More core SAP users have been relying on the firm for their business analytics software, but say the support offered is not up to scratch.

The number of organisations using SAP’s BusinessObjects platform has jumped from 7% to 30% in just two years, but one in five users believe the technical support for the product is too complex compared to its competitors.

A total of 30% said they had difficulties using the SAP Service Marketplace extranet support portal while 25% were not satisfied with the length of time it took to resolve problems.

Another 25% found it difficult to search and find relevant support information.

Craig Dale, CEO of the UK & Ireland SAP User Group, said SAP is working with the group to improve their product support with the feedback of members, with events planned for next month’s SAP User Group Conference.

"We’re working with SAP. What we’re doing at the conference is we’re working with the SAP Listens team and running a workshop for people to give direct face to face feedback," he added.

More than half the BusinessObjects users also said the support for the analytics software and SAP Business Suite was not well integrated.

"With anything it takes time and this reflects that it’s a little disjointed across the two product areas," said Dale. "We have shared these results with SAP and we’ve looked at what we can do to change this.

"I’m pretty confident that in the future we’ll see a significant boost to customer education."

This will revolve around webinars and workshops with SAP employees throughout the year, helping companies understand how to extract information from big data.

"Customers want the right information at the right time," Dale said.

He puts the drive in popularity of BusinessObjects down to big data becoming a bigger deal for firms in the last couple of years, adding that some will have come to the end of contracts with other products and have subsequently chosen SAP instead.

"It’s not surprising," he added. "This is now fully integrated with SAP’s other products and that’s a major positive for customers."