RISE with SAP Managed Services: What It Means for...

Oyku_Ilgar · ‎2024 Sep 11

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations must adapt to new market dynamics and customer expectations to stay competitive. Therefore, many are transitioning to cloud solutions to enhance agility and resilience. However, IT teams working with on-prem ERP systems may not fully realize how their current workload will change in a cloud ERP model.

RISE with SAP provides organizations with a pathway to becoming an agile, resilient, and future-ready organization by moving to an AI-enabled cloud ERP that is both managed and optimized by SAP. In this blog, we will delve into the benefits of managed services provided by RISE with SAP and what they mean for IT departments.

Offload ERP Infrastructure Management

Transitioning to a cloud ERP is a significant investment of time and resources for IT departments. Once the migration is complete, organizations unlock a new "team" of experts through SAP managing their ERP infrastructure. While the migration process demands effort upfront, the long-term benefits are transformative, shifting the IT workload dramatically.

So, how does SAP alleviate the burden on IT teams and lighten their workload?

SAP provides comprehensive managed cloud services by managing the full production stack, including application, security, operating system, and infrastructure. RISE with SAP offers a proven methodology and tools for smooth migration from on-premises to cloud ERP, facilitating digital transformation through best practices, streamlined business processes, and robust governance. This structured approach helps organizations reduce risks and costs of their cloud ERP journey.

Image: Managed cloud services in RISE with SAP

SAP managed services use a shared control model. In this setup, SAP handles technical services that do not directly affect business operations, such as security patches and kernel updates. And services that impact business functions, like ERP upgrades and feature pack updates, are initiated by the customer and carried out by SAP. 

With this arrangement, customers maintain control over key business decisions and customisation while benefiting from SAP’s expertise in managing technical aspects.

Image: Shared control model for managed services in RISE with SAP

The Key to Trustworthy Cloud ERP Management

SAP has extensive experience managing over 120,000 systems. In terms of data management, SAP oversees 28,000 TiB or a staggering 28 PB of memory across the world, which represents one of the largest setups in the industry.

One common question that customers have is: how simple is it for them to get in touch with their SAP experts?

Engaging with SAP experts is streamlined through a centralized, self-service portal that enables users to create tickets, monitor the system’s health, and view early alert reports and technical environment data – which is called SAP for Me. Customers also have a 24/7 support desk hotline available for immediate assistance and expert resources throughout the customer journey, starting from the implementation phase.

With decades of experience in ERP, SAP continues to be a trusted leader in offering reliable and secure solutions for businesses worldwide. In the past year alone, SAP has successfully processed over 80,000 service requests, achieving 100% on-time resolution for high-priority cases. This strong track record demonstrates SAP’s ability to maintain high system uptime and address service requests, giving our customers confidence that their ERP system is in good hands.

The Security Advantages of RISE with SAP

According to the Cyberwarfare in the C-Suite 2022 Report, cybersecurity has officially become the world's third-largest economy. This reality emphasizes how crucial cybersecurity is in our fast-paced digital world. As cybercriminals are now harnessing AI to craft increasingly sophisticated and stealthy malware, making the stakes higher than ever, organizations face an uphill battle in safeguarding their business systems.

So, the question arises: How can IT departments trust data stored in the cloud compared to data stored on-premises within their facilities?

RISE with SAP manages the security of the operating system, database, and technical layers of the S/4HANA Cloud application, ensuring the reliable availability of SAP business applications. Customers can benefit from continuous security oversight provided by SAP security experts, which includes regular updates and patching, centralized security configurations, and controls. This approach frees up IT teams from repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives, provides peace of mind with a predictable cost of security ownership, and mitigates the SAP security skills shortage by leveraging SAP professionals, SAP solutions, and tools, and benefit from the experience of our ecosystem of partners.

With this mode, IT teams can concentrate on their core business objectives while the technical details are handled behind the scenes by SAP.

Image: What RISE with SAP Offers

As the number of regulations continues to grow, it becomes challenging for organizations to maintain compliance across numerous functions and systems. The good news is, RISE with SAP compliance management ensures adherence to global and regional regulatory requirements with about 130 audits conducted annually.

Research shows that the top strategic and operational reason to migrate to cloud ERP is better security and compliance. Within the RISE with SAP Framework, security services prioritize three main objectives. One of them is safeguarding SAP applications against cyberattacks with features like ransomware and malware management, threat detection, access controls, and vulnerability scanning.

Image: Reasons for migrating to the cloud. IDC’s SAP Global Future of Trust & Security Survey, 2023

In summary, here is how the managed services provided by RISE with SAP benefit IT teams:

More focus on what matters: With SAP managing the technical operations, IT teams can spend more time on projects that really impact the business.

Single point of contact: SAP manages the entire production stack, so there’s no need to juggle multiple contacts.

Expert management: A dedicated team from SAP ensures that the S/HANA Cloud Private Edition runs reliably and securely.

Guided transformation: SAP partners with customers to help them navigate their journey to the cloud and drive transformation.

Image: IT benefits from RISE with SAP managed services

Want to learn more? View this 30-minute webinar to learn how SAP helps you transition to and run a cloud ERP: “Rise into the Future: Managed Cloud Services and Security in RISE with SAP”