SAP-Solution: Digital Access

The topic of indirect use, Digital Access, still affects a large number of SAP existing customers and with the cloud conversion factor FUE, Full Use Equivalent, the next challenge is already at the door of the data center.

Making digital access transparent and reliable was the slogan SAP used to promote indirect use licensing in 2018. A year later, SAP launched the Digital Access Adoption Program, an offering to accelerate adoption.

In the future, SAP intends to offer customers several options to adequately map and charge for "indirect" use, i.e., access from third-party systems to SAP applications.

One way of getting customers to move to the ERP cloud is Indirect or Digital Access. SAP threatens customers with sky-high licensing fees—unless they migrate to the cloud.

How SAP's new Digital Access metric - economically discounted - can go from ROI killer to innovation driver. SAP's new licensing model from April this year remains a challenge for existing customers.

In a press release dated October 2, Voice, the German Federal Association of IT Users, commented on the licensing situation in the SAP community. The topic of "indirect" use and interoperability is a particular concern for technicians and lawyers.

There are increasing signs that SAP intends to dispel the dissatisfaction of user companies and the legal concerns expressed by VOICE in spring 2019 with what is now the third variant of its "digital access/indirect use" usage model.

The kick-off was a complete success. However, the E-3 event also showed that there are more licensing problems in the SAP community than the "indirect" use invented by SAP.

ERP has masterd the concept of thinking in end-to-end processes right from the start. E2E ultimately is the term for the value added by every integrated, business IT system. Everything in these IT systems is connected with everything—an advantage for the user, a challenge for license management. In this text, Stefan Autengruber, SAP Licensing Expert at License Ethics, and Peter Färbinger, E-3 Editor-in-Chief, share their perspectives on the new SAP Licensing Model.

Shortly before a momentous escalation, SAP and the user association DSAG have agreed on a provisional licensing model. Whether the solution delivers what SAP and DSAG promise should be clarified by the end of the year, because DSAG e. V. praises in anticipatory obedience without giving details.