SAP says collaboration with user groups is very good and
will continue in the wake of a watershed agreement aroundEnterprise Support.
The scheme is to be rolled out next year for
all customers, with the price being increased gradually over
five years from 17% to
22% of software cost.
Negative response from customers led the global federation of
user groups,
SUGEN, to enter negotiations with SAP leadership.
SAP has agreed that although the initial
price increase to 18.6% will take place in January, further
increases will depend on achieving
key
performance indicators (KPIs).
These KPIs to prove the business value of Enterprise Support
will be set up and jointly monitored with
SUGEN.
Greg Pike, senior vice-president of SAP Active Global Support
America, told Computer Weekly things could have been "done
differently".
He said SAP recognises that the communication about the
introduction of Enterprise Support could have been improved.
Alan Bowling, chairman SAP UK & Ireland User Group, agrees,
but said the message is a complex one.
Enterprise Support is becoming increasingly complex as it
attempts to address the increasing complexity of IT in business, he
said.
According to Bowling, the challenge for SAP is being able to
engage effectively with the financial and technical groups within
the business.
"What we are trying to ensure with the KPIs is that SAP delivers
the value it is promising customers on the programme," he said.
The agreement to set up the KPIs was ground-breaking, as well as
some of the components of the Enterprise Support programme, Bowling
said.
"I don't know of any other software suppliers that have put hard
SLAs
in their support programmes or would agree to KPIs as SAP has
done," he said.
The KPIs are to be set up in the next five to six weeks and
SUGEN hopes to start using those from January.
"There has to be a lot of communication and education around
this, but we have made a good start at the SAP User Group
conference," Bowling said.