Many UK users ofSAP enterprise softwareare concerned
about the cost and time taken to upgrade their systems, a survey
has revealed.
Nearly half (46%) of user organisations polled are not planning
to upgrade their SAP software in the next 12 months.
Most (93%) respondents said they were either concerned or very
concerned about the length of time taken to perform an upgrade.
Some 79% said they were concerned about system downtime caused
by software upgrades and 59% said they were concerned about losing
data.
Cost was another top concern, with 70% respondents saying the
cost of upgrading was too high because of budget constraints in the
current economic climate.
More than two-thirds (68%) said that the time and money for
training staff on the software upgrades is also a challenge.
For these reasons, 85% said they struggle to get management
support for software upgrades.
But,
Alan Bowling, chairman of the
SAP UK & Ireland User
Group, said businesses should take care that delaying upgrades
does not cost more in the long term.
"Older versions of software typically require more maintenance
and have comparatively limited capability to support business
change and growth," he said.
Only 35% of UK user organisations are currently on
SAP ECC 6.0, the latest version of the software, the survey
revealed.
This means many organisations are still on earlier versions of
the software that do not support service-oriented-architecture
(SOA), said Bowling.
"Without SOA capabilities that are good for cloud and
integration with third party software suppliers, organisations will
be left behind," he said.
According to Bowling, many user organisations are not aware of
the business benefits of upgrading and how later versions limit the
impact of upgrades.
"SAP's recently introduced
enhancement pack model means businesses can upgrade to the
functionality they need without touching the core systems," he
said.
The business case for upgrades, said Bowling, is to be discussed
in detail at this year's
SAP UK &
Ireland User Group Conference 2009 in Manchester, from 23 to 24
November.
"User organisations will also get the opportunity to see live
examples of how other are benefitting from upgrading and keeping
their software current," he said.