Nice business you've got there squire...
... it would be a shame if something happened to it.
The Post Office, a UK government-owned company, has awarded SAP a contract worth up to £2 million for software services following a misunderstanding of its SAP licences and service bundles. A contract award notice issued last week shows the Post Office – which issues postage stamps, manages the postal service, and runs one of …
So you are saying it is all due to shady practices by SAP?
I'd argue it is the Post office at fault for not doing due diligence on the contract.
If I am spending that kind of money I make sure I know exactly what I am getting, and will go out to site to make sure what is delivered is to spec.
The story quotes they were 'significantly under licensed', had significant negotiations to significantly reduce compliance costs, which only meant they reached compliance and no other business benefits were included. Shame they didn't spend any time significantly reviewing what they got from the reseller to make sure everything they needed was included but left as an expectation that the reseller would provide additional services, so obviously not checked.
You'd think they'd be more careful in how they operate, especially after the significant impact they had on employees with the Horizon failures.
Upvoted for the Due Diligence observation. When I read the "We have been facing operational issues since the last two years as SAP stood down our Customer Success Manager as that service is not available for indirect contract, something SAP failed to disclose" I burst out laughing and thought 'What did the idiots expect? They should have asked better questions when negotiating'. "Failed to disclose" is bizSpeak for 'We did not see this unintended consequence coming and now need to whine about it to avoid owning any blame'. That, and there is *always* someone smarter than you in the game, somewhere.
Not being a SAP user, I don't know how byzantine their licensing is, but I'd bet that it's a royal pain in the arse to understand, let alone achieve compliance with... which gets the RMG/PO off the hook just a little bit in my book.
Business relationships have got very convoluted and way less transparent than they were or should be - everyone is trying to create leverage, get an 'edge' and grab a bigger slice of the pie at the expense of others anbd noe to themselves....especially now with so many threats to revenue and stability.
Q:When is a opportunity not an opportunity A:When you just jump in without looking all the way to the bottom...
"You'd think they'd be more careful in how they operate, especially after the significant impact they had on employees with the Horizon failures."
Horizon was the my first thought on reading this story. Maybe SAP should have had them up in court for fraud? Sadly, unlike the PO, SAP don't have the ability to actually investigate and bring charges directly.
(Yeah, I'm being ironic/sarcastic)
SAP and Oracle have obnoxious T&Cs that basically amount to being able to charge for breathing air. But nobody's prepared to challenge them in court for fear of their business going down the tubes while the case proceeds. Oh, and the monopoly commissions don't tend to get involved because the contracts are all under non-disclosure agreements.
You really need to talk to people who've "bought" SAP. Though, obviously they won't be able to tell you about the contracts because it's trade secrets. One of the best tricks, allegedly, is SAP owns any data processed with its products. Yep, you no longer own your own (sic) data! This goes beyond even Oracle's licence for switching the machine on.