SAP forces customers onto premium support package
You'll all be over by Christmas
Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything
SAP is forcing users to migrate to its top level support program, and charging them an additional 5 per cent of their license maintenance fees a year for the privilege.
SAP launched its Enterprise Support Offering in May, making it the default for new customers. The ESO scheme costs customers 22 per cent of their licence fees per year, compared to, for example, 17 per cent for the vendor’s Stand Support package.
This week it announced that customers on its existing plans will “begin experiencing some of the added benefits of SAP Enterprise Support, beginning in July at no additional cost.”
Well, not until January, when SAP will start ratcheting up the price.
So, the customer on Standard Support will see his fee jump to 18.3 per cent of maintenance next year, climbing to 22 per cent by 2012. One analyst quoted by Bloomberg reckoned the shift will generate an extra €1bn for SAP by the time the shift is complete.
The ESO plan includes 24/7 support, continuous quality checks, and all sorts of enhanced support. SAP claims it provides “an unrivalled comprehensive support offering at a cost that is below the average of maintenance fees found elsewhere”. It also emphasises the increasingly heterogenous nature of IT environments these days.
Who wouldn’t say yes to that? Well, companies who have been managing perfectly well with a support offering that costs them considerably less.
Of course, SAP has a better view of where its product roadmap is heading. It may be that it accepts that it will have to take the lead in support as its products are squeezed in alongside ever more rival vendors’ products.
Or to put it another way, it knows its products are going to provoke even more support headaches from its customers and it’s getting its punches in first. ®
COMMENTS
Yet again......
Another example of SAP about-turn from a previous position. Increased fees, charge your customers re-licensing fees for upgrades and change your product road map......... then expect the market to trust you....... who do they think they are kidding.
@ AC
"I'm still confused as to why so many companies choose SAP, especially after the Levi debacle"
Simple: the people that make the decisions to buy it are not the ones that have to implement it - they believe that it is just sufficient for them to say "get this installed" for it to happen. Generally, they have a limited understanding of technology and are quite happy to believe the promises of the sales people, whilst ignoring the warnings of their own people.
It is a common human frailty - how people do you know that have told you that a "man down the pub" told them it was perfectly simple to do "X" which you know is neither simple, cheap or wise?
Definations
SAP
Sad And Pathetic
You are a SAP
.sap
A fool; someone who is prone to being taken advantage of, or who has been taken advantage of, usually in a situation that is easily perceived by others as foolhardy.
SAP
A commercially sold Enterprise Resource Planning system integrating most business functions into a single meta-program.
SAP is so complicated that for most businesses it's like driving a drywall nail with a B52.
Hmmm which would would you pick
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sap
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
