SAP has
bowed to pressure from user groups over plans to move all
customers to enterprise support from January 2009.
The
announcement in June triggered a backlash from users who
objected to paying 22% of the licence fee for a single enterprise
support offering compared with 17% for the basic support many said
was enough to meet their needs.
The business software maker has stopped short of scrapping plans
or adjusting pricing, but has committed to adding features to its
enterprise support offering and proving its value in reducing total
cost of ownership (TCO) to win over customers.
SAP has set up a joint team with the global federation of SAP
user groups, the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN), to
establish value key performance indicators (KPIs) for SAP
enterprise support.
SAP and SUGEN, which includes the SAP UK & Ireland User
Group, will jointly evaluate the progress of these KPIs. The
roll-out of the SAP enterprise support will be dependent on the
achievement of the KPIs.
Leo Apotheker, co-CEO of SAP, said, "We offer our commitment to
SUGEN and our customers to help realise the value of SAP enterprise
support."
SAP has also agreed to extend maintenance support for its
enterprise resource planning 6.0 platform and other products from
five to seven years with the option of an additional two years.
Alan Bowling, chairman of the SAP UK and Ireland User Group,
said enterprise support has been a very contentious topic for his
membership.
"I welcome the move. It is a very good first step on the path to
reducing TCO," he said.
Bowling said he will be discussing the issue of enterprise
support at the Annual User Group conference in London next
week.