ERP Private subscription, which includes the following:
- S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition
- SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) as the innovation layer
- Infrastructure hosted on a hyperscaler
- SAP Enterprise Support
- Basis operations and infrastructure managed services
- Activation of up to 3 Joule assistants
Customers also gain access to SAP-native AI capabilities, such as Signavio and Joule AI, which are introduced incrementally and often require additional licensing.
From the vendor’s perspective, this cloud program simplifies consumption and consolidates accountability. But from the customer’s viewpoint, it represents a significant technical, commercial and operational shift.
The trade-offs behind the promise of SAP Cloud ERP Private on RISE
There are several hidden factors of RISE that IT and finance leaders must consider.
Most notably, SAP customers find that the RISE journey to SAP Cloud ERP Private can be extremely expensive. Once migration efforts, subscription fees, partner services and long-term managed services are taken into account, TCO frequently exceeds expectations. What begins as a seemingly simple modernization initiative can quickly become a multiyear financial commitment that overruns the IT budget.
But the cost isn’t the only drawback. Organizations that opt for RISE also have to contend with:
- High program and delivery risk: RISE initiatives like SAP Cloud ERP Private often involve complex data migration, integration remediation and process redesign, which can increase the likelihood of delays, scope reductions or cost overruns.
- Massive organizational and operational disruption: Multiyear reimplementation efforts divert team time and focus away from strategic priorities, straining IT and business resources alike.
- Loss of historical customizations: Customizations that represent years of business logic and process building may need to be eliminated or rewritten, eroding hard-won competitive differentiation.
- Forced abandonment of perpetual licenses: Customers are required to surrender valuable perpetual licenses, changing the long-term economics of their ERP investment and shifting power dynamics in the vendor’s favor.
- Irreversible subscription lock-in: Once moved to SAP Cloud ERP Private via RISE, customers are tightly bound to SAP’s roadmap, pricing and release cycles, with limited flexibility to change course in the future.
- Delayed access to value: Benefits from AI, automation and innovation are deferred until reimplementation is complete, meaning organizations pay more while waiting, potentially for years, to see results.
Taken together, the reality of a RISE journey (and the trade-offs that come with it) explains why many SAP customers are questioning whether it’s truly the fastest or smartest path to Agentic AI.
Why Rimini Cloud™ for SAP is the better choice
Rimini Cloud for SAP upholds the belief that ERP value lies in the data, not the software version, and that AI is most powerful when applied across the enterprise — not within siloed systems. AI delivers the greatest impact when it can connect data, processes and workflows across the business, allowing for smarter automation, faster decision-making and more efficient operations.
Instead of forcing reimplementation, Rimini Cloud helps protect and prolong the life of existing SAP ERP investments, lifting and shifting to cloud operations and deploying AI on top. By decoupling innovation from the ERP itself, the model puts control back in the customer’s hands, enabling modernization without pausing the business for accelerated time to value.
What you get with Rimini Cloud for SAP
Rimini Cloud for SAP is built on a modular model that adapts to the customer, not the other way around. To start, organizations can choose their preferred cloud provider among leading hyperscalers, maintain direct relationships and avoid vendor margin stacking. Whether retaining, modernizing or migrating infrastructure hardware, decisions are driven by business needs rather than bundled contracts or prescribed platforms.
Paired with Rimini Cloud for SAP is Rimini Support™, which delivers award-winning third-party support through senior engineers at up to 50% savings on annual maintenance fees and up to 90% savings on TCO. This foundation stabilizes existing SAP systems while freeing up budget to help fund the lift-and-shift to cloud infrastructure and fuel innovation.
From there, organizations can add capabilities based on their goals and priorities:
- Rimini Manage™ for SAP (optional): Robust application managed services offload day-to-day operational responsibilities, reduce ticket backlogs and lower overhead costs through deep technical expertise and an unlimited ticketing model.
- Rimini Agentic UX™ (optional): Agentic AI, automation and intelligent UX are layered directly over the top of existing SAP systems, deploying AI-driven workflows rapidly without waiting for upgrades, migrations or vendor release cycles.
Combined, these offerings form a flexible, end-to-end alternative to the RISE journey and SAP Cloud ERP Private that enables modernization and Agentic AI without forcing SAP customers onto a single roadmap.
SAP RISE vs. Rimini Cloud for SAP: A technical comparison
SAP RISE and Rimini Cloud for SAP may be competing routes to the cloud, but they have very different technical philosophies.
SAP Cloud ERP Private
|
Rimini Cloud for SAP |
|
|---|---|---|
Architecture |
Vendor-controlled, with SAP defining the tech stack, roadmap and sequencing of change |
Customer-controlled, with organizations choosing modular, best-fit services to evolve at their own pace |
Licensing |
Subscription model with bundled infrastructure, platform services and application evolution |
Retention of perpetual licenses for SAP ECC and/or S/4HANA on-prem |
AI enablement |
AI capabilities delivered incrementally; tightly coupled to SAP products, licensing and release cycles; innovation gated behind large-scale migration |
Agentic AI layered directly on existing SAP systems for immediate access to innovation; AI automation running in parallel with ongoing operations |
Value realization |
Value tied to platform transition and subscription adoption |
Value realized by capitalizing on business data within system |
At its core, Rimini Cloud for SAP decouples cloud adoption and AI innovation from ERP transformation, enabling organizations to move faster, reduce risk and retain control of their technology future.
Freedom, cost and speed without the trade-offs
Rimini Cloud for SAP is designed to restore flexibility, enable optionality and accelerate outcomes without forcing customers into disruptive trade-offs. With this model, organizations gain practical advantages, including:
- Freedom from vendor-dictated roadmaps: Customers keep control of architecture, timing and priorities instead of falling into vendor lock-in.
- Perpetual license retention: Existing SAP investments remain intact, preserving leverage and bypassing the forced conversion to subscriptions.
- Critical customization preservation: Business logic and process differentiation built into the ERP over time are maintained, protecting competitive advantage.
- Reimplementation avoidance: Modernization doesn’t require a multiyear ERP overhaul, dramatically reducing risk and capital outlay.
- More budget for innovation: Savings generated through third-party support for SAP can be redirected toward AI, automation and transformation initiatives.
- Self-funded modernization: The lift-and-shift can be partially funded by reduced operational expenses from cost-effective support and managed services.
- Faster time to results: Rimini Agentic UX project timelines are measured in weeks and months, not years.
- Rapid access to AI and automation: Intelligent workflows and Agentic AI capabilities can be deployed directly on existing ERP systems.
- Continuous value delivery: Benefits accrue immediately and regularly, rather than being deferred until a reimplementation is complete.
Rimini Cloud for SAP removes the trade-off between stability and innovation. With it, organizations can modernize faster, spend smarter and stay in control.
The strategic conclusion
The idea that benefiting from AI and cloud infrastructure requires replacing an existing ERP system with SAP Cloud ERP Private through RISE isn’t just misleading; it’s one of the most expensive misassumptions in enterprise IT.
SAP customers absolutely have the choice and the power to lift and shift to the cloud in a way that preserves stability, protects existing investments and avoids unnecessary disruption — then, apply AI where it delivers real value.
Rimini Cloud for SAP makes that route possible. By decoupling cloud adoption and AI enablement from ERP reimplementation, organizations can disregard vendor end-of-support deadlines and move at their own pace.
In short, the shortest path to the cloud and AI doesn’t require starting over. It involves modernizing on your own terms.
