How Redress Compliance helped a $5.2 billion São Paulo-based consumer goods manufacturer save $12.5 million through a 25% RISE with SAP migration guide with SAP cost reduction, full audit penalty elimination, and a credible alternative strategy.
A leading Latin American consumer goods company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, with 12,000 employees and $5.2 billion in annual revenue, ran SAP ECC for its core ERP across finance, supply chain, and production on a primarily on-premises landscape.
Facing SAP’s 2027 end-of-support deadline for ECC, the firm began evaluating RISE with SAP to transition to S/4HANA Cloud.
Consumer Goods Manufacturing
São Paulo, Brazil
SAP ECC — Finance, Supply Chain, Production
SAP’s initial RISE proposal was a five-year, $30 million subscription — far above the company’s budget. The bundled cloud infrastructure came at rates padded with hefty markups over market rates.
Moving to RISE meant adopting SAP’s Full User Equivalent (FUE) model. The client struggled to map 3,500 existing SAP users into FUE categories and feared over-buying licences. There was also concern about SAP indirect/digital access licensing fees from third-party systems (e.g., a distributor portal accessing SAP data).
SAP pushed for a quick commitment before quarter-end with a “one-time” discount. The account team also reminded the client of an ongoing audit, implying that compliance issues could result in penalties if they didn’t sign RISE.
SAP’s audit preview indicated a potential $5 million penalty for unlicensed indirect usage — the e-commerce site creating SAP documents without proper licensing. This looming exposure added significant anxiety for the CIO and CFO.
Redress conducted a comprehensive licence and usage audit, quantifying actual SAP usage and translating it into FUEs. They found SAP’s proposal overestimated needs by ~15% and included cloud services the client didn’t need.
For FUE optimisation strategies, see SAP FUE Licensing Explained.
Redress recommended a tailored contract approach: SAP contract negotiation strategiese a smaller RISE scope focused on essential S/4HANA modules while keeping certain non-critical systems on-premises or on third-party cloud hosting. They helped the client push back on unnecessary components, including excess SAP BTP capacity.
Using global benchmarks, Redress showed the initial offer was overpriced compared to peer deals in the LATAM region and globally. Armed with these facts, the client confidently countered SAP’s pricing.
Redress orchestrated a credible alternative scenario — the client was prepared to purchase S/4HANA licences outright and use a local cloud provider if SAP didn’t improve terms. This leverage forced SAP to substantially revise its offer.
Redress negotiated inclusion of SAP’s Digital Access licence in the contract to cover known third-party integrations and secured a full waiver of the $5M audit claim. They also built in future flexibility by capping annual price increases at 5%, adding an exit clause, and securing ECC licence credit.
For understanding how RISE handles existing licences, see RISE with SAP: Impact on Existing Licences and Shelfware.
Initial offer: $30M over 5 years. Negotiated deal: $22.5M — a 25% reduction. Rightsized scope and removed unnecessary cloud components brought costs in line with market rates.
All known compliance gaps resolved through contractual provisions. Digital Access licence covers third-party integrations. The company migrates on its timetable without fear of unexpected fees.
Redress Compliance provides independent SAP licensing advisory — fixed-fee, no vendor affiliations. Our specialists help enterprises negotiate RISE with SAP, optimize indirect access exposure, and reduce maintenance spend.
Explore SAP Advisory Services →Combined subscription savings ($7.5M) and eliminated audit penalty ($5M) deliver $12.5M in total financial benefit — funds now available for innovation instead of unwarranted licensing costs.
ECC licence credit secured. 5% renewal escalation cap and exit clause prevent lock-in. Ability to reallocate user licences as needs evolve. The company regained control of its SAP roadmap.
“Redress Compliance was our secret weapon in the SAP negotiations. Their independent insight exposed hidden costs and pushed SAP into a deal on our terms. We saved millions and averted a compliance disaster while gaining a more flexible agreement.”
— CIO, Brazilian Consumer Goods Manufacturer
Yes. SAP frequently uses pending audit findings as leverage to push RISE deals, but those same findings can become negotiation currency. In this case, Redress secured a complete waiver of the $5M audit claim as part of the RISE agreement. The key is separating the audit from the commercial deal and quantifying the true exposure independently — SAP’s initial penalty claims are almost always inflated.
Absolutely. S/4HANA is available as a perpetual on-premise licence, and many enterprises choose to self-host on AWS, Azure, or local cloud providers. This is often the strongest negotiation lever against SAP — a credible willingness to walk away from RISE forces SAP to compete on price. In this case, preparing a local cloud alternative helped secure a 25% discount. See our SAP Private Cloud vs. DIY on Hyperscaler guide.
SAP’s initial FUE proposals typically overestimate needs by 10–20%. The most common errors are categorising too many users as Advanced (1.0 FUE) when they should be Core (0.2 FUE) or Self-Service (0.033 FUE). An independent licence review that maps actual user activities to the correct FUE categories typically reduces the total FUE count significantly. In this case, the overestimate was ~15%. See our FUE licensing guide.
Digital Access licences cover “indirect” or “digital” access to SAP — when third-party systems (e-commerce platforms, distributor portals, IoT devices) create or read SAP documents. Without proper coverage, these interactions can trigger compliance penalties. In this case, Redress ensured Digital Access was explicitly included in the RISE contract, covering the client’s e-commerce site and distributor portal. See our 9 Document Types in SAP Digital Access guide.
Evaluating or renewing RISE with SAP? Our free readiness assessment benchmarks your commercial terms and identifies negotiation leverage.
Take the Free Assessment →Yes. RISE doesn’t require migrating your entire SAP landscape. In this case, Redress negotiated for core S/4HANA modules to move to RISE while non-critical systems remained on-premises or on third-party cloud hosting. This hybrid approach reduces the RISE contract scope (and cost) while maintaining flexibility for future decisions.
Before signing, let us benchmark your deal, identify hidden costs, and negotiate terms that protect your interests — whether you’re in Latin America, Europe, or Asia-Pacific.
This case study is part of our RISE with SAP Guide pillar. Explore related case studies and guides:
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