SAP's forced march may be good news

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creative dialogue needed

Nice post, Dennis. I have written on the SAP maintenance flap before and I feel like I may be a broken record on this issue. Dennis, you have a done a good job in your posts of highlighting what SAP can do to take a significant customer relations problem and turn it into a positive.

I did a podcast on my JonERP.com site this summer with Robert Max, ASUG Evangelist, and he talked persuasively about how SAP customers could truly realize the value of Enterprise Support (SAP's new maintenance plan) by leveraging Solution Manager and the RunSAP methodology.

It's a nice vision and if it's true, much of this customer angst will eventually go away. What I don't understand, however, is when I see an attitude of "take it or leave it" or indifference from SAP executives on this issue. To me, you are dropping the ball if you aren't willing to sit down with your customers and get them on the same page with the value they are receiving. And if higher value can't be provided, then you have to stop using that as a generic talking point and simply fess up that the rates were too low for shareholder satisfaction, and therefore, hurting your market position against Oracle and Microsoft, which in turn hurts your ability to provide future functionality. I think SAP customers could wrap their heads around that point of view if it was given to them straight and not with "value syrup." And if the value truly is there, some high profile case studies and testimonials would really help this discussion stay constructive.

Straight talk is always better than flowery promises.I continue to believe that there are creative solutions that could be reached through open dialogue about this issue between SAP and its customer base. I hope it happens.

- Jon Reed -

Posted by: jonwreed   Posted on: 10/15/08  (Edited: 10/15/2008 @ 05:52) You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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