Digital Access – a Line in the Sand

Fresh from SAPPHIRE NOW and the many experiences we shared last week, I wanted to reflect on what I have heard from customers and analysts about a topic very important to me: Digital Access.

One of the major announcements at SAPPHIRE NOW was the one on Digital Access. Together with our user groups DSAG, ASUG, and SUGEN we introduced the Digital Access Adoption Program (DAAP) designed to help customers move to our digital access license model. What got us here? Back in April 2018 we announced the Indirect Digital Access Pricing Model. After that, customers, partners and analysts shared their feedback with us in many candid conversations. I have always been adamant that we can only improve as a company and offer our very best to customers if we truly listen to them. Feedback matters, for me personally and for SAP as a whole.

So we took that feedback - especially regarding transparency and predictability - and acted on it. Together, we addressed all the concerns to fully support our customers to achieve transparency on their current document use. With the new program they can now take advantage of very attractive financial incentives and license conversions for their applicable past investments and have peace of mind for future use.

Let me share some initial reaction from customers and analysts from SAPPHIRE NOW: Overall, the sentiment was very positive. One customer told me that in the past they had considered indirect use a major risk for their company, thus they stayed away from the journey to the Intelligent Enterprise with SAP. Now with DAAP, SAP is back in the game, the customer said, and they are considering starting their journey with SAP. Another applauded SAP for helping customers determine their document usage and also offering financial incentives to move to digital access. Analysts told me that in their view SAP seemed to be ahead of other vendors in how we handle and solve the question of digital access.

Josh Greenbaum, in his EAC Focus Report, said it best: “This pioneering program offers SAP’s customers an opportunity to press reset on an issue that has troubled their strategic relationship with SAP at a critical time in both parties’ history. And even if customers in the end chose not to avail themselves of DAAP and stay with their existing licensing terms and conditions, the precedent set by SAP is one that will play an important role in revitalizing these all-important relationships.”

Listening to customers’ feedback and needs is what has made SAP successful for more than four decades and it will make it successful in the future - our chairman Hasso Plattner stressed this fact during his SAPPHIRE keynote as well. And I support that sentiment wholeheartedly. SAP is always best when it listens to its customers and partners.

The DAAP is an achievement which was only possible thanks to the close collaboration and partnership with our user groups DSAG, SUGEN and ASUG. For more details, look at our overview about DAAP and see what Geoff Scott, CEO of ASUG, shared in his blogpost.

With DAAP we have drawn a line in the sand and can leave the past behind us. Looking ahead, customers can be confident. I am certain that our customers will see tremendous benefits from this great team effort.