As SAP advances with its rebranded Cloud ERP Private (formerly RISE with SAP), organizations are quickly realizing that the journey to the cloud is more complex than the pitch suggests. In our latest webinar on June 25, our CEO, Linh Nguyen, pulled back the curtain on why so many SAP cloud projects are stalling and what Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can do about it. In this blog post, we’re going to recap the most important points of the webinar.
Why Cloud Discovery Needs a Rethink
Cloud migrations for SAP have become vastly more complex in the RISE era. Most projects still rely heavily on manual assessments, tribal knowledge, and outdated documentation to plan migrations.
What’s needed now is a data-driven, automation-first approach to cloud discovery—one that gathers system information in hours, not weeks. IT-Conductor has seen too many SAP transformations go off track because organizations lacked the full picture: current performance data, component compatibility, or landscape dependencies. Without this visibility, migration planning is more guesswork than strategy.
That’s why IT-Conductor emphasizes rapid, automated landscape discovery and analysis. It not only reduces assessment time but also lays a foundation for a smoother, more cost-effective migration.
What SAP Isn’t Telling You About Cloud ERP Private
SAP’s cloud vision is built around a managed service model where infrastructure, basic SAP system maintenance, and licensing are bundled into a single offering. But the reality is far from seamless. What many customers discovered too late is:
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It’s not true cloud: There’s no elasticity or on-demand scaling. You pay for fixed capacity, and provisioning changes take time and effort.
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You lose operational control: No more shell access, no control over your HANA DB or VM provisioning. Even basic migrations require SAP intervention and ticketing.
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Service levels are limited: SAP promises 99.7% availability, which may fall short of your internal SLA requirements, and doesn’t account for the ripple effect of even brief outages on connected systems.
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Migration complexity increases: Customers often face unexpected infrastructure costs (like $100K+ migration servers), restricted tooling access, and long provisioning delays.
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You’re managing more than SAP: SAP manages SAP. But you still own the performance and availability of everything around it (integrations, third-party apps, custom code, downstream systems, etc). And SAP won’t coordinate with your broader ecosystem.
And the most underestimated challenge is the human impact. When companies move to RISE, their internal SAP teams (basis engineers, HANA admins, cloud architects) lose access to systems they've managed for years. Teams that were once vital are suddenly sidelined. Many organizations find themselves dealing with decreased morale, skill atrophy, and even staff turnover. Some engineers leave entirely, disillusioned by a model where they can no longer apply their expertise.
To retain and empower these teams, companies must shift their roles toward higher-value activities like automation engineering, observability, and orchestration management.
Cloud ERP Private Edition vs. Cloud-Native: Not the Same Thing
SAP positions Cloud ERP Private Edition (formerly RISE with SAP) as a modern cloud solution, but in reality, it behaves more like managed hosting. There’s no elasticity. No auto-scaling. No usage-based pricing. Instead, customers receive pre-sized virtual machines, provisioned months in advance, and billed from day one or even if the project hasn’t gone live.
In contrast, cloud-native ERP is built around dynamic infrastructure. It adapts to usage, scales automatically, and gives teams self-service access to logs, patches, and system configurations. In this model, infrastructure is transparent, agile, and cost-aligned with real consumption.
Here’s how the two compare:
|
Cloud-Native ERP |
Cloud ERP Private Edition |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Provisioning |
On-demand, elastic |
Pre-sized, static |
|
Cost model |
Pay-per-use |
Pay-upfront, regardless of use |
|
Access |
Full OS/DB/app access |
Restricted (no shell, no DB control) |
|
Patching |
Self-managed or automated |
SAP-managed, slow ticket processes |
|
Environment scaling |
Real-time scale up/down |
Fixed sizing from day one |
Don’t confuse lift-and-shift hosting with cloud transformation. Cloud ERP Private Edition may run in the cloud, but it doesn’t behave like it.
MSPs and SIs as Strategic Orchestrators
For Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Systems Integrators (SIs), the consulting firms and implementation partners delivering SAP services, this shift presents both a threat and an opportunity.
The traditional model of “migrate and manage” no longer cuts it. Today, successful partners are evolving into end-to-end orchestrators, offering services that go beyond deployment and into continuous optimization, lifecycle management, and integrated tooling support.
MSPs that succeed in this space do three key things:
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Leverage automation for rapid discovery and assessment
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Deliver visibility across both SAP and non-SAP landscapes
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Own the orchestration layer to coordinate migration, operation, and optimization across multiple vendors and platforms
The RISE model might restrict infrastructure access, but it also opens a new space for MSPs to differentiate with intelligence, not infrastructure.
The 5-Step Cloud Discovery Framework
Some time ago, IT-Conductor developed a practical, repeatable approach to cloud discovery and assessment. This 5-step framework enables MSPs and enterprise teams to assess SAP environments accurately and efficiently, without the delays of manual analysis.
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Discover: Automatically scan the customer’s SAP and infrastructure landscape to inventory systems, versions, configurations, and topologies.
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Distill: Analyze each system in depth: database usage, component stack, usage patterns, and integration points.
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Diagnose: Identify pain points: security vulnerabilities, performance bottlenecks, outdated components, and readiness for S/4HANA or RISE.
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Design: Create an optimized migration plan tailored to technical debt, business priorities, and SLA needs.
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Deliver: Use orchestration and automation tools to execute the migration with transparency, traceability, and minimal disruption.
Figure 1: Percentage of Time & Effort Savings with IT-Conductor
This approach sets the stage for the next phase of your journey.
Tools That Power Transformation
Complementing this framework is IT-Conductor’s suite of automation and orchestration tools, built specifically for SAP environments.
Some of the capabilities that were showcased during the webinar include:
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Cloud-based assessment that ingests and analyzes landscapes in real-time
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Migration dashboards with full visibility and control of every stage from source to target
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Real-time landscape inventory (SAP, VMware, databases, and infrastructure)
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Security note detection and compliance tracking
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Integrated SAP media download manager (eliminating redundant downloads)
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Software Update Manager (SUM) integration for tracking upgrade progress and logs across teams
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Service catalog automation for patching, system refreshes, stop/start coordination, and more
Together, these tools offer a centralized, intelligent control plane that lets MSPs and enterprises manage SAP environments with precision, even under the constraints of SAP Cloud ERP.
Figure 2: SAP on AWS Migration Dashboard in IT-Conductor
IT-Conductor MSP Partner Program
Ready to Lead the Next Generation of SAP Managed Services?
The shift to SAP Cloud ERP is here, and it’s reshaping how enterprise IT and MSPs operate. Those who succeed will be the ones who evolve with it.
If you're an MSP or SAP team looking to:
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Accelerate cloud migrations with real-time discovery and automation
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Retain technical talent through smarter tools and better roles
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Deliver value beyond infrastructure, with orchestration and observability
You might be interested in joining IT-Conductor’s MSP Partner Program. If so, please take two minutes to fill out this questionnaire.
Let’s collaborate to take SAP operations and your service offerings to the next level!
Watch the Webinar Recording
