SAP forces customers into support upgrade
SAP is raising support pricing. Customers have no choice but to comply.
SAP has announced that it plans to transition all customers to its new Enterprise Support offering starting January 1st, 2009. There's nothing like being stuck on a giant system like SAP with no choice but to pay whatever ransom they ask for.
This reminds me of the time that Hoboken, NJ parking garage didn't want to pay for a 20% license increase and all the cars got trapped.
According to the press release, SAP will incrementally raise support costs up to 22% by 2012: "For example, subject to specific contractual limitations, a typical customer paying 17 percent of maintenance base for SAP Standard Support in 2008 will pay a rate of 18.3 percent of maintenance base for SAP Enterprise Support in 2009."
While this feels like sneaky attempt to raise prices (see previous post on Oracle) at least they are not raising license fees. There is value in support, though the increased cost doesn't exactly explain what you get for the additional cash.
Via Irregular Enterprise (ZDNet)