The European Commission has ended an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices after SAP agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance fees. The move could reduce barriers for customers considering third-party support for products nearing the end of their vendor support terms, including thousands of large businesses that rely on SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) to run their business operations.
SAP's mainstream support for ECC ends in December 2027, while customers can opt for extended maintenance until December 2030 by paying an additional two percentage points on their maintenance fees. The most recent figures from Gartner showed that in Q4 2024 only 39 percent of worldwide ECC customers – from a total of 35,000 – had bought or subscribed to licenses to start their transition to SAP S/4HANA, the replacement ERP product.
In September last year, the European Commission launched a formal investigation into SAP's behavior in the aftermarket for maintenance and support services in Europe. It said it was responding to concerns that SAP restricted competition in this crucial aftermarket by making it harder for rivals to compete, leaving European customers with fewer choices and higher costs.
In October, SAP published its response. “SAP’s commitments aim at improving the financial attractiveness for customers who wish to reinstate SAP maintenance and support services. Thus, future costs associated with reinstatement will not financially prevent customers from choosing to terminate SAP maintenance and support for a given period of time,” the document said.
SAP has now agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back maintenance fees charged to customers who return to SAP's support after a period of absence, the Commission confirmed. It also agreed to clarify conditions that allow customers to choose different maintenance and support service providers and different levels of support from SAP. The agreement is relevant to customers considering third-party support to extend their use of ECC beyond vendor maintenance.
For example, last year, European retailer Kingfisher — owner of well-known UK brands B&Q and Screwfix — told a Gartner conference it had chosen Rimini Street to support ECC 6. 0 because it saw insufficient value in migrating to SAP S/4HANA. EC executive VP Teresa Ribera said in a statement, “SAP’s software is critical to businesses across Europe, and indeed globally.
Today’s decision gives customers using SAP’s popular on-premises business management software more freedom to choose maintenance and support services without unfair restrictions that raised their costs and stifled competition. The legally binding commitments secured by the Commission set a benchmark for the industry more broadly and should serve as a warning against practices with similar effects in the cloud markets, where customers are increasingly moving.”
SAP said in a statement that its maintenance practices were aligned with industry standards and that customers had a broad range of deployment, licensing, and support options across its on-premise and cloud products. “The commitments strengthen customer choice and predictability by making policies more transparent, introducing targeted flexibility for exceptional shelfware situations and reinforcing consistent execution through improved guidance, training and independent oversight," it said.
“The decision relates solely to on-premise maintenance policies and does not concern SAP’s cloud offerings. However, the added clarity and flexibility support customers as they modernize toward an AI-enabled autonomous enterprise at their own pace. In closing this matter, SAP is able to move forward with a clear framework for customers, partners and investors.”
The commitments offered by SAP will remain in force globally for ten years.
Originally published at theregister.com
