In today’s landscape of interconnected on-premises enterprise servers, appliances, managed services and cloud-based applications, the customer needs for SAP support services are fragmenting just as fast as their IT environments are shifting. On one hand, new cloud-delivered applications include support, maintenance and enhancements built into a tidy monthly price, negating the need for a separate support contract. And yet, an enterprise that launches an SAP HANA-based application from the cloud might also have a highly stable traditional ERP system that has little need for support or enhancement. One customer, two very different support needs.

And the customer scenarios only get increasingly complex as organizations add new SAP software like SuccessFactors, Ariba, HANA and mobile applications.

According to Jens Bernotat, vice president of strategy and business development for SAP’s maintenance go-to-market organization, today’s customers expect SAP to deliver far more than technical management and fixes for their SAP systems — they expect SAP to help them keep the lights on, reduce complexity and pave the way for innovation. Consequently, Bernotat said SAP is transforming its support programs to better serve client expectations.