SAP 'superior' support offering called into question

SAP has launched a premium support service which it says will offer users better response time and more personal customer service, but which carries a price tag of 22 per cent of the net license fee, five per cent more than the standard service.

SAP says there are clear benefits with the new service. Users can receive technical assessment and a written plan to optimise their technical environments, support infrastructures and/or processes. They will also be able to call on a support advisor to help them better understand the written plan, conduct periodic reviews of actions against the plan and act as a single support contact. Guaranteed response times for specific problem levels are also offered.

Analysts questioned the value of the offer. "I don't see the value for customers in paying an additional 5 per cent in maintenance per year," said Yvonne Genovese, an analyst at Gartner. "Even though SAP's fees for standard support are among the lowest in the industry, the new support offering is not likely to attract many users in the SAP installed base.

"In some cases, users can obtain the same or equivalent support for new or established implementations without purchasing the packaged solution. For example, users can already obtain the technical assessment and written plan for a consulting fee, Furthermore, the addition of a support advisor as a support contact point to help users execute on suggested plans will not benefit users if they don't want to follow SAP's recommendations.

"SAP has also missed an important opportunity to detail how it will help users set up SAP Core Competency Centers [CCCs] and understand how SAP intends to support the new technical environments that will evolve with enterprise service architectures. SAP mentioned "optimising the CCC" in its announcement, but users received no guidance on how to take advantage of the offering other than receiving help from the advisor.