SAP opens Max Success Plan to all customers, including those buying via partners

What changes for partner customers

SAP has been offering three tiers of success plans since February 2026, when it redesigned its Services and Support portfolio. Foundational Success Plan is included in every SAP cloud subscription from day one. Advanced Success Plan has long been available across the full customer base, both directly and through partners. Max Success Plan was until now the missing piece for customers who buy through partners.

From November 2, 2026, it is accessible via Cloud Choice (CCFlex) and Resell (VAR). According to SAP, managed service providers (MSPs) are coming soon. The company says MSPs are currently piloting the plan with a few customers, which lets those partners adapt their delivery models before broader availability.

Karl Fahrbach, Chief Partner Officer at SAP, said that "for many of our customers, the partner relationship is the primary one." He added that the extension means partners "can now sell that same strategic service offering themselves."

What Max Success Plan includes

SAP describes Max Success Plan as its most comprehensive success plan, designed for organizations handling complex transformations, scaling SAP Business AI, or operating in fast-moving business environments. Key capabilities listed by the company are:

• 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 connects 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, such as guided transformation, proactive risk detection and mission-critical support.

SAP says the plan can be integrated into how customers run and evolve their SAP solutions, and that it stays tied to the product road map customers are already investing in, whichever route they use to reach SAP.

The case SAP makes for guided AI adoption

The announcement, written by Ville Leivo, global head of Cloud Success and Premium Portfolio at SAP, opens with the argument that most organizations struggle to see a return on AI rather than to invest in it. It cites three outside studies. 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. MIT's GenAI Divide report found that 95% of organizations investing in generative AI see zero measurable return on their P&L, and that pairing AI adoption with an experienced external partner roughly doubles deployment success, 66% versus 33% for internal-only efforts.

SAP draws the conclusion that the differentiator is guided execution, not the technology stack, and positions Max Success Plan as that experienced partner built into the SAP relationship.

Results SAP cites from IDC

SAP also points to IDC research on the three plans. According to that research, 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. 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. These figures are presented by SAP, and full findings are published on sap.com.

What it means for customers and partners

For customers who buy SAP cloud through a partner, the level of strategic guidance no longer depends on the sales route. Thomas Saueressig, Chief Customer Officer and Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, said customers need "consistent, strategic guidance regardless of how they engage with SAP." For partners, the change adds a higher-tier service they can sell themselves. SAP says the phased rollout reflects its view that organizations get the most from success plans when they adopt at a pace matching their own readiness. Partners can explore the plans in the partner portal, and customers can review the options on SAP's site.