Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions like SAP are essential tools for businesses to centralize their operations. However, managing and maintaining an SAP environment isn’t easy, as it often requires strong technical skills.
To make matters trickier, vendor support is expensive. Is this really the best way to receive ongoing support for your SAP solution? How can you reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO) and cut maintenance fees?
This is where SAP managed services come in — third-party providers that offer a cost-effective alternative to SAP-provided support.
In this article, we’ll explain what SAP managed services are and the benefits they offer. We’ll also look at what you can expect from a third-party support provider and provide helpful tips for choosing one.
What are SAP managed services?
SAP managed services involve outsourcing some of your IT responsibilities to a third-party provider to manage your SAP environment’s technical and functional aspects. By contracting with a managed service provider, you’ll receive ongoing product support from a company that’s not the original manufacturer.
You’re likely familiar with contracting certain services to a third party. For example, if your car breaks down, you can take it to an independent shop for repairs instead of the dealer. Similarly, as a business, you can work with a third party to manage and “repair” your SAP environment.
So, why consider SAP managed services?
It’s a fair question. ERP providers like Oracle and SAP already offer product support and updates (with high annual fees, we might add). But the level and quality of support you receive pales compared to what third-party support providers offer.
The table below shows the key differences between SAP and third-party support:
In a nutshell, you get more with a third-party support provider than you do from publishers like SAP — dedicated support teams, faster response times, proactive monitoring, and more. We’ll go into more detail in the next section.
What are the benefits of SAP managed services?
Not happy with the current level of product support you’re getting from SAP? It’s time to consider SAP managed services.
Here’s why third-party support for SAP is a better option for your company.
Significant cost savings on support fees
ERP providers like Oracle and SAP earn over half of their revenue from support fees.
Oracle and SAP raise these fees to the tune of 2 to 4% per year to maintain their profit margins. Starting from 2024, SAP is expected to increase support fees by an average of 5%. This means organizations have to budget more each year to pay these costs.
The biggest benefit of switching to a third-party support provider for SAP managed services is the cost savings. In fact, Spinnaker Support has helped companies cut SAP support fees by an average of 62%. We can also help save on unnecessary version upgrades and reduce costs associated with maintaining an in-house IT team.
After investing two decades in their SAP ECC6 ERP system, Exela Technologies aimed to cut costs due to budget cuts and staff reductions. Seeking responsive customer service, effective issue resolution, and support for their ECC6 application, they turned to Spinnaker Support.
We helped Exela Technologies achieve 60% cost savings compared to their prior spending. Exela Technologies has since trusted our team to resolve many issues, including unexpected problems during an SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) upgrade.
Immediate and personalized support
SAP users typically have to rely on self-service portals or even community forums to get the support they need.
Visit SAP’s product support page, and the first option you’ll see is a link to their knowledgebase:
This impersonal touch means that users are often expected to find solutions on their own. SAP’s support page even says chat support is “best suited for new Medium or High priority issues.”
If you do submit a case, don’t expect immediate support. SAP estimates a 4-hour response time for “high” customer cases and a 1-hour response time for “very high” cases. If your SAP systems are experiencing critical issues, you simply cannot afford to wait that long — not without risking negative business impacts.
With SAP managed services from third-party support providers like Spinnaker Support, you get personalized and immediate support. We assign a dedicated Account Support Lead (ASL) who responds promptly, within 8 minutes on average. Think of them as an extension of your own internal IT department that you can call on whenever you need help.
Support for custom code
What makes SAP an attractive ERP solution is it offers a flexible platform with a high degree of customization. No matter what industry you operate in, you can customize SAP and create new functionality to fill any gaps that a standard installation may not cover.
But customizing SAP isn’t without its risks.
Customizations often require significant technical expertise. They can also make upgrades and updates difficult, as you’ll need to reconfigure them to work with new versions of SAP. These reconfigurations can increase the risk of system errors if you don’t test them properly.
So, what happens if your SAP environment with custom code has issues?
Unfortunately, SAP vendor support doesn’t cover custom code. That means you’re on your own to troubleshoot issues if you’re running SAP applications with custom functionality.
SAP managed service providers like Spinnaker Support can work with you to troubleshoot and address issues. If an issue stems from custom code, our engineers will help develop a fix for it. This involves isolating the issue and testing a fix within a test environment so it doesn’t affect other programs.
Once we address the issue, we’ll provide related supporting documents. Our engineers will also work closely with your team to maintain interoperability across your tech stack.
What do SAP managed services cover?
Wondering what you get with SAP managed services?
Here are a few IT support services you get with a third-party support provider.
Infrastructure monitoring
As more companies rely on SAP to manage their operations, ensuring performance and high availability has become mission-critical. However, network issues and problematic code slipping through the cracks can result in unplanned downtime.
SAP managed services typically include infrastructure monitoring — the process of continuously monitoring your SAP environment to ensure everything is running efficiently.
At Spinnaker Support, we know that even 1 hour of downtime can have devastating effects. We take a proactive approach and continuously monitor your SAP systems to identify and address issues before they escalate. With SAP product support, users typically make service requests after the fact. This means an issue can affect your systems for hours at a time.
Application Managed Services (AMS)
Workplace instability is a continual issue that IT leaders face. In fact, the tech industry has one of the highest turnover rates at 12.9%, just below professional services.
High turnover rates don’t just hurt your bottom line; they can also make it difficult to manage your SAP systems. Scaling your systems can be especially challenging if you can’t retain the right talent.
At Spinnaker Support, our Application Managed Services (AMS) enable you to maintain consistent access to the needed talent by outsourcing the management and development of your SAP applications.
Some of our services include:
- Custom application development
- Performance management and tuning
- Integrations with third-party products
- Application configurations
- Proactive system checks
SAP offers various modules that organizations can customize to fit their needs. But unless you
have a dedicated team of experts on hand, you’re unlikely to extract their full value. Spinnaker Support offers extensive AMS for your SAP environment, allowing you to augment your IT team’s capabilities.
Security management
Security management is a critical aspect of SAP systems. A lack of strong security measures can increase the risk of breaches and unauthorized access.
Of course, SAP regularly releases patches to address vulnerabilities. But implementing them can be risky. SAP isn’t always fully transparent about what these patches address, so they can break certain applications if you install them. What’s more, these patches are often unavailable for older product versions.
If you’re concerned about the security of your SAP environment, you don’t have to be.
At Spinnaker support, we offer a robust Seven-Point Security Solution that goes beyond the reactive patches that SAP offers. The process involves conducting an extensive audit of your systems and implementing security measures to mitigate risks. Then, our team continuously monitors your systems and reports on vulnerabilities.
Learn how Spinnaker Support helps reduce your security risk.
Cloud migration and management
Cloud adoption continues to increase at a rapid pace. Data shows that 80% of enterprises are now adopting a multi-cloud strategy.
Moving systems to the cloud can enable your organization to take advantage of the cloud’s ability to scale resources up or down. It can also help reduce your on-premise infrastructure footprint, which can lower operational costs.
However, cloud migrations are a complex process that carries certain risks. These can include compatibility issues and even data loss. The right third-party support provider can assist with cloud migrations.
For example, here’s how Spinnaker Support can help with your migration strategy:
- Cost savings: Not sure if you want to migrate? Spinnaker Support can help you reduce support costs while you decide whether moving to the cloud is right for your company. The money you save can be allocated to fund an eventual migration.
- Access to skilled experts: Spinnaker Support can provide the right staff to support your cloud initiatives, allowing your staff to focus on other initiatives.
- Flexibility: Developing a cloud strategy doesn’t happen overnight. While you determine whether SAP cloud solutions like S/4HANA deployments are right for you, we can continue to provide support. We offer flexible commercial terms based on your needs.
Cloud adoption can boost revenue, but it’s important to secure top-notch SAP management services like Spinnaker Support to ensure a smooth migration process.
Data backup and disaster recovery
Unexpected events like hardware failures, cyber attacks, or natural disasters can bring your operations to a complete halt. A disaster recovery plan is a must to ensure minimal data loss.
SAP managed services may include developing a disaster recovery plan based on your recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) — metrics that refer to the amount of time it takes to recover from a disaster and the amount of data that can be lost without causing significant disruptions.
At Spinnaker Support, we can assist with:
- Duplicating data and system configurations
- Storing copies of your SAP environment off-site or in the cloud
- Creating and testing disaster recovery plans
Disaster can strike at any time. By working with our experts, we can help minimize data loss and help you quickly restore normal operations if a disaster or outage occurs.
Choosing the right SAP managed service provider
Whether you’re facing inadequate support or escalating costs, finding the right third-party support provider for your SAP environment can help.
Here’s what to consider when choosing an SAP managed service provider:
Scalability
As your business grows, you’ll need to scale your SAP systems to work with more demanding workloads. Look for an SAP managed service provider who can offer flexible and scalable solutions. This ensures that your SAP system can meet your needs now and in the future.
At Spinnaker Support, we work with companies of all sizes to provide a full spectrum of SAP services. Whether you need help developing new functionality or you need to improve overall operability, our engineers are always on hand.
Cost-value proposition
Outsourcing SAP management to a third-party provider can free up internal resources and achieve significant cost savings. Look for a provider who can offer services that fit your budget.
How much could you save with Spinnaker Support?
Use our savings calculator to see how much your company can save on SAP support. Enter a few details, like the product you’re using, your current annual maintenance spend, and the anticipated commitment term. We’ll help you estimate how much you can save.
By switching to Spinnaker Support, you can save thousands or even more each year on annual maintenance costs. This can help you allocate funds to other strategic initiatives, like developing new products or expanding into other markets.
Service offerings
Not all SAP managed service providers are equal. It goes without saying that the vendor you choose should have the skill set and expertise to work with your SAP landscape.
At Spinnaker Support, our third-party support services for SAP include:
- Break/fix services
- Custom code and interoperability support
- Global tax and regulatory compliance
- Intrusion detection and virtual patching
- Technical advisory services
Our team of Level 2 and Level 3 engineers have the specialized skills to handle all of these services on a regular basis. In cases when exceptionally complex problems arise, we can also escalate to our Level 4 engineers, who are the highest level experts in the field.
Conclusion
SAP managed services enable you to outsource SAP management to a third party, allowing you to reduce operating costs and receive personalized support. Whether you’re a growing startup or a large enterprise, we’ll help you get the most out of your SAP platform.
Contact us today to reach out to a support expert. We’ll help you achieve significant cost savings and unlock more value from your SAP systems.
