SAP has bowed to customer pressure and capped charges for holders of Enterprise Support contracts and introduced a two-tier system for maintenance and support.
Customers have a choice. They can stick with their existing Enterprise Support contracts, which will remain at 2009 levels of 18.36% charges for this year. In 2011 these charges will gradually be increased so that by 2016 they will reach 22%, a year later than SAP originally outlined. Alternatively, customers can switch to the Standard Support option set at 18%. This option, however, will be linked to inflation, while the Enterprise support is not.
This is a victory for SAP customers and user groups, who were less than pleased with SAP’s July 2008 decision to hike Enterprise Support maintenance and support fees from 17% to 22% over five years. Thanks to the considerable fuss kicked up by users groups, in April 2009, SAP agreed to meet key performance indicators to prove it was delivering value for money.
SAP’s new support model is a direct response to the many discussions we’ve had with our customer and user groups, SAP chief executive Léo Apotheker said in a statement.
The response to the news from the UK SAP UK & Ireland User Group has been positive. “This move shows that SAP is listening to user groups, and therefore its customers, taking on board our feedback and making changes to meet the needs of all SAP users,” said Alan Bowling, chairman SAP UK & Ireland User Group.
Customers have until March 15 to weigh up whether to opt for a Standard Support contract, which covers software upgrades and bug fixes, or go for Enterprise Support. On top of everything the Standard Support package offers, Enterprise Support includes monitoring and reporting, best practices and business process performance.
