IDC Business Value Executive Summary: The Business Value of Using SAP’s Foundational Success Plan
This IDC Business Value Executive Summary highlights the value of SAP’s Foundational Success Plan. Read more on how the Foundational Success Plan delivers $4.9M average annual benefits per organization, 11% more efficient security teams, 39% reduction in impactful security breaches, and accelerating upgrades—driving faster innovation, AI adoption, and stronger business outcomes. Download the Document1#US54140525-BVES
Elaina Stergiades
Research Director,
IT Service Strategies for
Proactive Customer Success, IDC
Executive Summary
With the race to realize the value of AI-powered applications well underway,
many organizations are still completing their multiyear journey to a fully digital business.
And despite the promise of simplicity, migrating to AI-powered cloud applications
still presents several technology challenges, not to mention managing the people,
process, and cultural shifts necessary to ensure successful adoption and alignment
across the organization.
The Business Value of Using
SAP’s Foundational Success Plan
Business Value Highlights
April 2026
Business Value Executive Summary
Sponsored by SAP
$4.9 million average annual benefits
per organization
27% more efficient IT cloud infrastructure teams
28% less time spent on incident management
31% quicker to prepare for upgrades and updates
36% less time spent keeping the lights on
45% more accurate when answering business
end-user questions
31% faster patching acceptance
31% less time spent monitoring
21% more proactive in identifying issues
in SAP Cloud
21% more efficient system integrators
11% more efficient security teams
39% reduction in impactful security breaches
29% faster response to security risks
$1.9 million in additional net revenue per year
16% more productive end users
Megan Szurley
Business Value Manager,
Business Value Strategy Practice, IDC
Elaina Stergiades
Research Director,
IT Service Strategies for
Proactive Customer Success, IDC
Executive Summary
With the race to realize the value of AI-powered applications well underway,
many organizations are still completing their multiyear journey to a fully digital business.
And despite the promise of simplicity, migrating to AI-powered cloud applications
still presents several technology challenges, not to mention managing the people,
process, and cultural shifts necessary to ensure successful adoption and alignment
across the organization.
The Business Value of Using
SAP’s Foundational Success Plan
Business Value Highlights
April 2026
Business Value Executive Summary
Sponsored by SAP
$4.9 million average annual benefits
per organization
27% more efficient IT cloud infrastructure teams
28% less time spent on incident management
31% quicker to prepare for upgrades and updates
36% less time spent keeping the lights on
45% more accurate when answering business
end-user questions
31% faster patching acceptance
31% less time spent monitoring
21% more proactive in identifying issues
in SAP Cloud
21% more efficient system integrators
11% more efficient security teams
39% reduction in impactful security breaches
29% faster response to security risks
$1.9 million in additional net revenue per year
16% more productive end users
Megan Szurley
Business Value Manager,
Business Value Strategy Practice, IDC
The Business Value of Using SAP’s Foundational Success Plan
April 2026 | #US54140525-BVES | Sponsored by SAP
IDC Custom Solutions produced this publication. This IDC material is licensed for external use, and in no way does the
use or publication of IDC research indicate IDC’s endorsement of the sponsor’s or licensee’s products or strategies.
©2026 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved. CCPA
IDC.com
IDC Blog
IDC on Linked In
To address these challenges, more IT organizations are using the success and support
capabilities included in their cloud software subscriptions. While these features are available
at no additional cost, many teams underuse them, missing opportunities to improve adoption,
prevent issues, and optimize performance. With more attention from the C-suite to achieve
desired outcomes through technology, IDC recommends implementing the full suite of
success and support capabilities available through their cloud subscriptions to drive innovation,
enhance AI adoption, and achieve strategic operational goals.
IDC conducted research exploring the value and benefits organizations achieved by leveraging
SAP Enterprise Support as the centerpiece of SAP’s new Foundational Success Plan.
Employing its specialized Business Value methodology, IDC calculated that these
customers achieved benefits worth an annual average of $4.86 million by:
• Improving business continuity and incident resolution: SAP provided reliable, SLA-backed,
mission-critical support and clear escalation paths that helped organizations minimize
downtime, reduce operational risk, and keep core SAP systems running smoothly.
• Supporting upgrades, updates, and deployments: Through prescriptive guidance, advisory
services, SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), value maps, and Enterprise
Architect engagement, organizations were better prepared to plan and execute upgrades,
updates, and deployments with reduced disruption.
• Providing proactive monitoring and risk mitigation: Capabilities such as SAP EarlyWatch Alerts,
Continuous Quality Checks, and SAP for Me dashboards enabled earlier identification of
performance, stability, and security issues, which reduced manual monitoring and prevented
problems before they became critical.
• Giving access to self-service and expert guidance: Self-service tools and embedded
expertise provided quick access to fixes, best practices, and learning resources,
which improved IT efficiency and reduced reliance on external consultants.
• Enabling SAP innovation adoption: Guidance around standardization and clean core
practices helped organizations adopt new features more easily, reduce custom code,
and enable scalable innovation across their SAP environments.
Read the full white paper B
April 2026 | #US54140525-BVES | Sponsored by SAP
IDC Custom Solutions produced this publication. This IDC material is licensed for external use, and in no way does the
use or publication of IDC research indicate IDC’s endorsement of the sponsor’s or licensee’s products or strategies.
©2026 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved. CCPA
IDC.com
IDC Blog
IDC on Linked In
To address these challenges, more IT organizations are using the success and support
capabilities included in their cloud software subscriptions. While these features are available
at no additional cost, many teams underuse them, missing opportunities to improve adoption,
prevent issues, and optimize performance. With more attention from the C-suite to achieve
desired outcomes through technology, IDC recommends implementing the full suite of
success and support capabilities available through their cloud subscriptions to drive innovation,
enhance AI adoption, and achieve strategic operational goals.
IDC conducted research exploring the value and benefits organizations achieved by leveraging
SAP Enterprise Support as the centerpiece of SAP’s new Foundational Success Plan.
Employing its specialized Business Value methodology, IDC calculated that these
customers achieved benefits worth an annual average of $4.86 million by:
• Improving business continuity and incident resolution: SAP provided reliable, SLA-backed,
mission-critical support and clear escalation paths that helped organizations minimize
downtime, reduce operational risk, and keep core SAP systems running smoothly.
• Supporting upgrades, updates, and deployments: Through prescriptive guidance, advisory
services, SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), value maps, and Enterprise
Architect engagement, organizations were better prepared to plan and execute upgrades,
updates, and deployments with reduced disruption.
• Providing proactive monitoring and risk mitigation: Capabilities such as SAP EarlyWatch Alerts,
Continuous Quality Checks, and SAP for Me dashboards enabled earlier identification of
performance, stability, and security issues, which reduced manual monitoring and prevented
problems before they became critical.
• Giving access to self-service and expert guidance: Self-service tools and embedded
expertise provided quick access to fixes, best practices, and learning resources,
which improved IT efficiency and reduced reliance on external consultants.
• Enabling SAP innovation adoption: Guidance around standardization and clean core
practices helped organizations adopt new features more easily, reduce custom code,
and enable scalable innovation across their SAP environments.
Read the full white paper B