Updates to SAP’s Maintenance and Support Policies for On-Premise Customers
As you may have seen last week, SAP announced proposed changes to its maintenance and support policies for on-premise customers, after the European Commission’s decision to conclude its competition investigation.
At a high level, SAP has committed to:
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Greater customer choice in maintenance and support – SAP is introducing a clearer framework that gives on-premise customers greater flexibility over how they manage support across their SAP environments. Customers will be able to divide their system landscape into separate commercial installations and choose different support arrangements for each, including opting out of SAP Support. This will allow organisations to align maintenance and support more closely with their operational needs, commercial priorities and wider business strategy.
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Providing more flexibility on unused licences – SAP is expanding the flexibility available to customers with unused on-premise licences, including options to reallocate them, move to cloud subscriptions or terminate them. In certain justified circumstances, such as major workforce reductions, divestitures, bankruptcy or failed implementations, customers may also be able to end licences more easily. SAP is also widening access to single-metric contracts, offering a simpler and more transparent way to calculate licence, maintenance and support costs.
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Simpler contract terms and policies – SAP is providing further clarity on some of its key contractual provisions and applicable policies. This is intended to give customers greater predictability and help them plan their support obligations as they expand their SAP deployments.
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Easier terms for returning customers – SAP is improving the terms for customers that return to maintenance and support after a period away. Returning customers will not face administrative fees, while back-maintenance charges will be capped at either six months or 50% of the fees for the time off. Certain outdated products will not incur any back-maintenance charges. The changes are intended to make returning to SAP support simpler and more cost-effective.
UKISUG welcomes the proposed changes. Our members have long called for greater flexibility, transparency and predictability, and these changes appear to be a positive move. For on-premise customers this should give them more room to adapt to changing business conditions and evolve their SAP estates at a pace that suits them.
As a user group, we will continue to engage with SAP regarding the maintenance and support changes and how they will affect on-premise customers.
