What is SAP and what is RISE with SAP
SAP is the ERP that thousands of mid-sized and large companies in Mexico and Latin America run on. RISE with SAP is the way SAP offers it in the cloud today. This guide explains both, and what almost nobody clarifies before signing: what SAP does and what your team keeps doing after Go-Live.
What SAP is and what it is used for
SAP stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing. It is a German company founded in 1972 and also the name commonly used for its main product, an ERP: a system that brings a company's finance, procurement, sales, inventory, production, maintenance and human resources processes into a single database.
Its purpose is to have every department work from the same information. A purchase order in SAP updates inventory, accounting and cash flow at the same moment, with no manual reconciliation between systems. That is why the companies that use it rely on it to close the month, invoice and supply their plants.
The system is organized in functional modules, such as FI (finance), CO (controlling), MM (materials and procurement), SD (sales and distribution), PP (production planning), PM (maintenance) and EWM (warehousing). Underneath all of them sits the technical layer, known as Basis, which keeps the system running: kernel, database, transports, interfaces, updates and monitoring.
From SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA
For almost two decades SAP's ERP was SAP ECC, which runs on several databases. Its successor is SAP S/4HANA, designed to run only on SAP HANA, SAP's in-memory database. Mainstream maintenance for ECC ends at the end of 2027 and SAP offers optional extended maintenance until 2030, so a large share of SAP customers are migrating to S/4HANA during these years.
That migration is when many of them also decide where the system will live: in their own data center, in a cloud they contract themselves or within RISE with SAP.
What RISE with SAP is
RISE with SAP is the offering through which SAP sells S/4HANA as a subscription. A single contract with SAP covers the S/4HANA licenses, the cloud infrastructure, either on a hyperscaler such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud or in an SAP data center, and the technical services run by SAP Enterprise Cloud Services (SAP ECS). Depending on the edition, it also includes process analysis tools and credits for SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).
Most mid-sized and large companies that migrate with RISE choose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, which keeps the flexibility of a traditional S/4HANA, custom ABAP code included. The other option is Public Edition, a standardized SaaS with less room for customization.
| Aspect | RISE, Private Edition | RISE, Public Edition | On-premise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs the infrastructure | SAP ECS, on a hyperscaler or in an SAP data center | SAP | Your company or your hosting provider |
| Customization | Broad, with custom ABAP code and third-party add-ons | Limited to extensions SAP allows | Full |
| Updates | Planned by your company and executed by SAP ECS | Applied by SAP on a fixed schedule | Planned and executed by your team |
| Contract | Subscription with SAP | Subscription with SAP | License plus maintenance |
Who does what on RISE with SAP
This is where the most common confusion lies. RISE moves the infrastructure to SAP, but it does not settle who runs day-to-day operations. SAP ECS runs the technical layer and your company remains responsible for everything on the application side.
What SAP ECS runs:
- Infrastructure, environment network and operating system.
- SAP HANA database, backups and disaster recovery, as contracted.
- Kernel and technical layer patches, security patches included, as in the case of OVERPASS.
- The technical execution of the updates your company requests.
What stays with your team:
- Implementing code notes with SNOTE and planning Support Package updates, like the ones released every month on SAP Security Patch Day.
- Transports, interfaces, business jobs and third-party add-ons that SAP does not support.
- Testing before and after every change.
- Requesting services from SAP ECS, following up on tickets and handling Top Issues and risk letters.
- Watching database growth before it turns into a capacity expansion and preparing audits and the SOC report.
The exact split is in the roles and responsibilities document of your contract. It is worth reading carefully before Go-Live, because anything not listed as SAP's responsibility is yours.
What changes after Go-Live
The migration project ends, the integrator leaves and the system goes live. From that day on, which we call Day 2, someone with Basis judgment has to coordinate windows with SAP ECS, decide which notes apply, follow up on tickets with SAP and keep the system current without putting operations at risk.
Many companies discover that gap after signing. Some cover it with internal staff and others with an external team specialized in RISE. What matters is that someone knows the gap exists, because SAP will not cover it.
Frequently asked questions
What does SAP stand for? Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing, the name of the German company founded in 1972 that develops the ERP.
Is RISE with SAP the same as S/4HANA? No. S/4HANA is the ERP. RISE with SAP is the way to subscribe to it, together with the infrastructure and SAP ECS technical services, in a single contract.
Does RISE include day-to-day Basis support? Not entirely. SAP ECS runs the technical layer and application-side operations remain with the customer.
What is SAP ECS? SAP Enterprise Cloud Services is the SAP team that runs the infrastructure and technical layer of RISE systems. You work with them through service requests and your dCEM.
If you already run RISE or are about to go live and want to review what falls to your team, let's talk.