While most customers are turning to partners for help getting their infrastructure right, 91 per cent of users said SAP could do a better job of making customers aware of the products and services it has on offer.
Though 75 per cent of firms said they had used SAP Solution Manager in the past three years, Paul Cooper, the user group’s vice chairman, believes the majority “may be using the bare minimum that the tool can do”.
“When it comes to helping customers optimise their landscapes, it’s apparent that SAP still needs to do more to educate and help customers take advantage of the services it offers. As SAP’s product offerings continue to evolve, users need to understand how they will impact on their business,” Cooper said.
The survey also showed strong positive sentiment towards SAP HANA, with 63 per cent currently considering moving to the in-memory platform, and a further third planning to do so in the next three years. A majority of firms also expect to be utilising a hybrid cloud environment within three years.
However, Cooper warned that in order to ensure a smooth transition and fully realise the benefits of HANA and hybrid infrastructure, users need to optimise their existing landscape.
“The findings of our survey show that optimisation remains a challenge for the majority of users, both from a resources and technological perspective. Nearly half of our respondents (47 per cent) stated that customisations to their existing landscape had hindered the speed at which they could implement enhancement packs and/or adopt newer platforms from SAP, such as cloud and HANA.”
Growing data volumes also presents a significant challenge, with 65 per cent of respondents reporting an increase of almost half over the last three years. This, combined with lower storage costs, has led organisations to archive more data, but this in turn is creating issues around data accuracy, consistency and governance.
The study surveyed 120 members of the UK & Ireland SAP User Group.
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