Key Takeaways
- SAP Preferred Success adds approximately 5% of net licence value on top of the 22% Enterprise Support fee
- Preferred+ typically adds a further 3–4%, bringing total support spend to 28–30% of licence value
- Most of the headline features in Preferred Success are available without it — if you know where to look
- The designated Success Manager is often shared across multiple accounts, not dedicated to yours
- SAP uses Preferred Success renewal conversations to cross-sell RISE with SAP and S/4HANA migrations
- Preferred Success can be negotiated — SAP rarely holds firm on the published premium
SAP Preferred Success is sold as a premium customer success offering that sits on top of your existing Enterprise Support contract. SAP's pitch is straightforward: pay a little more, get proactive guidance, a named Success Manager, faster access to SAP expertise, and accelerated cloud adoption support. It sounds reasonable — until you map each feature against what's already included in Enterprise Support, what's actually available through SAP for Me, and what the Success Manager is realistically able to deliver for your account.
For large enterprises with SAP licence estates worth tens of millions of euros, the Preferred Success premium can cost €500,000 to €2 million annually — on top of the 22% Enterprise Support fee you are already paying. Before agreeing to that cost, you need a forensic understanding of what you are actually buying.
What Is SAP Preferred Success?
SAP Preferred Success is a tiered customer success engagement model introduced by SAP to increase recurring revenue from its installed base while supporting SAP's cloud transition narrative. It is positioned as a service — not a licence or a support contract — but it is priced as a percentage of your net licence value and is typically upsold at renewal alongside Enterprise Support.
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Book a Free Consultation → Download Free SAP Audit Guide →There are currently two tiers: Preferred Success (the base level) and Preferred+ (the premium tier). SAP has periodically renamed and restructured these offerings, so the feature set you see in a proposal today may differ slightly from what was available 18 months ago. That inconsistency is itself a signal: this is a product in commercial flux, and SAP's sales team has significant discretion to configure what's included in any given proposal.
The offering sits within SAP's broader RISE with SAP and cloud migration framework. Enterprises transitioning from ECC to S/4HANA, or evaluating RISE with SAP, will almost always be presented with a Preferred Success bundle as part of the commercial discussion. Understanding the structure independently — before it arrives packaged in a transition proposal — is essential to negotiating SAP contract terms effectively.
What Preferred Success Claims to Include
SAP's published materials describe Preferred Success as delivering the following core benefits:
- Designated Customer Success Manager (CSM): A named SAP contact responsible for your account's cloud adoption and success planning
- Proactive guidance and health checks: Scheduled business reviews, system health assessments, and quarterly planning sessions
- Accelerated access to SAP product teams: Faster escalation paths for product issues, influence over roadmap priorities
- Learning and enablement resources: Access to SAP Learning Hub, certification vouchers, and guided learning paths
- Expert-on-demand: Access to SAP subject matter experts for specific product or process questions
- Adoption analytics: Reporting on how your organisation is utilising SAP cloud products and where adoption gaps exist
- Innovation and release readiness: Guidance on upcoming SAP releases and assistance preparing for mandatory cloud updates
Preferred+ extends this with deeper engagement, more frequent reviews, a more dedicated CSM relationship, and access to executive briefings with SAP product leadership.
Evaluating Whether Preferred Success Is Worth the Cost?
Our SAP support cost reduction advisory includes a structured audit of your current support entitlements versus what Preferred Success is actually delivering — or what you are being asked to pay for before you sign. We have helped enterprises avoid or renegotiate premiums worth hundreds of thousands annually.
Book a Free ConsultationThe Reality Gap: What You're Actually Getting
The gap between SAP's marketing language and the operational reality of Preferred Success is significant. Here is a feature-by-feature assessment based on what enterprises consistently report:
The Customer Success Manager
This is the headline benefit — and the one most frequently misrepresented in the sales process. SAP's materials imply a dedicated, senior commercial and technical advocate focused on your account. In practice, the CSM is typically:
- Shared across 20–40 accounts depending on region and tier
- Primarily focused on cloud adoption and RISE with SAP migration activities
- Measured internally on cloud transition progress, not on your commercial outcomes
- Junior-to-mid-level in most cases at the base Preferred tier
- Subject to change — CSM turnover at SAP is high, and account continuity is not guaranteed
The CSM will schedule quarterly business reviews and produce adoption reports. What they will not do is challenge SAP's commercial proposals on your behalf, identify licence optimisation opportunities that reduce SAP revenue, or support you in an audit. Their incentives are aligned with SAP's commercial agenda, not yours.
The "Expert on Demand" Feature
This is presented as the ability to submit questions to SAP product experts and receive substantive guidance. In practice, the feature operates similarly to SAP's standard support channels but with faster initial response times and slightly more senior responders. Complex commercial, legal, or architectural questions are typically redirected to SAP consulting engagements — which you pay for separately.
Learning and Enablement
SAP Learning Hub access and certification vouchers have genuine value, particularly for enterprises mid-transition to cloud. However, this element is often separately available through SAP contracts, included in RISE bundles, or negotiable as a standalone addition to Enterprise Support without the full Preferred Success premium.
Adoption Analytics and Health Checks
The adoption analytics reports are generated by SAP's tooling — which already has access to your system data. The health checks are structured assessments delivered by SAP-aligned consultants who will identify improvement opportunities that, in most cases, point toward purchasing additional SAP products or migrating sooner to cloud editions. This is not independent analysis.
The Real Cost Breakdown
Understanding the total cost of Preferred Success requires mapping it against your complete SAP support obligation:
| Support Layer | Basis | Typical Rate | Annual Cost (€50M Licence Base) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAP Enterprise Support | Net licence value | 22% | €11,000,000 |
| SAP Preferred Success | Net licence value | ~5% | €2,500,000 |
| SAP Preferred+ | Net licence value | ~8–9% | €4,000,000–€4,500,000 |
| Total (Enterprise Support + Preferred+) | ~30–31% | €15,000,000+ |
At these levels, the commercial case for Preferred Success needs to be demonstrated through measurable outcomes — not SAP's marketing materials. Few enterprises have conducted a forensic value assessment of what Preferred Success has actually delivered against what they paid. That asymmetry benefits SAP at renewal.
What Is Actually Negotiable
SAP does not hold firm on Preferred Success pricing in the way it does on Enterprise Support. The published rate is a starting position, not a floor. Enterprises that understand SAP's commercial negotiation levers consistently achieve reductions of 20–40% off the list premium — or extract additional value commitments that improve the ROI calculation.
Challenge the CSM Dedication Commitment
Demand contractual commitments on CSM availability: minimum hours per month, maximum accounts per CSM, escalation response times, and continuity provisions if your CSM changes. SAP will often concede on specifics when pressed, which either reduces the commercial premium or makes the value more concrete.
Disaggregate the Bundle
Identify which Preferred Success features you actually need and determine whether any are separately available through your existing contracts. Learning Hub access, for example, may already be included in your RISE with SAP bundle or available as a standalone add-on at significantly lower cost.
Benchmark Against Third-Party Alternatives
SAP support alternatives — from third-party maintenance providers to independent SAP advisory firms — can often deliver comparable or superior strategic guidance at a fraction of the Preferred Success premium. Use this as commercial leverage in the negotiation, even if you do not intend to switch.
Tie to Measurable Success Criteria
Insist that the Order Form for Preferred Success includes defined success outcomes — migration milestones, adoption metrics, resolution time SLAs — with commercial remedies if SAP fails to deliver. SAP will resist this, but it shifts the negotiation dynamic and forces a more honest conversation about what the premium is actually buying.
Use Year-End Timing as Leverage
SAP's fiscal year ends December 31. Q4 — particularly November and December — is when SAP's commercial teams are under maximum pressure to close. Preferred Success renewals timed to Q4 can achieve significantly better terms than mid-year renewals when SAP is not under quota pressure.
Preferred Success vs. Independent Advisory
The fundamental limitation of Preferred Success is structural: it is a service sold by SAP to benefit SAP's commercial objectives. The CSM's primary metric is cloud adoption progress. Every business review is an opportunity for SAP to identify migration drivers. Every health check surfaces pain points that SAP's sales team will address with new product proposals.
Preferred Success — Strengths
- Direct access to SAP product teams and roadmap
- Useful for enterprises actively migrating to cloud
- Learning Hub access has real training value
- Structured release readiness for mandatory cloud updates
- Accelerated escalation for critical product issues
Preferred Success — Limitations
- CSM incentivised by SAP's commercial agenda
- Cannot challenge SAP audit findings or commercial proposals
- No independent licence optimisation or cost reduction focus
- CSM typically shared across 20–40 accounts
- Health check data feeds SAP's sales intelligence
- No contractual remedies for underdelivery
Independent SAP licensing advisory fills the gap that Preferred Success cannot. Our SAP licence optimisation service operates entirely on the buyer's side — identifying reclassification opportunities, challenging user counts, right-sizing your estate, and ensuring your commercial position is as strong as possible before every SAP negotiation or renewal.
When Preferred Success Makes Commercial Sense
Preferred Success is not universally poor value. There are specific scenarios where the premium is justifiable:
- Active RISE with SAP migration: If your organisation is mid-transition, the release readiness guidance, CSM coordination, and accelerated escalation paths have genuine operational value during a complex deployment.
- Large SAP BTP development programme: Enterprises building heavily on SAP BTP benefit from the expert-on-demand feature and adoption analytics when managing complex integration landscapes.
- Limited internal SAP expertise: Organisations with small internal SAP teams and no established third-party advisory relationship may find the CSM provides useful coordination value that would otherwise require external consultants.
- Regulatory or audit-driven compliance requirements: For highly regulated industries where structured, documented engagement with SAP is a compliance requirement, Preferred Success provides an auditable engagement framework.
If none of the above apply to your organisation, the commercial case for paying the Preferred Success premium should be interrogated carefully before each renewal. The default assumption that you need it — which SAP's commercial team will strongly reinforce — is not the same as a genuine value assessment.
Facing a Preferred Success Renewal?
Before signing, let us review what Preferred Success has actually delivered against what you paid, and identify the negotiation levers available to you. Our SAP support cost reduction team has helped enterprises cut support and success premiums by millions annually without compromising operational capability.
Get Your Support Contract ReviewedSpecific Negotiation Tactics for Preferred Success
Enterprises entering a Preferred Success negotiation — whether new or at renewal — should bring the following positions to the table. Understanding common SAP contract traps is essential preparation for these discussions.
Insist on Contractual Specificity
SAP's default Preferred Success Order Forms are deliberately vague about delivery commitments. Push for specific contractual language: CSM hours per month, response time SLAs for expert-on-demand requests, minimum frequency of business reviews, and what "accelerated escalation" means in practice. Vague commitments give SAP full discretion on delivery — and no commercial recourse if the service underdelivers.
Challenge the Percentage Basis
Preferred Success pricing is typically expressed as a percentage of net licence value. For enterprises with large on-premise estates, this can generate a massive premium relative to the actual service delivered. Negotiate a fixed fee or a capped percentage with floors and ceilings. SAP has accepted this structure in enterprise deals when pushed.
Multi-Year Discounting
If Preferred Success is genuinely valuable to your organisation, committing to a multi-year term (two to three years) typically unlocks 10–20% discounts from list. However, do not commit to multi-year terms without a performance review clause that allows renegotiation or exit if delivery metrics are not met.
Bundle Against Other Negotiation Items
The most effective way to reduce the Preferred Success premium is to negotiate it as part of a broader SAP contract negotiation that includes licence fees, Enterprise Support rates, and transition credits. When SAP is motivated to close a broader commercial deal, the Preferred Success premium becomes a concession they will offer to protect the headline numbers on the deal.
Preferred Success Within RISE with SAP
SAP Preferred Success is often positioned as complementary to — or even required for — RISE with SAP. This framing deserves scrutiny. RISE with SAP already bundles significant support and success services within its PCOE (Partner Centre of Expertise) framework. Adding Preferred Success on top of a RISE contract requires a granular analysis of overlap to avoid paying twice for the same capability.
SAP's commercial team will rarely volunteer this overlap. They will present Preferred Success as an incremental enhancement to RISE — which it may be in some narrow areas — without acknowledging the duplication. Independent analysis before signing a RISE renewal or initial contract is essential. Our RISE with SAP advisory service includes a detailed mapping of what is already bundled versus what Preferred Success would genuinely add.
Conclusion: A Sceptical But Informed View
SAP Preferred Success is a legitimate service that provides real value in specific circumstances — primarily for enterprises actively managing complex cloud migrations who want structured SAP engagement. For enterprises with stable on-premise landscapes, strong internal SAP capability, or independent advisory support, the premium is difficult to justify at published rates.
The critical point is that Preferred Success is not a fixed commercial commitment. It is a negotiable element of your SAP relationship, and SAP's commercial team has discretion to adjust both the price and the feature set to close a deal. Enterprises that treat Preferred Success as a binary take-it-or-leave-it decision are leaving significant commercial value on the table.
Before your next Preferred Success renewal, conduct a structured value audit: what was delivered, what was actually used, what would be lost if you downgraded or removed it, and what alternatives exist. That analysis is the foundation of a credible negotiation — and in most cases, it results in either a significantly lower premium or a more substantive service commitment from SAP.