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SAP, negotiated
before the migration.

ECC, S/4HANA, RISE with SAP, GROW, BTP, Ariba, SuccessFactors and Concur. Across the SAP estate, the largest commercial decisions are made not at renewal but at migration — and the difference between a prepared buyer and an unprepared buyer is measured in tens of millions over the term.

$430M+
SAP contract value negotiated
110+
SAP engagements
36%
Average SAP saving
11 yrs
SAP practice depth
Practice overview

The SAP commercial reality.

SAP's commercial estate is in mid-transformation. ECC is being moved towards S/4HANA. RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP are the preferred commercial vehicles. Digital Access has reframed indirect-use exposure into a documented metric. BTP is the connective tissue and a growing line item. Each of these moving parts changes the leverage available to the buyer — and SAP's commercial teams are well practised in compressing them into a single “transformation deal” that is harder to unpick.

Our SAP practice exists to keep the commercial conversation honest at each layer: what is bundled, what is optional, what is sized correctly, what is being repriced silently, and what should be locked for the next five years.

Where the practice applies

  • RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP. FUE sizing, baseline conversion, hyperscaler choice, and the commercial trade-off versus on-prem S/4HANA.
  • ECC to S/4HANA migration commercials. Conversion credit value, contract-conversion rules, and S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition versus Public Edition trade-offs.
  • Digital Access licensing. Document-based pricing, ramp design, and protection against retroactive indirect-use exposure.
  • BTP commercials. Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA) versus consumption, sizing discipline and ramp.
  • SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur. Renewal uplift defence, module rationalisation and per-user pricing benchmarks.
  • SAP GLAS audit defence. Indirect-use scope, named-user reclassification and commercial settlement design.

What we don't do

We are not a SAP reseller. We do not hold a SAP partner status. We do not take referral fees from SAP or any other vendor. The only side of the table we sit on is yours.

Typical engagement

RISE with SAP

10 to 16 weeks. FUE sizing, contract-conversion modelling, hyperscaler commercials, and the negotiation itself.

Typical engagement

S/4HANA conversion

8 to 14 weeks. Conversion credit valuation, premium-engine carve-outs, and post-conversion support footprint.

Typical engagement

Digital Access remediation

6 to 12 weeks. Document-counting baseline, ramp design, and protection from retroactive exposure on historic data flows.

Engagement model

Fixed-fee or success-based

Most SAP work is fixed-fee. Larger renewals are sometimes structured success-based against a documented baseline. See engagement models →

How we work

The SAP negotiation, in six phases.

01

Entitlement and engine map

We rebuild the full SAP entitlement view: named users, engines, options, third-party connectors, and indirect-access exposure across the estate.

02

Migration scenario modelling

We model the credible RISE, GROW, on-prem S/4HANA and stay-on-ECC scenarios side-by-side on a five-year unit-cost basis. The choice is commercial as well as architectural.

03

Strategy and leverage design

We sequence the migration commercial against renewals across SuccessFactors, Ariba and Concur to maximise leverage. We use SAP's own quarter-end and program-incentive calendar deliberately.

04

Counter-proposal and paper

We draft the counter-proposal, redline the RISE order form and the underlying schedules, and pre-empt the standard SAP playbook — conversion-credit pressure, bundling, and the “one-time-only” framing.

05

Negotiation execution

We lead or co-lead negotiations alongside your procurement, finance and architecture teams. We take the SAP regional-sales calls you do not want to take, and we hold the line on the clauses that matter.

06

Post-signature handover

We hand over a clean SAP file: signed paper, FUE allocation, BTP commit, indirect-use posture and the renewal calendar for the next cycle.

What it covers

The SAP terms we routinely move.

Commercial 01
Conversion credit and migration price
Documented value of the conversion credit, S/4HANA list-to-net conversion, and protection against silent repricing of historic engines and options.
Commercial 02
RISE FUE sizing and ramp
FUE sizing methodology, ramp shape, swap rights between FUE bands, drawdown of unused capacity, and hyperscaler commercial alignment.
Commercial 03
BTP commit shape
CPEA versus consumption choice, ramp design, and protection against price-list movement on BTP services during the term.
Legal 01
Digital Access and indirect use
Document-based pricing baseline, ramp design, and contractual protection against retroactive indirect-use exposure on historic data flows.
Legal 02
Audit, GLAS scope and remedies
Audit notice periods, scope limitations, named-user reclassification rules, and remedies that do not default to list-price catch-up.
Operational 01
Support, SLA and exit
Support tier, SLA construction, escalation paths to SAP leadership, and exit assistance on RISE and S/4HANA Cloud.

"They reframed our RISE conversation from a vendor-led migration plan into a five-year unit-cost negotiation. The number we signed was tens of millions below the opening position."

Group CIO
European Industrials Group
Outcomes

Recent SAP engagements.

All case studies

Facing a RISE or S/4HANA decision?

Tell us where you are in the S/4HANA timeline and what SAP has put on the table. We will respond within one business day with the SAP practice lead.