The European Commission has launched an antitrust investigation into how SAP handles support and maintenance for its on-premises ERP products. The initial conclusion? SAP may have used its dominant position to limit customer choice.
To address these concerns, SAP has submitted a set of commitments that, if approved, will apply worldwide for the next 10 years. For organizations still running SAP ECC or Business Suite this could open the door to more flexibility, lower support costs and less vendor lock-in.
What’s going on?
The European Commission reviewed SAP’s on-prem support practices and found that the company holds a dominant position in the aftermarket for maintaining its ERP systems. The investigation does not focus on SAP’s cloud business but on the traditional on-prem software used by thousands of European enterprises.
The concerns center around several long-discussed practices where customer were limited:
- All-or-nothing support
Customers had to keep SAP support for all installations at the same level which left no room for mixed or third-party support. - Paying for unused licenses
Maintenance fees continued even for “shelfware”. - Contract extensions tied to new licenses
Adding new licenses restarted minimum support terms. - High penalties for returning to SAP support
Reinstatement and back-maintenance fees made it costly to leave and later rejoin SAP’s support program.
The Commission believes these practices restricted competition and reduced the ability for customers to manage support costs in a fair way.
SAP’s proposed commitments
To resolve the concerns SAP has offered a package of legally binding commitments. These would apply globally for 10 years and be monitored by an independent trustee. Here is what SAP is promising (💡more freedom for customers in general):
What this means for SAP customers
For many organizations this is an important change. Customers will finally be able to create a hybrid support model where critical systems stay under SAP support while stable or legacy environments can be managed by third-party providers. This can:
- reduce unnecessary maintenance spend
- help exclude unused licenses from support
- improve contract governance
- reduce the pressure and risk around renewals or S/4HANA migrations
For CIOs and procurement leaders this brings real leverage when negotiating support costs and planning the next steps of their ERP strategy.
What companies should do now to be ready for the upcoming change:
Your next step is to turn SAP changes into real value
If you want clarity on your SAP licensing support costs or maintenance strategy our SAM Services for SAP are designed to help. We help you understand your SAP estate uncover cost-saving opportunities and build a support model that fits your business.
We will help you turn regulatory changes into clear and actionable improvements with a partner who puts people first.