A Buyer’s Guide on Selecting the Right SAP VAR Partner for Your Business

Selecting the right SAP solution is one of the most important strategic decisions a company can make. And before you ever reach the implementation phase, the real success factor lies earlier: choosing an SAP VAR partner who can guide you to the right solution and deployment model based on your business needs. 

This early‐stage decision is often where projects go wrong. According to a 2025 study by Oxford Economics and SAP, 58% of business transformations exceed their planned budgets and nearly half take longer than expected, largely because organizations enter the project with unclear requirements or choose the wrong technologies at the outset.  

Similarly, research shows that more than 60% of SAP S/4HANA programs deviate from their expected scope or quality, and nearly two-thirds of organizations cite dissatisfaction with decision-making in the early phases—the stage where an SAP VAR plays the largest role.  

These statistics highlight why choosing the right partner is fundamental. A good partner prevents early missteps by ensuring your business selects the right SAP solutions and licensing structure from the start. 

CONSIDERATIONS WHEN SELECTING AN SAP VAR PARTNER 

Business Goals and Needs 

A strong SAP partner begins with a deep understanding of your business model. They should spend time understanding your operating framework, growth goals, industry constraints, and the maturity of your current systems. This is especially important in industries like consumer products, retail, life sciences, and wholesale distribution because each has nuances that significantly influence solution choice. 

For instance, a consumer products company facing forecasting variability and short-shelf-life has very different requirements from a specialty retailer focused on omnichannel execution, or a life sciences manufacturer navigating compliance. A qualified partner should be able to articulate these nuances and show how different SAP solutions and deployment models map to them. 

This business-first orientation reduces the risk of choosing technology that doesn’t align to your goals, which is one of the root causes behind early misalignment. 

Industry Expertise  

Your partner should understand industry pain points in detail and in a way that clearly influences the solution(s) recommendation. 

For instance: 

• In consumer products, that might include co-packing, batch traceability, demand variability, trade spend, and manufacturing flexibility. 

• In retail, it’s understanding POS systems, merchandise planning, omnichannel order management, store operations, and inventory accuracy. 

• In life sciences, it involves auditability, quality events, document control, serialization, MES integration, and validation requirements. 

• In wholesale distribution, it includes complex pricing, automation, customer portals, and real-time inventory visibility. 

When an SAP VAR understands operating models and regulatory environments at this depth, they can more accurately assess whether you need SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud or Private Cloud, as well as whether industry solutions are necessary or whether embedded S/4 capabilities meet your needs without additional tools. 

This expertise should be clearly reflected in the guidance they provide before any discussion of implementation. 

Objective Guidance  

SAP’s portfolio is broad, and choosing the wrong solution or deployment model can lock you into costs and constraints that are hard to unwind. Your partner should not lead with the solutions they prefer to sell. They should lead with options based on what’s best for you. That means explaining the differences between Public vs. Private Cloud or recommending when SAP BTP extensions are appropriate, for example. 

Objectivity matters. In fact, a recent study found that only 51% of executives felt the technologies selected in their transformations fully aligned with their business needs. This is a gap that a strong SAP VAR can close. 

A reliable partner will outline the pros and cons of different solutions, modules, and deployment options, explain licensing implications clearly, and help you understand the long-term impact of each choice. 

Thoughtful, Data-Backed Roadmap 

Solution selection is just as much about scalability as it is about the technology itself. A strong partner will help you develop a realistic, data-backed roadmap that clarifies what you need today versus what becomes necessary as the business grows. 

The roadmap should address process maturity, integrations, data readiness, and how future initiatives, like automation or AI, fit into the long-term architecture. This clarity matters because lack of early planning increases the likelihood of budget overruns by as much as 30%. 

Transparency in Licensing and Pricing 

Between user-based licensing, consumption models, indirect access considerations, and the need to account for growth, SAP licensing is complex. A good SAP VAR demystifies this. 

They should help you avoid unnecessary licenses, right-size your usage expectations, and project how your licensing costs will change as your volume, headcount, transactions, and SKU count grow. This level of clarity is essential in industries like wholesale distribution and consumer products where operating scale can change dramatically year to year. 

Solution-Neutral 

Some partners recommend the solutions that match their implementation strengths, even if another option is better for you. A quality partner makes solution selection independent from delivery. They should have no incentive to “push” a specific architecture and should be transparent about where their implementation capabilities begin and end. 

This independence ensures you choose the right SAP solution, not just the one easiest for the partner to execute later down the road. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

Choosing the right SAP VAR partner is a strategic decision that determines whether you select the right system, deployment model, architecture, and licensing package to support your company’s future. 

With many transformations exceeding budget and deviating from plan, companies that invest in the right guidance early on can dramatically reduce risk. 

Ready to get started? Get in touch with the Crescense team today.