SAP users hit out over licensing complexity

An overwhelming 95 per cent of SAP users believe the company's software licensing policy is too complicated, according to a survey by the UK & Ireland SAP User Group.

Some 88 per cent of respondents believed SAP should make its price list public, increasing transparency with regard to licensing costs.

One of the areas highlighted as being overly complex in the report is software lifecycle management. Many users claimed they found it difficult to establish which licenses they needed through the lifecycle of their SAP software, as some packages come with multiple licenses with different limits in usage rights.

Consequently, 89 per cent of the 336 users surveyed said they would like SAP to reduce complexity by offering software that is only limited by one license or usage metric.

Tim Noble, managing director of SAP UK and Ireland acknowledged the findings and noted that the firm is looking to address complexities.

"Our ultimate goal is to make our user's experiences of software licensing as efficient as possible and we will continue to focus on this," he said.

Jane McCallion is ITPro's Managing Editor, specializing in data centers and enterprise IT infrastructure. Before becoming Managing Editor, she held the role of Deputy Editor and, prior to that, Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialize in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.

Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.