SAP enterprise application customers currently signed up for the company's entry-level Basic Support maintenance program should evaluate their utilization of support services before agreeing to migrate to the company's new, more expensive Enterprise Support option, according to a recent report from Forrester Research.
The report notes that, as of Feb. 1, new SAP customers no longer had the option of selecting Basic Support, which costs 17% of net license fees per year. In its place, SAP created what it calls an Enterprise Support maintenance option, which includes several new features as well as a higher, 22% price tag.
"Forrester believes that new customers forced onto the Enterprise Support offering will overpay for services they will underutilize," the report's author, Ray Wang, says.
The replacement of Basic Support with Enterprise Support, the report notes, brings SAP into parity with rival Oracle, which already charges customers 22% of net license fees per year for maintenance.