AI and Transformation Guidance for Every Customer

Most organizations are not struggling to invest in AI. They are struggling to see a return on it. Budgets have been committed, projects launched, and expectations set—yet for the majority, the business case remains unproven.

This is the context in which SAP redesigned the SAP Services and Support portfolio eight months ago. It’s built around a simple premise: transformation isn’t a milestone but a continuous journey, and every organization deserves a partner to guide it at every stage.

The response from customers was clear. Success plans from SAP became the default way organizations engage with SAP’s cloud portfolio, from early cloud deployments to complex, multi-solution transformations powered by SAP Business AI.

As of today, November 2, 2026, Max Success Plan—SAP’s most strategic level of engagement—is available to every customer, whether they choose to work with SAP directly or through a trusted partner. For those working through a partner, it is now accessible via Cloud Choice (CCFlex) and Resell (VAR), with managed service providers coming soon.

With this, success plans are open to every SAP customer, regardless of how they engage with SAP. Foundational Success Plan has been included in every SAP cloud subscription from day one. Advanced Success Plan has long been available across SAP’s full customer base, both directly and through partners. Max Success Plan now helps close the loop—the same complete, tiered path to value that SAP has offered directly since February 2026 is now available to every customer, regardless of how they choose to engage with SAP.  

The evidence: why guidance determines who wins with AI

The data on this is stark. RAND Corporation found that 80% of enterprise AI initiatives fail to deliver their intended business value—twice the failure rate of standard IT projects. S&P Global Market Intelligence found that 42% of companies abandoned most of their AI initiatives in 2025, up from 17% the year before. And MIT’s widely cited GenAI Divide report found that 95% of organizations investing in generative AI see zero measurable return on their P&L, while that same research found that pairing AI adoption with an experienced external partner roughly doubles deployment success, 66% versus 33% for internal-only efforts.

The differentiator isn’t the technology stack. It’s guided execution.

This is exactly the gap success plans were built to close. They are SAP’s cloud engagement model: the structured, continuous guidance customers have been asking for, helping organizations adopt the latest innovations and stay ready for whatever comes next. Foundational Success Plan, Advanced Success Plan, and Max Success Plan can scale that guidance to match a customer’s complexity and AI ambition. And Max Success Plan, as SAP’s most strategic level of engagement, can be that experienced external partner the research points to, built directly into the SAP relationship, not bolted on beside it.

The proof: what success plans actually deliver

IDC’s research found that organizations using Foundational Success Plan achieved $4.9 million in average annual benefits, 28% less time spent on incident management, and a 39% reduction in impactful security breaches*. Advanced Success Plan customers saw a 381% three-year ROI, $3.4 million in annual average benefits, and 19% quicker time to market for new features and functions**. And Max Success Plan customers achieved a 521% three-year ROI, $4.4 million in end-user productivity gains per organization per year, and a 24% improvement in business processes***.

Guidance that pays for itself—at every level. Full findings for each success plan are available on sap.com.

One clear goal: consistent guidance, regardless of how you reach SAP

When SAP introduced the success plans, the goal was clear: give every SAP cloud customer a clear, predictable path to value, one plan included with every subscription and two additional that scale with ambition. What became apparent almost immediately was how many of those customers already reach SAP through a partner—and how natural the next question was: why should the path to value look any different because of that?

Extending Max Success Plan through partner channels closes a gap that had nothing to do with the value of the offering and everything to do with how customers happened to reach it. That relationship should no longer determine the level of guidance available.

“As AI raises the stakes for successful transformation, customers need consistent, strategic guidance regardless of how they engage with SAP. By making Max Success Plan available through our partner channels, we are expanding access to the expertise and support customers need to turn innovation into lasting business value.”

Thomas Saueressig, Chief Customer Officer and Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE

Max Success Plan: strategic guidance, built into every engagement

Max Success Plan is SAP’s most comprehensive success plan, designed for organizations navigating complex transformations, scaling SAP Business AI, or operating in fast-moving business environments. It combines strategic expertise, proactive guidance, and hands-on support to help customers continuously evolve and maximize the value of their SAP investments.

Key capabilities include:

• A designated success plan manager who helps orchestrate the end-to-end customer experience with deep knowledge of the customer’s business and SAP landscape
• Cross-solution process improvement and transformation advisory that can connect strategy to execution across the full SAP landscape
• Tailored AI use case adoption, including prototype development to validate ideas and de-risk investment before scaling
• Everything in the Advanced and Foundational Success Plans, like guided transformation, proactive risk detection, and mission-critical support, so nothing is lost, only added to

Max Success Plan can be directly integrated into how customers run and evolve their SAP solutions. It can be continuous, proactive, and tightly connected to the product road map customers are already investing in. That holds true whether a customer reaches SAP through a partner or engages directly.

“For many of our customers, the partner relationship is the primary one. Extending Max Success Plan into Cloud Choice and Resell means our partners can now sell that same strategic service offering themselves.”

Karl Fahrbach, Chief Partner Officer at SAP

Available now: growing to meet you where you are

Max Success Plan is now available to organizations working with Cloud Choice (CCFlex) or Resell (VAR) partners. Managed service provider (MSP) is currently piloting with a few customers, allowing MSP partners to align their delivery models and prepare for broader availability.

This phased approach reflects a key insight since February: the organizations that get the most from success plans are those that adopt at a pace matching their own readiness.

As SAP builds toward the Autonomous Enterprise, where AI increasingly supports execution while people set the direction and hold accountability, the guidance layer around that technology matters as much as the technology itself.  Expanding Max Success Plan across partner models gives more customers access to the strategic guidance they need to adopt innovation, navigate continuous transformation, and realize greater value from their SAP investments.

The guidance is in place. The next step is yours.

The difference between an AI initiative that transforms a business and one that quietly stalls is rarely the technology. It is the guidance around it—the expertise that connects a product roadmap to a business outcome and keeps that connection strong as both evolve.

That guidance is now available to every SAP customer, however they choose to reach us. Success plans remain the starting point for any SAP cloud engagement, for customers mapping out their next transformation and for the partners they rely on to get there.

Ready to take the next step? Explore success plans to find the level of engagement that best fits your organization. Partners can explore the success plans within the partner portal.

Ville Leivo is global head of Cloud Success and Premium Portfolio at SAP.

Ryseff, J. and Narayanan, A. Why AI Projects Fail and How They Can Succeed. RAND Corporation, 2025. rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2680-1.html
S&P Global Market Intelligence. Generative AI Shows Rapid Growth but Yields Mixed Results. Voice of the Enterprise: AI & Machine Learning, October 2025. spglobal.com/market-intelligence
Challapally, A., Pease, C., Raskar, R., and Chari, P. The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025. MIT NANDA (Project NANDA, MIT Media Lab), July 2025. nanda.media.mit.edu/ai_report_2025.pdf

*IDC White Paper, sponsored by SAP, The Business Value of Using SAP’s Foundational Success Plan, doc ##US54140525-BVWP, April 2026
**IDC White Paper, sponsored by SAP, The Business Value of Using SAP’s Advanced Success Plan, doc #US54296426-BVWP, April 2026
***IDC White Paper, sponsored by SAP, The Business Value of Using SAP’s Max Success Plan, doc #US54437226-BVWP, May 2026