A major US organization with annual revenues exceeding $7 billion and more than 7,000 employees was preparing to finalise a strategic SAP RISE agreement. The organisation had already undertaken a detailed RISE review, including bill of materials analysis, Effective License Position (ELP) assessment, and cost modelling.

While this work provided a clear understanding of the organisation’s licensing and commercial position, the client wanted specialist support to maximise leverage during negotiations with SAP.

As discussions with SAP progressed, the client sought specialist negotiation expertise to strengthen its commercial position and help secure the most favourable outcome possible from a complex, high-value five-year agreement.

The Challenges

The proposed SAP RISE agreement represented a substantial long-term investment as well as significant transformation change, so had to achieve the right contractual deal.

While the client had already completed significant preparation work, it required additional support to:

• Develop a structured negotiation strategy.
• Align stakeholders across both the client and SAP teams.
• Establish clear commercial priorities and trading positions.
• Benchmark proposed terms against market expectations.
• Support executive decision-making throughout negotiations.
• Maximise commercial leverage throughout negotiations with SAP.

Following a competitive RFP process, ITAA was selected based on its previous work with the client and the specialist expertise demonstrated by the engagement team.

The Solution

ITAA provided negotiation expertise during the year prior to the agreement deadline in support of the client’s commercial objectives throughout the SAP RISE procurement process.

The engagement included:

• Development of a comprehensive negotiation strategy.
• Creation of a structured negotiation timeline and governance framework.
• Stakeholder alignment and SAP team match-off planning.
• Preparation of a detailed negotiation playbook.
• Commercial benchmarking and outcome modelling.
• Prioritisation of negotiation objectives and trading positions.
• Executive decision support and negotiation checklists.
• Weekly review meetings and progress assessments.
• Ongoing support for communications and negotiations with SAP.
• Executive outcome modelling based on commercial benchmarks and stakeholder objectives.

By combining SAP commercial expertise, benchmarking insight, and proven negotiation methodologies, ITAA helped the client maintain focus on its strategic objectives while navigating an evolving and highly complex negotiation process.

The Results

The engagement delivered a substantial commercial improvement for the client.

SAP’s initial proposal was valued at over $129 million. Following the negotiation programme and commercial support provided by ITAA, the agreement was ultimately concluded at approximately $53 million.

The final agreement reduced the proposed contract value by approximately 59% compared to SAP’s original proposal.

This represented a commercial improvement of approximately $76 million compared to SAP’s original proposal while helping the organisation secure terms aligned to its business objectives and future requirements.

Beyond the financial outcome, the client gained greater confidence throughout the negotiation process, improved stakeholder alignment, and a structured framework for managing one of the largest SAP RISE negotiations undertaken in the US market.

This engagement reflects ITAA’s SAP Contract Negotiation service, helping organizations strengthen their commercial position, navigate complex SAP negotiations, and secure outcomes aligned to their business objectives.

*Protecting our clients’ confidence is of the utmost importance at ITAA. While our case studies are based on true projects, we have used fictitious names and removed or changed other identifiable details.