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For existing SAP customers, the transition to the S/4 world has now become unavoidable. On the one hand, this is due to the announcement that mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 (ERP/ECC 6.0) will only be offered until the end of 2027, with optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030 and possibly 2033. On the other hand, however, this technical leap is inextricably linked to a far-reaching realignment in terms of licensing law and business management. SAP's ambition to transform itself from a pure software provider into a cloud company is clear. The Group management, represented by CEO Christian Klein and CFO Dominik Asam, sees the cloud as the decisive strategic measure for achieving the forecast revenue growth and generating a stable, calculable income through subscription models. Revenue from the cloud has now become a substantial revenue stream for SAP. For many long-standing users, cloud migration represents a challenge that is often associated with skepticism and the desire for hybrid landscapes.

A central element of SAP's cloud strategy, particularly in the context of RISE with SAP, is the FUE concept. FUE is the conversion key that determines how existing on-prem licenses are transformed into cloud subscriptions. It is a complex set of rules with detailed instructions on how to make the transition from the traditional on-prem model to the cloud.

The FUE metric aims to simplify license management by converting the previous usage-based user categories into authorization-based equivalents. SAP defines specific conversion factors for different S/4 Cloud usage types: One FUE corresponds to one S/4 for Advanced Use (comparable to Professional User in the on-prem area), one FUE also corresponds to five S/4 for Core Use (comparable to Functional User) and one FUE corresponds to thirty S/4 for Self-Service Use.

Cover story September 2025