SAP bows to user pressure: Fiori and Personas now bundled for free
- Summary:
- SAP has announced that Fiori and Personas will be included in existing SAP licences and maintenance, bowing to customer pressure.
[SAP]...met the requirements of the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG e. V.), which represents 2,900 companies with more than 50,000 registered individuals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. According to former DSAG statements, the shipment of SAP Fiori and SAP Screen Personas should be included in the annual maintenance fees. This means, they must be available for customers with SAP maintenance without any license costs...
Andreas Oczko, DSAG Board Member Operations / Service & Support, is pleased with the result: "SAP has recognized that attractive surfaces are an important trend among users and this must be served within maintenance expenditures. Now SAP customers can evaluate whether SAP Fiori and Screen Personas are suitable for their business or not, without having to take into consideration additional licensing costs. "
The SAP UK & Ireland User Group said in a statement:
The user experience of SAP has been a complaint of members for some time. As part of SUGEN, and at a local level, we've been pushing SAP on this matter as our members felt strongly that they shouldn't have to pay separate license fees for Fiori. This move shows that SAP is listening to its customers and takes the concerns of user groups seriously.
Verdict
- As Bill McDermott, CEO SAP warms to his keynote theme of simplification, this is the first plank in a strategy to recast SAP as a modern, young organization that is responsive to new business models.
- Existing customers who have previously bought Fiori will get a credit.
- I am not surprised that SAP has bowed to the inevitable on this topic. Soundings suggest that SAP had not managed to gain the traction it anticipated in large part because of resistance to SAP's pricing model.
- Fiori and Personas provides a much improved user experience and will serve as a way to help keep customers from straying into the arms of the competition. It isn't the whole story but a step in the right direction.
- The question now - what else will SAP do but without being forced into making change?