SAP Relents

Throughout the entirety of 2009, SAP took constant flak for its decision to raise maintenance from 17% to 21%. It didn’t help that they botched the announcement with thin justification. Most analysts could readily see that the real justification was “that’s what Oracle charges”. In the wake of SAP CEO Leo Apotheker’s resignation on February 7, this is what chairman Hasso Plattner had to say: ”Trust is a complicated thing. Don’t look so faraway, I was part of the decision to raise maintenance fees. The 100 largest customers were very happy with what we were doing…We made some mistakes in some legal and political issues in Germany. I lost sight of the smaller customers…We made a mistake.” It is impossible to imagine Larry Ellison ever uttering such words, even though Oracle continues to charge its clients 22% annual maintenance fees. The SAP position changed as a result of massive client pushback and a concerted effort by a multitude of industry analysts. It will take a similar effort in the Oracle eco-system to even challenge this rip-off.