How to choose an SAP managed services provider for RISE with SAP
When a company moves to RISE with SAP, sooner or later it asks who will cover day-to-day operational support. There are several ways to solve it, but whichever you pick, the difference comes from the answers a provider gives you before you sign. Here are the questions worth asking and what you should hear back.
What SAP managed services are on RISE
SAP managed services are an ongoing service, with agreed service levels, in which an external team runs part of the day-to-day work of your SAP system. You will also see them called SAP AMS (Application Management Services). The market uses both terms almost interchangeably, so what matters is less the label and more which tasks each proposal covers.
On RISE with SAP that question has its own nuance. SAP GCO (Global Cloud Operations, formerly SAP ECS) runs the infrastructure, operating system, database and kernel as contracted, but it does not decide which notes to apply, does not support third-party add-ons and does not open requests and incidents on your behalf. The space between what SAP does and what your team does is exactly what a managed services provider covers, and we explain it in detail in what GCO (formerly ECS) does and doesn't do.
The three paths companies usually consider
There are normally three options on the table. The first is a large consulting firm, with standardized processes and several escalation levels, which tends to make sense for large operations. The second is covering it with the internal IT team, which knows the business well but already has its own projects and does not always have deep Basis expertise. The third is a team specialized in RISE, with clear SLAs and a real technical contact, without the structure or cost of a large firm.
We compare the three models in more detail on our managed services page for RISE. This article goes one step further: once you have candidates on the table, how to tell which one will actually sustain your operation.
Eight questions to ask any provider
They work the same for a large firm as for a specialized team. You are not looking for the longest answer, but for the one that shows the provider has already worked inside the RISE responsibility model.
| Question | What you want to hear | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Do you know the RISE roles and responsibilities document? | Clearly separates what GCO (formerly ECS) does from what stays on your side | Promises to handle everything, including infrastructure SAP already runs |
| Who opens and follows up on requests and incidents with SAP? | Their team, with experience in SAP for Me and the full ticket lifecycle | Expects your team to open tickets and just forward the answers |
| Are your SLAs in the contract and by severity? | Response times defined from S1 to S4 and what happens if they are missed | Talks about best effort or times that are not in writing |
| Who will look after my system? | An assigned specialist who knows your DEV, QA and PRD landscape | A rotating pool where each ticket goes to a different person |
| Do you support third-party add-ons? | Experience with add-ons and direct coordination with the vendor | Covers SAP standard only and leaves coordination to you |
| How do you handle the monthly Patch Day and Top Issues? | A process to review notes every month and close Top Issues before they become risk letters | Is not clear on what a risk letter is or who signs it |
| What will you report to me, and how often? | A regular report of actions and observations, including a reading of the EarlyWatch Alert | Only a count of closed tickets at month end |
| How do you cover after-hours maintenance windows? | Hours and coverage defined in the contract, with post-window validation included | Handled ad hoc or billed separately without being planned |
Why these questions and not others
Almost all of them point to the same place, which is coordination with SAP. On an on-premise system a provider worked with direct access to servers and database. On RISE much of that work goes through requests to GCO (formerly ECS), and a provider who does not know that flow turns every change into tickets going back and forth. That is why dates set by SAP, such as the mandatory application of the OVERPASS patch, or Top Issues that end up as risk letters, are a good test of how close the provider works to day-to-day RISE operations.
Continuity is the other piece. A specialist who already knows your system knows which interfaces are sensitive, which jobs cannot be moved and which tables grow fastest. With a rotating team that context is lost on every ticket and paid for in time.
How to compare proposals
Once you have the answers, three things make the comparison easier:
- Ask for the scope against the responsibility matrix: every task on your side of the RISE document should have a clear owner in the proposal.
- Ask for a sample report: with made-up data, but in the actual format you will receive every week or every two weeks.
- Ask how onboarding works: what access they need, how they document your landscape and how long it takes the team to learn your system before handling the first incident.
A large size does not guarantee better service, and neither does a small one. What is worth measuring is focus, meaning how much of what that provider does every day happens inside RISE with SAP and how well it knows the Basis work that is still yours.
Frequently asked questions
What are SAP managed services? An ongoing service, with SLAs, in which an external provider runs part of the day-to-day work of an SAP system, such as tickets, coordination with SAP, notes, updates, add-ons, monitoring and reporting.
What is the difference between SAP AMS and SAP managed services? In practice they are used almost interchangeably. AMS usually refers to application support, functional and technical, and managed services to a continuously operated service with service levels. Look at which tasks each proposal covers rather than the name.
If I have RISE with SAP, doesn't SAP provide that support? SAP GCO (formerly ECS) runs the technical layer as contracted, but decisions on notes and updates, third-party add-ons and coordinating requests with SAP stay with you.
If you are evaluating providers for your RISE system, we are happy to answer these eight questions in writing.