The UK & Ireland SAP Users Group is unhappy with the recent changes to SAP's support products, which could see member costs increase from 17 per cent to 22 per cent by 2012.

SAP announced on 16 July that its Standard Support, which is currently included in all licensing and maintenance contracts, would be replaced by Enterprise Support.

New customers would immediately be placed on the 22 per cent charge, while existing customers would have it phased in over four years.

However, the Users Group claimed that the new costs actually amount to an increase of nearly 30 per cent in real terms over the next four years.

Alan Bowling, chairman of the UK & Ireland Sap Users Group, said that members may not want or need this extra level of support and are reacting negatively to having a new product and the associated cost increase forced on them.

"The mandatory nature of this change, along with the increase in cost, has received hugely negative feedback from our membership to date," he said.

"In real terms this is a 29.4 per cent increase in costs over the next four years for existing SAP customers, and is proving to be a particularly difficult area to accept."

He added that, along with the German speaking user group, the UK and Ireland members were sceptical that the Enterprise Support package was suitable for many small and medium-sized enterprises.

"I would encourage all organisations impacted by these changes to examine the potential value of the offering and to contact SAP to provide their feedback on this price increase," Bowling said.

"I would also encourage SAP to reconsider this mandatory price rise so that organisations not requiring the extra level of support provided in Enterprise Support do not have to pay for features they do not require."