SAP has always pursued the goal of improving the processes of the global economy and people's lives. Thousands of companies worldwide rely on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other SAP software to manage key business processes from finance and human resources to supply chain management and project delivery. The maintenance and support regulations for on-premise solutions are just as important for our customers.

Through regular updates and technical support, they help to permanently ensure the performance and resilience of the software and thus promote business continuity. As we continue to develop our portfolio, we are also working to ensure that our commercial framework offers the flexibility and transparency that our customers need. This also includes constructive exchanges with regulatory authorities worldwide.

In constructive dialogue with the European Commission, SAP has now promised a series of adjustments that are intended to further improve flexibility, transparency and planning. The measures are in line with our aim to continuously develop our regulations and to provide customers with even better support as their business and technology landscapes change. The updated guidelines apply to existing and future customers of SAP on-premise products worldwide. Overall, they represent a particularly customer-oriented approach to maintenance and support in the business software industry. They are a perfect example of what customers can expect from SAP. Of course, the additional flexibility does not come at the expense of business continuity, reliability and scalability.

Specifically, the commitments include the following adjustments:

More freedom of choice for maintenance and support

SAP recognizes that customers running SAP on-premise software want choice and flexibility to adapt their maintenance agreements to the way their business operates. That's why SAP is expanding customers' options for structuring SAP system landscapes: SAP sets up clear, lean framework conditions according to which the landscape can be divided into separate parts – so-called commercial installations. For each of these, customers can choose an SAP support level, waive support or use other options outside of SAP support for the respective installation. This gives companies even more flexibility to design their on-premise support arrangements across different parts of their SAP environment to fit their operational and commercial priorities. This allows you to design your maintenance and support strategy according to your strategic positioning and your future individual business development.

More flexibility for unused licenses

SAP already offers programs with which customers can make better use of unused licenses – for example by reallocating on-premise licenses to cloud subscriptions, to other on-premise licenses or by terminating them. Through additional commitments, SAP now offers even more flexibility for customers to terminate licenses in objectively justified cases. These include significant staff reductions, software products in customer-specific maintenance, bankruptcy, divestitures and cases of unsuccessful implementations.

SAP is also expanding access to single-metric contracts, which provide an alternative and often simpler way to calculate the license fees on which maintenance and support fees are based. The wider availability of these contracts creates an even more transparent and easier-to-plan basis for customers to manage ongoing costs. The maintenance and support fees for single metric contracts scale with the respective single metric and can therefore be better adapted to changing business conditions.

Simpler contract terms and policies

Clear contract terms and policies are critical for customers when making long-term technology decisions. As part of the commitments, SAP will further clarify key contractual provisions and applicable guidelines. This creates additional predictability and gives customers greater certainty when planning their support obligations as they continue to develop their SAP landscapes.

Easier conditions for returning customers

When customers return to SAP Maintenance and Support, they will benefit from innovations and fixes that have been deployed in the meantime. The commitments introduce significant improvements to the terms and conditions for customers to resume SAP maintenance and support after an interruption.

SAP will not charge any administration fees for returning customers and will cap the back-maintenance fee at the lesser of six months or 50 percent of the non-maintenance period fees. In addition, a defined group of obsolete products will not trigger back maintenance. These improvements provide additional assurance that returning to SAP maintenance and support is easy and cost-effective.

The commitments were developed in close and constructive coordination with the European Commission as well as in exchange with SAP customer representatives, including the German-speaking SAP user group (DSAG):

“From the perspective of DSAG member companies, this is an important step in the right direction. The flexibility provided will help more customers make the right decisions for their SAP system architecture. Even with SAP's cloud strategy, it is important to be able to decide for yourself what to do with systems that continue to make a positive contribution to the company and where there is no need to shut them down,” said Jens Hungershausen, CEO of DSAG. “We see this development as a result of our commitment to ongoing dialogue and partnership between SAP and the customer community on such improvements. The commitments will deliver tangible benefits for customers and increase trust, while keeping customer choice and flexibility at the forefront.”

Our teams are ready

In order to support a smooth implementation for customers, SAP account executives and customer-facing teams will be comprehensively informed about the changes described. You will be prepared to explain the details to clients, answer questions, and apply commitments in a fair, transparent, and predictable manner. Regardless of whether customers want to restructure their system landscape, review single metric contracts, terminate unused licenses or understand the improved conditions for returning to SAP support, SAP teams will guide them through the individual steps. SAP will also set up a clearing structure if customers wish to review the application of these new rules.

outlook

SAP aims to support companies with the enterprise software and services they need to evolve into AI-powered autonomous companies at their own pace. We are committed to customer choice and continually work to maintain an open, dynamic ecosystem for partners and customers. The commitments are the result of a constructive and cooperative exchange with the European Commission. They are intended to bring concrete and tangible benefits to our global customer base. As described above, the commitments relate to our maintenance and support services for on-premise solutions. Our cloud offerings continue to evolve through continuous innovation in areas such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, RISE with SAP, and our broader cloud portfolio and are not affected by these changes. The added clarity and flexibility helps customers evolve into an AI-powered autonomous enterprise at their own pace.

We believe these commitments set a new benchmark for customer-focused regulations in the enterprise software industry. Further information will be published shortly on the SAP Support Portal. The corresponding link will then be available here. We ask you to visit this page again later.

The full text of the commitments, as adopted by the European Commission, is also available on the Commission's competition website under case number AT.40823

We look forward to continuing to support our customers’ business success.

By Stefan Steinle, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Customer Support, SAP