How moving to RISE affects your installed SAP base — covering perpetual-to-subscription transitions, licence shelving, conversion credits, dual-use periods, lock-in risks, exit strategies, and negotiation tactics that protect your investment.
RISE with SAP is an all-in-one cloud subscription for S/4HANA, encompassing software, infrastructure, and basic support. Instead of buying SAP licences outright (CapEx) and paying annual support, you pay a recurring subscription fee (OpEx) for as long as you use the service.
This marks a shift from the traditional perpetual licence model — where ownership is indefinite — to a term-based licence model where usage rights last only as long as the subscription. Under RISE, SAP typically measures usage with Full User Equivalents (FUEs) rather than old Named User categories.
The key change: you no longer "own" a software asset — you are renting the ERP system. This has significant impacts on any installed base licences you previously purchased.
When you migrate an existing SAP ERP to RISE, a critical question arises: what happens to the licences you already paid for? In most cases, those on-premises perpetual licences must be terminated or put into "shelf" status once you sign a RISE subscription.
Licences taken out of active use — you stop paying maintenance (saving that annual 20–22% cost), but relinquish ongoing usage rights beyond a defined migration period. Your old ERP must be retired once live on RISE.
✓ Immediate maintenance savings
✓ No double-charging old + new
✓ Clean contract structure
✗ Lose perpetual use rights
✗ Can't reactivate later without new purchase
✗ No "double dipping" allowed
Before RISE, SAP offered programmes to convert ECC licences into S/4HANA licences (on-premise). With RISE, you're not converting to another perpetual licence — you're transitioning to a subscription. The old "conversion" model doesn't directly apply.
✓ Historical option for on-prem S/4
✓ Some credit value preserved
✗ Not available for RISE subscription
✗ Credits negotiated, not guaranteed
✗ Shelfware may get minimal credit
SAP typically allows a grace period for dual use — running your legacy ECC in parallel with S/4HANA on RISE during transition (typically 6–12 months). This must be negotiated explicitly into your contract. Ensure there is language permitting a temporary parallel run so you remain compliant during data migration, testing, and user training. Also clarify rollback options: if the cloud migration is delayed, can you continue using old licences longer?
| Factor | Traditional On-Premises (Perpetual) | RISE with SAP (Subscription) |
|---|---|---|
| Licence Ownership | Perpetual rights — use indefinitely even if you stop maintenance | No perpetual rights — access ends when subscription ends |
| Maintenance | ~20–22% per year; can drop and still use software (unsupported) | Included in subscription; stop paying = lose software + support |
| Existing Licences | Continue using as long as you want; unused licences sit as shelfware at no cost | On-prem licences for RISE-covered functions are shelved; must retire old system |
| Unused Capacity | Stop maintenance on unused modules; re-purpose elsewhere | Locked-in subscription: can't scale down mid-term; over-estimated FUEs = cloud shelfware |
| Exit Scenario | Keep software you bought; sunset on your own timeline | Lose access to S/4HANA entirely; must buy new licences or find alternative |
One immediate benefit of shelving old licences is eliminating annual maintenance fees. If you were paying $2M/year in SAP support for ECC, that cost disappears. But you must weigh this against the new RISE subscription fee — the goal is making cloud costs roughly equivalent to your previous maintenance + infrastructure spend.
SAP usually provides credit or trade-in value for your existing investment — not a refund, but a discount applied to your RISE subscription quote. Unused maintenance can be prorated, and shelfware from past over-purchasing may be factored into a more favourable price. These credits are not standardised — they depend entirely on negotiation skill and timing.
Near-100% maintenance value credited. First year of RISE almost cost-neutral. Example: $5M maintenance → ~$4.5M in credits.
Credits diminishing as 2027 deadline approaches. Example: same $5M maintenance → ~$3M in credits. The $2M gap means double-paying during transition.
Minimal leverage. Extended maintenance at premium prices (to 2030). See: 15 Things CIOs Need to Know About ECC End of Life.
Align your RISE start date with your maintenance renewal cycle. If maintenance bills in January, start RISE right after — negotiate a credit for any prepaid support. Prevent overlap where you're paying for cloud and on-prem support simultaneously. This is also the moment to trim what you don't need: discontinue maintenance on modules that won't be used in S/4HANA so they aren't included in the RISE scope. Eliminate shelfware from your contract and only pay for what you truly need.
A global enterprise had $10M in unused SAP licences (shelfware from prior over-purchasing) and was paying $5M/year in maintenance. SAP offered a credit roughly equal to one year of maintenance plus a portion of the shelfware value, cutting initial RISE fees by ~50%. Over a 5-year contract, this saved tens of millions. A different firm that approached SAP later received only a maintenance credit with no shelfware consideration — resulting in a higher net subscription cost.
Document your unused licences and maintenance spend and use that as leverage. SAP sales teams do have flexibility to apply one-time credits or discounts for customers transitioning a large install base. Download: White Paper — Is RISE with SAP Right for You? 10-Step Evaluation | White Paper — 10 SAP Negotiation Tactics You Should Know.
Under the old model, owning perpetual licences meant a fallback: you could run SAP indefinitely on-premise, even without support. With RISE, if you stop paying, your ERP turns off. No perpetual usage right to fall back on — significantly increasing vendor lock-in.
SAP's strategy is to shift customers into "lifetime" subscriptions where leaving the platform is difficult. For CIOs, this means planning for the endgame up front.
Renewal caps: Insist on a cap on subscription price increases at renewal (e.g., no more than ~5% per year). Right-sizing at renewal: Allow user count adjustments for divestitures or downturns. Exit assistance: Data export rights, extended read access, or migration support if you leave. Conversion option: Some customers negotiate the option to convert their subscription investment into a perpetual S/4HANA licence if they choose not to renew — SAP doesn't offer this by default, but raising it improves your position.
Once you shelve old licences and go to RISE, returning to on-premises later means buying new licences from scratch. Any "conversion" back to perpetual would be negotiated from a position of weakness. If you have doubts, consider a phased approach: migrate a portion to RISE while keeping some core systems on-premises. Note: SAP's incentive programmes usually require a full contract conversion for the main ERP. Read: RISE vs Traditional Licensing: Contractual Flexibility Comparison.
Before negotiating RISE, take stock of all current SAP licences — heavily utilised and unused — plus maintenance expenses. This baseline helps you argue for credits and ensures you only subscribe for what you need. See: SAP Licence Optimisation Through Periodic User Classification Reviews.
Don't accept the first quote. Push for trade-in credits for existing licence investments and any remaining support period. If you renewed maintenance last quarter, negotiate to apply that payment toward the RISE fee. Download: White Paper — 10 SAP Negotiation Tactics.
Plan your RISE start date to coincide with the end of a maintenance cycle. Avoid periods where you'd pay for on-prem and RISE simultaneously. Co-term the end of maintenance on products to sync with RISE commencement.
Ensure the agreement explicitly permits running legacy systems in parallel with RISE for 6–12 months. Clarify that no extra licensing fees apply during migration, testing, and user training phases.
Discuss what happens at term end. Negotiate data export rights, cap renewal price increases (~5%/year), and allow right-sizing at renewal. See: RISE Negotiations Guide for CIO and Procurement.
If risk assessment warrants it, keep a subset of licences (dev system, fail-safe environment) with active maintenance as a backup. Some customers maintain a small on-prem footprint during transition.
SAP's extended maintenance (to 2030) and RISE Private Edition bridge (to 2033) are expensive last-resort measures. Better to use SAP's incentives now. See: 15 Things CIOs Need to Know About ECC End of Life.
Treat RISE as an ongoing value proposition. Regularly benchmark what you're paying per user/workload vs what on-prem would cost. If value erodes in later terms, catch it early and renegotiate. Download: White Paper — Is RISE with SAP Right for You?
Ensure finance and procurement understand that capital assets (licences) become OpEx. Prepare them for renewal management and the importance of setting aside funds for future subscription costs.
Our SAP licensing specialists help enterprises negotiate optimal conversion credits, protect perpetual rights, benchmark RISE pricing, and plan exit strategies that prevent lock-in.