SAP co-CEO Leo Apetheker has rejected claims made by analyst
group Forester that there is widespread discontent from SAP
customers over higher support costs.
SAP announced in July that all customers on basic support would
be moved to more
expensive enterprise support, which costs 22% of the licence
fee compared with 17% for basic support.
The Forrester report, based on a survey of 200 SAP customers
cites customers complaints about the higher support fees.
However, speaking at SAP TechEd in Berlin, Apotheker said that
SAP surveys of 47,000 customers did not support the Forrester
findings.
"No one likes to pay more, but once customers understand the
added value [of the extended support] they realise they can do
without third-party support which reduces the overall Total Cost of
Ownership," he said.
Apotheker said that the increases would not be immediate, but
phased in over a five-year period.
Even those few customers who feel they will not get the benefit
of the extended support, will experience only a gradual price
increase over time, so it is really not worth talking about, he
said.
In response to a question about whether SAP would reconsider the
mandatory increase, he said the additional business value delivered
through recent innovations would cover the cost for most
customers.
