SAP Licence Management & Software Advisory

How can we advise you?

Optimise licensing position and negotiate contracts.

Respond effectively, minimise disruption and negotiate settlement.

Cut costs, maintain compliance and increase security.

Prevent contractual breaches when moving off SAP support.

Manage SAP subscription licensing in the cloud.

Weigh up RISE with SAP, S/4HANA and other solutions.

Truly independent SAP consulting services to help you achieve greater equity in your vendor relationship.

SAP’s licensing structures have changed more often than other vendors’, with usage rights updated on a quarterly basis. If your organisation has been with SAP for a long time, it can be difficult to work out the usage rights from what you had purchased years ago, leaving you at risk of exposure.

On top of the existing licence challenges, SAP has introduced a new ERP platform in SAP S/4HANA, along with end-of-support dates for SAP ERP Central Component (ECC), which raises system and licence migration considerations for SAP customers.

As an independent licence advisory firm, Invictus Partners can help you define your ERP roadmap, conduct scenario analysis on licensing, perform audit assessments, and assist with negotiation strategies to ensure you have the best SAP software and licensing models in place to enable your organisation to grow and evolve.

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“The Invictus Partners team put ‘SAP-speak’ in layman’s terms, so we could understand and manage what we needed to do.” Tracy Marshall, Chief Financial Officer, Australian Wool Innovation.

SAP Software Licence Management: Gain clarity on your SAP licence usage versus entitlements.

Most organisations are in a position where they are suffering from licence sprawl and a lack of insight into their licensing position. Our licence management best practices put you on the right path.

Invictus Partners can provide expert licensing advice at any point along your SAP software journey. We do this in three phases, which are available as an end-to-end service, or as separate engagements.

Phase 1

SAP Licence
Review

Phase 2

SAP Licence
Optimisation

Phase 3

SAP Contract Negotiation

Phase 1

SAP Licence Review

Invictus Partners’ SAP Licence Review identifies any licence compliance issues, designs remediation strategies specific to your organisation, and uncovers any potential cost savings across your SAP licence base.

While SAP customers are required to perform a self-audit through the annual declaration process, this is not a comprehensive review of your entitlements versus usage and can give organisations a false sense of security when it comes to compliance. Understanding your entitlements and mitigating any compliance exposure ahead of submitting your data to SAP is critical, as this process can readily trigger an extended audit.

Phase 2

SAP Licence Optimisation

Granting licences based on authorisations or simply assigning the highest level licence by default are ways that SAPcustomers can ensure compliance and avoid under-licensing, but this is an overcompensatory approach that leads to organisations paying a maximum licence fee rather than a cheaper one that is more suited to the actual usage behaviour.

Invictus Partners’ SAP Licence Optimisation service ensures the optimal licence is assigned to any SAP user at any point in time. We analyse usage data to determine how licences are being used in your organisation, reveal where there is overspending and overconsumption, and optimise your SAP licensing environment accordingly.

Phase 3

SAP Contract Negotiation

Invictus Partners’ experience in negotiations with SAP enables us to know what is an optimal compliance and commercial position based on the current state of your SAP environment. We can identify the best licensing and contractual terms for your organisation, conduct price benchmarking, and help you negotiate with SAP to achieve the desired outcomes.

Download our SAP Licence Management datasheet

SAP Licence Audit Defence: Minimise exposure and effectively remediate.

SAP audits occur every one to two years and it is compulsory for clients to submit the information to SAP as stipulated in the EULA. While these are fairly simple and focused on Direct Access, SAP now conducts extended audits driven by an SAP Licence auditor, which covers Direct and Indirect Access, as well as HANA Runtime compliance analysis.

Indirect Access is the cause of exposure in most SAP licence compliance audits.

Indirect Access is the cause of licence exposure for many organisations, and SAP has become stricter in their application and administration of these licences. In fact, over 90% of SAP customers we’ve worked with have not been compliant with Indirect Access.

Indirect Access can be licenced on the traditional user-based and order processing models or the number of digital documents created. Invictus Partners can identify where you have Indirect Access exposure, the value of this exposure, and whether it is more cost-effective for your organisation to leverage the legacy licence model to cover the access, pay based on the number of digital documents created, and/or to look are-architecture options.

Invictus Partners assists SAP customers in gaining a detailed understanding of their Indirect Access usage, obligations, and potential exposures. We also help you plan for any necessary licensing remediation.

Our SAP Software Licence Audit Services

Invictus Partners can help you defend against an SAP audit in three phases, which are available as an end-to-end service or as separate engagements.

Phase 1

Internal SAP
Audit

Phase 2

SAP Remediation Strategy

Phase 3

SAP Audit
Negotiation

Phase 1

Internal SAP Licence Auditing

Using the same methodology as SAP, we conduct a mock audit to help your business understand its baseline position of software usage compared to your licenced entitlements.

Phase 2

Remediation Strategy

Once we have identified where the SAP licensing exposures are, we develop an effective remediation strategy and guide you through the implementation process.

Phase 3

SAP Audit Negotiation Advisory

We ensure your organisation has the right response and that your negotiation strategy is planned and effectively executed.

SAP Audit Support at any stage.

Do you want to get a head start on SAP licence audit preparation?

The best time to prepare for a licensing audit is before it happens. With the benefit of time, we can help you take proactive action to reduce the scope of an SAP audit and minimise the financial and operational disruption to your organisation.

Do you need help managing the SAP licence audit process?

Has SAP notified you of an audit? We work with you to minimise the impact of SAP’s audit process on your organisation and help you secure the best possible financial and business outcome.

Have you received an SAP licence audit report stating you’re non-compliant?

Invictus Partners can develop remediation options that limit your organisation’s compliance exposure. With our understanding of SAP’s rules and contracts, we challenge the findings to reduce the SAP compliance claim, before using our proven negotiation techniques to reduce it even further.

SAP Software Asset Management: Remain audit-ready, compliant and cost-optimised.

As you can see by the number of services we offer, a lot goes into managing and optimising SAP software. The good news is, there’s an easier way. Invictus Partners can review and monitor your SAP environment on an ongoing basis with our SAP SAM service.

SAP SAM is a proactive solution that protects your organisation from the risk of non-compliance and the associated commercial impact. We offer SAM either as a service (SAMaaS) or as a hybrid model in conjunction with your organisation’s internal SAM or IT team. We start by conducting baselining activities and SAM workshops with your team and then provide ongoing maintenance, advisory and regular consultation.

Our SAP SAM approach considers the whole picture – people, process, tools, and governance – rather than taking a tool-first approach to SAM. Our team includes ex-SAP executives who can provide your team with expert SAP licensing advice on an ongoing or as-needed basis.

Not just using SAP? We can provide the SAM as a multi-vendor service to help you manage your entire software environment. Bring your own vendors and SAM tools (if you have them) and we will tailor our service accordingly.

Find out more

SAP Third-Party Support Licence Advisory: Reduce support costs without breaching contracts.

Many organisations are considering the switch from SAP support to third-party Maintenance (TPM) provider to reduce their support costs for perpetual licenced products. When an SAP customer owns perpetually licenced products, the SAP licence and maintenance agreements are typically separate. This allows an SAP customer to terminate the maintenance agreement, whilst retaining the rights of use under the licence agreements.

Whilst there are advantages of moving to a Third-Party Support model, organisations are at risk of IP infringement and breach of contract transition and ongoing access management is not maintained effectively. On top of this, SAP is becoming more aggressive with its audits and has recently started focusing on customers that no longer have an active maintenance agreement, with the aim to bring them back to SAP support.

Whether you are considering a move to Rimini Street, Spinnaker, or Support Revolution or are undecided on a TPM provider, Invictus Partners can help ensure the transition goes smoothly.

Our Third-Party SAP Support Advisory Services

The success of an organisation’s ITAM program is dependent on the investment made in both the establishment phase of setting up the ITAM discipline and function, as well as the ongoing management and governance to ensure that ITAM practices are effectively integrated into the organisation’s day-to-day IT operations. Our services span set-up and ongoing ITAM program delivery.

Phase 1

SAP TPM Assessment

Phase 2

SAP Support Agreements Review

Phase 1

SAP TPM Assessment

Phase 2

SAP Support Agreements Review

SAP Third-Party Maintenance Assessment

In a Third-Party Maintenance Assessment, Invictus Partners prepares you for the change impacts involved and conducts the due diligence required to make the right decision for your organisation. We also provide independent advice on which TPM providers to consider. This service is recommended for SAP customers who are considering a replacement of their SAP solution, running old versions, are not yet fully committed to the SAP S/4HANA journey, and/or are not making significant investments in their SAP systems and associated processes

SAP Support Agreements Review

As you are making the decision to switch your SAP support to a TPM provider, there are some key steps to take to prevent a future violation of your SAP support agreements. In some scenarios, SAP perpetually licenced products may be prevented from being switched to TPM due to specific contractual conditions set out by SAP. Invictus Partners reviews your SAP contracts to ensure a smooth (and viable) transition to TPM.

Have you received an IP violation letter from SAP after moving to TPM? We can help.

With the switch to TPM often comes confusion around what this means regarding access to and usage of SAP’s Intellectual Property (IP). In recent years, SAP has become clearer in their stance on what can and can’t be done without an active SAP maintenance agreement, and aggressively forces compliance against these restrictions. This has resulted in several TPM customers receiving letters from SAP stating they have been found in violation of SAP’s IP, their SAP Support Agreement, and SAP’s General Terms & Conditions. And with that, demanding a commercial settlement of significant value.

SAP IP Infringement Advisory

If your organisation has been found in breach of SAP’s IP, Invictus Partners can help you refute the commercial value of their claim by conducting ananalysis of your specific violations and assisting in the negotiations with SAP

Review of SAP’s
Claims

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Review of Client’s
Position

Analysis of
Infringement Data

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Analysis of
Infringement Data

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Strategies and Recommendations

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Are you getting screwed by your software vendor?

Get back on top.

SAP Cloud Licence Advisory: Avoid non-compliance and licence-related cloud shock.

Subscription-based licensing differs considerably from the perpetual licence model. SAP customers looking to transition existing functionality into cloud-based SAP products need to understand their licence transformation options and the value of the assets they currently own. Plus, changing licensing models allows for contract negotiations to take place, including credits for old licences and shelfware.

Invictus Partners reviews your SAP Cloud solutions agreements and usage to determine:

  • Actual usage against subscription entitlement;
  • If any users are in breach of compliance;
  • Opportunities for optimisation; and
  • The relevance of your cloud subscriptions – what is no longer required and/or any additional modules you may need.

Licensing SAP software on third-party public cloud platforms.

Most SAP on-premise licences are transferable to public cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), but it’s important to know the licensing impacts to avoid SAP bill shock and compliance penalties.

Licensing SAP on AWS

SAP supports running the vast majority of available SAP applications on AWS. The majority of SAP solutions that can be run on AWS use a BYOL (Bring Your OwnLicence) model. Invictus Partners can help you with the licence-to-cloud transition and ensure you are compliant with SAP licensing policies- and post-migration.

Licensing SAP on Azure

As SAP’s preferred cloud partner, Microsoft Azure is certified to run mission-critical SAP applications (also on a BYOL model) and offers a high-performance and scalable cloud infrastructure for SAP customers. Invictus Partners can optimise your SAP software licensing footprint for Azure, and ensure you manage compliance risks and prevent cost blowouts during the migration.

Licensing SAP on GCP

In most cases, your on-premise SAP licences won’t prohibit you moving to GCP, however, there are some exceptions and nuances to be aware of. The move of your SAP footprint to GCP offers the potential for increased speed, scale, and flexibility. It also provides an opportunity to optimise your SAP licensing structures for GCP. Invictus Partners can help you minimise any licensing-related risks as you move across to GCP and also help you optimise your SAP licensing costs before, during, and after the migration.

SAP Cloud ERP Advisory: Choose the path that’s right for your organisation.

Invictus Partners supports organisations through the journey of migrating to SAP S/4HANA and RISE with SAP, including helping you determine whether or not this is the best path for your organisation. We can provide an independent, unbiased perspective to help you understand and evaluate your options and develop your next-generation ERP roadmap.

SAP S/4HANA Migration Advisory

An SAP S/4HANA migration is a complex project involving reimplementing your systems, technology, processes, and data. It is way more complex than moving from SAP R/2 to SAP R/3. It also comes at a cost, with the new licensing model removing many of the special licence types that SAP customers have relied upon to minimise their licensing spend. Many ERP options are available, so organisations shouldn’t feel pressured to make a complete or immediate transition to SAP S/4HANA.

Invictus Partners’ SAP S/4HANA Advisory ensures your transition is far less costly and lower risk by:
Optimising your SAP software and licensing position;
Supporting your ERP strategy;
Assessing where SAP fits into your overall architecture; and
Protecting your existing licence investments and relevant contract clauses.

RISE with SAP Migration Advisory

SAP may be pushing RISE with SAP, but that doesn’t make it the best option for all organisations. Invictus Partners can conduct a due diligence process to determine whether RISE with SAP is a viable model for your organisation.

 

Our RISE with SAP Advisory assesses:

  • The true total cost of ownership of the SAP offering;
  • The suitability of your environment to a RISE with SAP licence migration;
  • The option of segmenting SAP capabilities (migrating some workloads to RISE with SAP and leaving others on legacy platforms); and
  • The impact a RISE with SAP migration would have on your existing relationships with cloud providers, as well as consulting and application management service providers.

Invictus Partners Next-Generation ERP Advisory Services can support your organisation at any point along your ERP transformation journey.

The Invictus Partners difference: SAP Advisory Services

The Invictus Partners team consists of experts in SAP software and the complexities of the licensing landscape. Our team is made up of former SAP executives, consultants, auditors, and contract managers, so we know the strategies, tactics, and approaches SAP will take in an audit or licence review of one of their customers.

Invictus Partners does SAP licensing reviews on a daily basis, not once a year like most internal teams, so we have a highly specialised skill set that can only be developed through consistent engagement with SAP.

Doug Gibson

Managing Partner

Doug is a 29+ year international IT veteran, having worked in executive and general manager roles with organisations including SAP, Oracle, and IBM across A/NZ, Asia Pacific, and Africa. Doug’s intimate knowledge of software vendors, licensing, and auditing practice has enabled him to successfully assist clients in retail, manufacturing, utilities, the public sector, and financial services to achieve positive outcomes in their audits, along with assisting them during software contract negotiations. Heading up the team and the company, Doug embodies the relevant skills and mindset to grow this company into a worldwide organisation.

Talk to our SAP experts

Helen Divitcos

SAP Practice Lead

 

Helen is a 30+ year veteran of the SAP industry, holding numerous technical, senior enterprise management, and product line roles, with a recent shift from client to client advisory. Over the last 10+ years in Helen’s career, she has been part of a digital leadership team, ensuring the product line was managed using effective business and technology practices to support delivery and transformation. Key responsibilities included:
SAP and enterprise software asset management and governance – utility

  • SAP and ERP applications audit defence
  • SAP strategy and roadmap
  • SAP architecture
  • Developing and maintaining SAP functional, technical, development, and security standards.

Case Study

Australian Wool Innovation optimises SAP licensing and cuts SAP annual support costs with Invictus Partners

Got questions about Invictus Partners SAP Software & Licensing Advisory?