SAP has been fighting an uphill battle trying to convince its customers, 22% maintenance is justified. Ray Wang at Forrester has been surveying its customer base - and as Dennis Howlett reports only 6% feel a maintenance rate of 22% or higher is justified. Fully 35% believe it should be 12% or less.
Ray also goes on to talk about a variety of SAP's "broken promises" to customers. As I wrote yesterday, SAP would make a huge mistake if it just focuses on the missed Q3. There are deep, secular changes needed at the company - and Ray does not even go into the low innovation quotient of its R&D or the continued lack of control of its services ecosystem (which costs its customers even more)
Of course, SAP did not pull out the 22% maintenance rate out of the air. It is trying to match what Oracle has charged its customers for a while now. If Forrester did a similar survey around Oracle customers it would likely get a similar response. And perhaps even worse - because that market has seen third party options at TomorrowNow and Rimini priced below the 12% threshold for a few years now.
I have acquired a moniker in the industry as "Vinnie Maintenance" for droning on for years about "high-maintenance" in software. Ray and Dennis' additional research is going to make them just as unpopular with vendors.
To which I say: By all means, ignore us. But please listen to the 94% of your customers who are saying so.
Frank Scavo adds his perspective
