Price hike ditched as SAP's Standard Support makes a comeback

German software giant does a U-turn after customer opposition

SAP has announced it will reintroduce its Standard Support offering, more than a year after saying it would shutter the product and move its users onto a more expensive option.

The German software giant announced in 2008 that it would move all of its customers to its more comprehensive but costly Enterprise Support programme by 1 January 2009.

The move was met with considerable opposition from many customers who felt they wouldn't get any extra value from moving to Enterprise Support.

SAP's Standard Support has made a comeback
(Photo credit: SAP)

Last year, the SAP User Group Executive Network secured a deal whereby SAP agreed to delay the move until it had met a number of key performance indicators, measured through a benchmarking programme, in order to prove the move to Enterprise Support would provide customers with sufficient value to justify the price hike.

The benchmarking process took longer than expected to complete, and towards the end of 2009 the move was delayed once again.

SAP CEO, Leo Apotheker, described yesterday's reintroduction of Standard Support as "a direct response to the many discussions we've had with our customer and user groups".

Chairman of the SAP UK & Ireland User Group, Alan Bowling, welcomed the news of its return.

"This move shows that SAP is listening to user groups, and therefore its customers, taking on board our feedback and making changes to meet the needs of all SAP users," he said in a statement.

The Standard Support pricing for 2010 will be 18 per cent of total software licence costs.

Enterprise Support customers with existing contracts will pay only slightly more at 18.36 per cent - the same as 2009 - although new customers will pay 22 per cent.

For the higher cost, Enterprise Support customers get better support when system problems occur and help with improving business processes related to SAP technology to make them more efficient.