Nederlands
duck hunt
Promisses
SAP spokes persons and account managers were very quick to mention to the world that, now they won the Diageo court case, they wouldn’t directly start harvesting the new situation on indirect access. And in effect that’s a bit true. They now seem to aim at the big treasure chests that are out there. AB InBev is tenfold Diageo and what will be the next big fish? I guess the people at SAP are no real beer drinkers. And with these amounts champagne looks more fitting.
So when you’re a very large SAP client you’re certainly at risk. Because with these amounts it isn’t interesting for SAP to put a lot of effort in the smaller organizations.
SAP came well prepared
It is clear that SAP has been preparing itself the last few years for this offense and picks the cherries and the easy kills. However, there’s still time to scan and divert all ther risks that come with SAP software (and others not to forget).
SAP wants to be the new Oracle as it seems. Who cares if you’re not favorite when you can be prince John and the sheriff of Nottingham and ‘tax your clients like a lemon juicer’. CA was one of the first to do this, the others, like IBM and Oracle followed.
Alternatives?
And what’s the alternative? going from SAP to Oracle or IBM. That’s changing lanes on the same highway with identical rules. There are plenty of alternatives. All a lot smaller and all wanting to be the Oracles, SAP’s and IBM’s of the future. So, get smart. Negotiate how software can be sold to your company and put that in your own contract when you buy this software.
Quick solution
But for now: make sure that you’re not in the risk zone. Harness yourself against any audit (ask me for our audit defence products that will help you on that). Assess your risks and minimize them while you’re still in a negotiation position. You’ll have to decide if you’re going to be a sitting duck or not.