Finally, the Commission said, it is concerned that if a customer does manage to cancel its SAP maintenance and support contracts and subsequently returns to SAP, the company charges reinstatement and back-maintenance fees that, in some cases, “correspond to the amount customers would have paid if they had stayed with SAP all along.”
User concern
The managing director of German enterprise IT users association VOICE, Robin Kaufmann, said that many enterprises across Europe rely on SAP’s software and associated maintenance and support services to run their businesses. “We are concerned that certain SAP practices may limit competition and companies’ freedom of choice. For example, forcing all ERP instances to be maintained exclusively by SAP, preventing the cancellation of maintenance for unused licenses, or imposing automatic extensions and high re-entry fees. These practices not only increase costs but can potentially exclude competitors who also offer maintenance services,” he said via email.
For VOICE members, it’s essential to have a real choice between suppliers, with fair pricing and clear contract conditions, he said. “Users must have the freedom to source maintenance and support flexibly and according to their needs from different providers.”
