Innovation vs. SAP Licensing

Software licenses, a global IT problem

Of course, every IT user is under a license obligation to software providers and must then develop the best possible strategy in accordance with that fact. For many years, SAP has been extremely restrictive in distributing free software licenses for proofs of concept, as numerous SAP partners have informed E3 magazine. While Microsoft offers 180-day trial licenses for its server products at any time and without red tape, SAP only offers free licenses for a few days, if at all.

The system of trial licenses for 30 to 180 days is well established in the IT industry. After downloading the software, it is often only necessary to register with an e-mail address for activation. SAP, on the other hand, takes quite a strict and restrictive approach to issuing free text licenses. Many innovations result from an experimental approach that should not carry such a high cost in the early stages.

IG SAP CH complains about SAP's licensing policy

At the annual SAP Community Survey, IG SAP CH (SAP Switzerland Interest Group) complained about the challenging licensing policy of the ERP world market leader SAP: "There are currently significant developments and discussions in connection with SAP's licensing and migration policy: reduction of credit values for license migrations, pressure to switch to cloud models, products are being discontinued and successor products are much more expensive. There are intensive discussions about how SAP customers can strengthen their position together. SAP's strategy of gradually making traditional on-prem models and private cloud solutions unattractive via an alternative hyperscaler, as well as providing products and services exclusively via the RISE/GROW construct, is putting companies under considerable pressure. This is problematic because there is no objective reason not to offer licenses in other forms. This approach suggests that SAP is deliberately using its dominant market position to force customers into its cloud strategy. Such a strategy can only be implemented by a company with a dominant position in the market.”

Do all SAP customers agree? IG SAP CH wants to know what customers think! For the fifth time, the SAP user association is conducting an online survey: what are the current challenges in an SAP environment? How robust is your company’s current SAP strategy? How are SAP's communications regarding RISE perceived? Are the RISE and GROW initiatives clear and understandable, and does this SAP technology promote transparency on important issues? What is the planning and progress of the migration to S/4 Hana and what are the experiences before, during, and after the project?

The opinion of every SAP customer counts, and IG SAP CH is looking forward to as many participants as possible! The survey is open until March 15, 2025 (German only): https://forms.office.com/e/kiHhf6UUSp

SAP BTP licenses

The BTP platform is a special challenge for SAP customers because it consists of many different components and thus cannot be licensed uniformly. At the start of many ERP projects, it is often unclear which software components will be needed for development and customization. This makes it almost impossible to estimate costs.

The licensing conditions of an IT platform such as SAP BTP must be well planned. At the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2025, attorney Dr. Jana Jentzsch will give a presentation on SAP cloud licensing in general and BTP in particular. Registration is still open for the Summit in Heidelberg on March 5 and 6.