The News: SAP announced the introduction of RISE with SAP add-on packages focused on the needs of finance and supply chain organizations. According to SAP, each targeted package is designed to augment the complete offering of cloud solutions, infrastructure, and services, providing specific tools and functions for digital banking, treasury, risk management, product lifecycle management, and logistics functions. You can read more about these announcements on the SAP website.
SAP Announces RISE with SAP Add-On Packages for SAP S4/HANA Migration
Analyst Take: SAP announced two new add-on packages to RISE with SAP designed to specifically assist customers focused on finance and supply chain use cases with migrating to its SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition ERP. The goal of these packages is to help customers manage mission-critical processes by providing pre-built specific functions and processes that help accomplish specific tasks as they migrate to a cloud-based environment.
Financial Management Packages Seek to Streamline Connections and Management Tasks
RISE with SAP offers add-on packages to improve financial management for businesses, which are focused on digital banking functions, treasury and risk management, and billing and revenue functions:
- Digital banking is designed to simplify connections with banks and payment services while maintaining security. It integrates payment processes with SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
- Treasury and risk management offers a centralized solution to manage investments, borrowing, and financial risks. It allows for real-time cash flow insights and integration with trading platforms.
- Billing and revenue innovation management helps businesses with innovative billing models for bundled services and subscriptions. It facilitates easier management of subscriptions, convergent billing, and contract accounting.
The package also incorporates what SAP calls the Financial Three Lines of Defense. The features are designed to help automate and standardize tasks related to risk management, compliance, and audits, thereby improving an organization’s ability to respond to risks, resolve issues, and demonstrate compliance with regulations.
Improving Workflows and Processes Across the Supply Chain
Similarly, RISE with SAP also offers a suite of add-on packages focusing on various aspects of the supply chain lifecycle, including advanced product lifecycle management, supply chain planning, logistics, manufacturing processes, and asset and service management tasks.
- Advanced Product Lifecycle Management is designed to improve collaboration between teams and streamline information flow across product development activities, with a goal of driving more accurate design decisions and faster time-to-market.
- Advanced Supply Chain Planning utilizes AI and automation technology to help optimize planning by enabling the early identification of disruptions and providing proactive responses.
- Advanced Logistics is designed to improve resilience through the delivery of specific capabilities for warehousing, transportation, and inventory management, with the objective of reducing costs, improving delivery times, and minimizing stock-outs.
- Advanced Manufacturing is designed to improve efficient and sustainable production through intelligent planning and execution by facilitating flexible manufacturing processes that can account for and adapt to changing demands.
- Advanced Asset and Service Management utilizes AI to optimize asset maintenance and service delivery, helping to maximize the performance of assets, reduce maintenance costs, and provide excellent service.
Add-Ons Supporting Businesses and SAP’s Cloud-Transformation Strategy
SAP has been adamant about moving its customers to its cloud-based ERP systems, largely using the carrots-and-sticks approach of offering the most powerful and advanced AI and automation features only to those using their cloud infrastructure and by setting a deadline of 2027 to cease providing maintenance to its Business Suite 7 on-premises software.
The release of industry- and function-specific packages that help organizations address specific tasks as they move to S4/HANA is clearly a carrot and is addressing one of the major challenges faced by organizations: how to manage specific, mission-critical tasks without needing to build the connectors to various internal and external systems and teams to ensure friction-free processes and information flows.
By providing these tools and guidance through RISE with SAP, the program designed to help organizations migrate from on-premises to cloud infrastructure, SAP is addressing the key criticisms of its cloud-first approach, which is that organizations don’t have the resources or support to migrate quickly. I suspect that as the 2027 deadline inches closer (which, to be fair, may slip), more organizations will take advantage of these types of packages in critical business areas where there is a clear desire to leverage new technology such as generative AI, which SAP is rapidly incorporating throughout its platform.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
SAP Announces AI Capabilities to Improve Retail Business Processes
SAP Announces Generative AI Features with Datasphere Platform Upgrade
SAP’s Generative AI Copilot, Joule, Coming to SAP Applications
Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is VP & Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
