SAP co-CEO: We're working to fix software licensing, pricing complexity

24.10.2012
SAP is aware of widespread user discontent over the complexity involved with licensing rules and pricing for its software, and is working to remedy the situation, co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said in an interview Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the U.K. and Ireland SAP User Group of a member survey that found 95 percent of respondents believe SAP's licensing policies are too complicated. The survey also revealed that 67 percent of users have found it ever more difficult to track license usage as the vendor's product portfolio grows.

"We now have multiple products in five categories," Snabe said, referring to SAP's range of cloud software, mobile technology, HANA in-memory database and other offerings. "That puts you in a more complex situation. What we're trying to do is come to a solutions approach."

In other words, SAP wants to combine its various products into bundles, including industry-specific ones, "that have high value for the customer, Snabe said. In this way, "we can simplify the pricing," Snabe said. "We want a more solution-oriented price list."

He noted that SAP has already begun going down this path with its series of Rapid Deployment Solutions, which combine software, services and specialized content for fast, albeit focused projects. Now, SAP is now looking to extend the concept further, and is working with user groups to do so, Snabe said.

A major announcement regarding these efforts won't come "in the foreseeable future," but SAP does recognize the problems users cite and is working on them, Snabe added.