May 6, 2015 | Michelle Wilkinson | Director, Marketing
CIOReview magazine just came out with a SAP Special edition. This edition of the magazine is chock full of great information for the SAP user. Included is an article by our Vice President of Global SAP Support Services, Shawn du Plessis. It is a concise overview of considerations for organizations running SAP who are thinking about third-party software support. While the article recognizes that third-party SAP support is not for every organization, some key takeaways include:
– Third parties typically support code modifications / customizations, while standard SAP support does not.
– Senior resources are handling issues / tickets from the first call, rather than relying on a junior person to escalate once the call is taken. These senior engineers are backed up by a team of senior area experts.
– The pricing structure with a third-party provider is typically more flexible in that they will take into consideration the licenses actually being used as well as the number and type of tickets that are typical of the organization. This is a major reason organizations can see significant cost savings with third-party software support.
– The legal landscape of the third-party provider should be taken into account, as that speaks to the integrity of the provider to protect to the software publisher’s intellectual property. A lawsuit could certainly compromise the service levels received after signing on with a third-party provider.
Read the full article and decide for yourself whether third-party SAP support is worth investigating before your notification is due at the end of September.
