SAP offers clearer support

SAP is unifying maintenance support across its enterprise application lines in a move that should provide more predictable costs for firms.

Perhaps encouraged by the experience of Microsoft, which has changed support deadlines for key products in response to criticism from users, the German giant will expand its 5-1-2 maintenance programme to cover all MySAP Business Suite systems based on the NetWeaver integration platform. It will cover 2004 and later editions of SCM, SRM, PLM, CRM and industry add-ons, and bring them into line with the MySAP ERP suite, the product with which SAP pioneered the 5-1-2 approach.

Under 5-1-2, SAP provides five years of mainstream maintenance at a standard fee, plus one year extended maintenance for an extra two percent, and two more years for an extra four percent per year. After the eight-year period, maintenance contracts must be individually negotiated.

The maintenance plan dovetails with the recently announced synchronised software release shipment scheme to align availability of SAP products.

"There will always be winners and losers, but stability in maintenance is always to be welcomed," said Dale Vile of analyst firm Quocirca. "The average SAP installation is a big beast that just rolls on and on and on."

Brian Zrimsek of fellow analyst Gartner also applauded the change, saying, "Customers, many of whom use multiple solutions across their organisations, need a clearly defined, long-term maintenance and support roadmap."

Alfons Wahlers, chairman of German user group the DSAG, said, "Now that SAP has laid out its roadmap for its Enterprise Services Architecture, SAP customers more than ever need reliable, long-term information to plan their transition."

The changes come as SAP continues to grow faster than its enterprise application rivals. Software revenues are expected to be 15 percent up year-on-year for the second quarter, the firm recently reported.

Quocirca's latest poll of European blue-chip users shows investments in SAP deployments are growing strongly - 34 percent of respondents said they will increase their licences over the next two years.

"Pretty much everyone is looking to increase commitment," said Quocirca's Vile, noting that factors fuelling the growth include mobile staff and departmental use.