SAP users reject higher maintenance fees (surprised?)
SAP is holding customers hostage instead of providing additional value.
In July, SAP instituted a new policy that forced users into paying a higher support cost with no clearly defined additional value for the higher cost.
ZDNet's Dennis Howlett interviewed Alan Bowling, chairman SAP user group UK and Ray Wang, VP at Forrester research about the price hikes and what they really mean for users.
The short version: SAP users in the UK and Ireland will not accept the next round of price rises for support unless the company has "clearly delivered improved total cost of ownership" for the businesses that use its software.
Software licensing is coming under more pressure in the difficult economy and support and maintenance fees are clearly important. SAP needs to realize that every piece of software is replaceable--switching costs may be high, but being held ransom is far worse.