Solution strategies in the "game with fear

SAP - but also SAM providers, lawyers, auditors - are all playing on SAP customers' potential fear of non-compliance and its consequences, without offering secure solutions in the end. This applies in particular to the topic of indirect use. "Players" such as consultants, add-on and third-party system providers avoid making binding statements and refuse to take responsibility.

This "playing with fear" becomes an interdisciplinary challenge in terms of technology, processes, interfaces, law, IT and purchasing strategy. A game that blocks or even prevents innovation.

SAP and DSAG are selling the changes as a confidence-building measure. Until now, SAP has threatened its customers with harsh consequences for non-compliance without being able to prove it. Now it has found a way to measure indirect usage in its own system and add a € amount to its claims. The fact that this will make SAP usage significantly more expensive and that SAP customers will in future have to pay for every form of interoperability in addition to order-to-cash and procure-to-pay scenarios is - to put it mildly - being overlooked in the communication from SAP and DSAG.

Instead of being frightened, it is important to define a strategy objectively and to formulate it as a solution:

1. Standstill strategy
   Nobody is forcing you to act as long as you are not vulnerable. In this case, the objective assessment of the compliance risk has top priority.
2. NonSAP strategy
   If a strategic supplier plays a monopolistic game, one solution may be to reduce dependency and develop an independent IT product strategy. In this case, the "joker" of an old contract, which can be used to cut out many claims, is ideal. Here, too, it is important to assess possible compliance risks, solve them technically if necessary and establish rules for a secure architecture in the future.
3. ProSAP strategy
   In the case of a pronounced SAP strategy, it is important to secure the future with a good contract in order to find commercially viable solutions and effectively save costs. In addition to a solution for the remaining indirect use, the focus of a ProSAP strategy is on a clean solution for rental contracts without pitfalls, a suitable user model for direct access, flexibility for innovations and price stability so as not to jeopardize the business case for SAP-supported business models.

In all cases - as experience shows - the right solution must and can ensure investment protection and offer the necessary flexibility for future innovations.

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