SAP CEO defends support price hike

SAP co-CEO, Léo Apotheker, has hit back at criticism of the German business software giant's plans to change its support offering and price increase.

SAP recently announced it plans to move all customers onto the more comprehensive - and expensive - Enterprise Support programme by the end of the year.

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But the UK SAP user group said the plan received a hugely negative reaction from its members with many saying they don't need the additional support especially with the cost increase.

In response to a question from silicon.com at SAP's quarterly results, Apotheker said: "We hope that through the dialogue with the UK and German user groups and equally importantly, if not more importantly, with all of our customers, [that] the vast majority will understand the value that they can derive from this new offering."

Speaking in today's SAP results press conference, he added: "You know, the Enterprise Support is a very, very important new offering that we are introducing to the market. It is a complete new value proposition that we are proposing to all of our customers."

Apotheker also claimed SAP's Enterprise Support could actually result in a reduction in IT running costs despite the higher support fee.

"We are also adding significant technology to all of these aspects so that we are actually convinced that we can help our customers to lower the overall costs of operating IT in these challenging times through this support offering," he said.

Defending the support changes Apotheker added that the increased cost puts the Enterprise Support on a par with the industry standard, saying "you will find many other offerings in the market at a significantly higher rate".

When asked what he would say to smaller companies who don't want or need a full Enterprise Support package he said: "I would love to engage with them to explain to them what the benefits are and I'm sure they would understand that."

SAP said not all customers have reacted negatively and Apotheker added the US user group's reaction was "more understanding to our offering".