Blog Optimising is key to cost efficiency for SAP and to be ready for the future
Optimising is key to cost efficiency for SAP and to be ready for the future
By Insight UK / 7 Nov 2023 / Topics: Software Asset Management (SAM) Software
It has never been more important to optimise your SAP licences and contracts.
SAP licenses are critical components of an organisation's IT infrastructure, enabling them to access and use SAP software for their business operations. However, SAP licensing is complex, with various types of licenses, usage metrics, and licensing models that businesses need to understand and navigate. Then you have to contend with the regular SAP updates to their licensing policies, which further
complicates your license management.
SAP changes, your business changes, so it is essential that you optimise your SAP licences and contracts so you can use licenses effectively, take control of costs and maintain compliance.
Why optimise your SAP licensing?
Effective management and optimisation of SAP licenses and contracts can yield several tangible benefits for your organisation, including:
Cost savings: SAP licenses and contracts are often a significant IT investment. Optimising licenses and contracts will help you identify and eliminate unnecessary licenses, consolidate licenses, negotiate favorable contract terms, and avoid non-compliance penalties.
Compliance: SAP has strict licensing policies that must be adhered to. Failure to comply with these policies can result in substantial penalties, fines, and legal disputes. So not only is there a financial risk, but the time taken to understand and respond to audits is time consuming and takes focus away from your value add initiatives.
License utilisation: You may uncover that you are not fully utilising your SAP licenses, resulting in wasted licenses and costs. Understanding your utilisation accurately will provide opportunities to drive more efficient utilisation and uncover potential cost savings.
License and (S/4) contract renewals: License and (S/4) contract renewals are generally complex and involve difficult negotiations with SAP. You have to gain a comprehensive understanding of your current licensing and contract usage, identify renewal opportunities, negotiate favourable terms, and ensure your renewals are aligned with your business needs now and in the future to be most cost-effective.
Insight can support you to achieve the outcomes you need
We have found the two biggest barriers to achieving effective contractual and commercial structure are; time and skilled resource. This is where Insight can help you, our experienced SAP optimisation and governance consultants, understand the licensing complexities, know the commercial levers to use.
License usage analysis: we can analyse your current license usage, including license types, quantities, and usage metrics. This will help you identify underutilised licenses, unused licenses, and opportunities for license consolidation.
Contract analysis: we review your current SAP contracts, including terms, conditions, pricing, and renewal dates. We will help you identify contract optimisation opportunities, negotiate favourable terms and ensure compliance with the contractual requirements.
License optimisation strategy: Based on the license usage analysis and contract analysis, we can help you develop a license optimisation strategy. This strategy includes recommendations for license consolidation, license allocation, contract renegotiation, and license utilisation improvements, aligned to your specific business needs and cost-saving objectives.
License management tools and processes: quite often you need to use specialised tools and processes to manage licenses effectively. We can help you choose and use the most effective license tracking, license allocation, license utilisation monitoring, and contract management tools to ensure ongoing compliance and cost efficiency.
Compliance: it is critical to understand you compliance position so you can avoid unexpected penalties and legal disputes. We can help support your organisation to have in-depth understanding around compliance, and should you be audited we can provide support, wherever you are in the audit process.
At Insight, we have proven successes in building the right contractual and commercial structures to have successful negotiations, mitigate audit risks, maintain compliance and get the right outcomes for your business.
Contact me or your Insight sales representative to start the discussion.
