SAP is your biggest IT investment. Are you managing it that way?

Anyone responsible for a budget knows that uneasy feeling: The annual financial statement is on the table, the figure is higher than expected, and no one can really explain it. Not because anyone was negligent, but because the tools that served us well for years were designed for a different model. In consulting practice, this isn’t an isolated case. It’s a pattern. And it’s one that can be avoided with the right tools.

As long as SAP was a fixed-cost item, the question of value didn’t require a nuanced answer. One license, one maintenance contract, one budget line item. For a portfolio consisting of cloud ERP subscriptions, BTP consumption, Business AI credits, and Business Data Cloud, that’s no longer enough. The question hasn’t changed. The complexity of the answer has.

Flexible Model – Portfolio Grows

Buying and maintaining is different from renting and using. What used to be purchased as a license with a maintenance contract is now a portfolio of multiple contract types and metrics. SAP Cloud ERP Private, the successor to the classic Rise with SAP, as well as SAP Cloud ERP, replace the on-premises license with subscriptions based on FUE-based metrics, whose ACV evolves over the contract period. 

SAP Business AI and SAP Business Data Cloud are consumption-based items outside the core ERP system and follow their own billing logic. With the SAP Business AI Platform announced at SAP Sapphire 2026, SAP is consolidating SAP BTP, Business Data Cloud, and Business AI under a common platform structure that includes its own billing models.

The following observation is strategically relevant: SAP’s product strategy suggests that on-premises licenses will also be gradually transitioned to usage-based models. The former distinction between traditional licenses and cloud subscriptions is blurring. Companies that still operate primarily on-premises should take this development into account in their medium-term contract planning.

A specific example from consulting practice illustrates the structural consequence: A company migrates to Cloud ERP Private. The first annual bill is noticeably higher than the forecast. This is due to BTP consumption and Business AI credits, which were not factored into the original budget. No one acted maliciously in this case: consumption was simply not continuously reconciled against the forecast. 

That is precisely the challenge: not negligence, but a lack of control mechanisms. What could have been avoided turned into a surprise because the model changed, but the control logic did not. This pattern is not an isolated case. It is the direct consequence of a portfolio that is broader and more variable than its predecessor: greater flexibility leads to greater volume, and greater volume generates a proportionally greater need for control.

ITAM Can Add Value to Inventory and FinOps

IT Asset Management has reliably guided companies through the world of licensing. Ensuring compliance, documenting license usage, and passing audits: ITAM provides precise and reliable answers to the questions that matter for a fixed-cost model. What do we have? How many licenses? Are we compliant?

In a world of subscriptions and consumption models, the relevant questions are shifting. The difference between the two disciplines can be illustrated using a specific decision-making scenario: A business unit is evaluating whether to develop a new capability on BTP or to procure it via a third-party tool. The basis for this decision requires a reliable answer to the question of what BTP costs per transaction in the organization’s own setup. At this point, ITAM can say, „We have a BTP subscription.“ FinOps can say: „This service costs X per unit; this area consumes Y; the trend over the last few periods is Z.“ The difference lies not in the quality of the data, but in the perspective—and thus in the scope for action: ITAM manages the inventory, while FinOps makes the value transparent and therefore controllable.

FinOps is not „ITAM for the cloud.“ FinOps offers a different perspective: rather than managing the inventory, it makes the value transparent. Consumption, allocation, forecasting, and control. It is an extension, not a replacement. Companies that consciously combine both disciplines make better decisions because they have a complete view: what is available and what it actually delivers.

FinOps Foundation

The FinOps Foundation has formally expanded this scope for 2026. The FinOps Framework now encompasses not only cloud infrastructure but also explicitly includes SaaS, licensing, private cloud, and AI workloads. The State of FinOps 2026 shows that the convergence of ITAM and FinOps has increased by 20 percent compared to the previous year. SAP is by no means a marginal topic here: The FinOps Foundation has been offering SAP-specific training since 2026, which underscores the growing operational relevance of this connection.

In practice, the synergy between these two disciplines serves as a solid foundation. ITAM provides the inventory foundation. FinOps provides the ongoing value perspective. Together, they deliver what is necessary for a complex SAP portfolio: inventory and development, compliance and governance, contracts and usage.

Making Value Visible

Anyone who has been consulting in this field long enough will notice a recurring shift: Line-of-business departments are increasingly beginning to view SAP investments in relation to
...to other tools, other platforms, and what they actually experience in their day-to-day operations. Consumption models make this possible—and, at the same time, inevitable. Anyone who doesn’t have a structured answer to these questions doesn’t just lose the discussion; they lose their room to maneuver.

This question is bound to come up. Those who can only answer it once it’s asked are reacting. Those who have a well-structured answer are taking the initiative.

The true value of FinOps for SAP does not lie in spending less than the previous investment level. It lies in value transparency. After all, the actual burden on a company does not arise from investing in professional management; it arises from the potential that remains untapped without such management. Treat the SAP investment for what it is: the company’s largest IT investment, with the expectation that every euro is traceable, controllable, and verifiable. Specifically, this means: a comprehensive view of all SAP contract types and metrics that goes beyond the contract document itself to include ongoing usage trends. Usage trends by division and contract period, which enable budget allocations to be made based on reliable data. A budget forecast that goes beyond a simple rollover of the previous year’s figures and takes into account the actual development of the SAP landscape.

This foundation makes it possible to identify and strategically leverage opportunities for action before external factors dictate the terms: the next contract renewal, the next budget review, or the next critical question from the board.

Conclusion: SAP remains the core

SAP will remain the digital core. No change in the business model will alter that. What used to be purchased and maintained as a license is now leased and used. The flexible model works, and companies benefit from the opportunities offered by subscriptions and consumption-based models. This development opens up possibilities that did not exist in the traditional licensing model. The implication is clear: growth must be managed. ITAM has reliably guided companies through the world of licensing. For an SAP landscape consisting of subscriptions, consumption models, and usage-based platform structures, FinOps is required as a complementary discipline. Making value transparent: across all contract types, on an ongoing basis, and traceable. Not just a one-time effort at contract signing, but as a continuous management task throughout the entire contract period. It is precisely there—after the contract is signed and throughout its entire term—that it is determined whether a contract will become a managed investment.

The SAP investment is too significant and too central to manage without an ongoing view of its value. And the good news is: Those who establish a management framework today will create the flexibility tomorrow that others will still be searching for. FinOps provides exactly this view. (Source: FinOptory)