Introduction to SAP Support

Bob White | Jul 25, 2006 | Comments (135)

Hello and welcome to my blog about SAP Support. Whether you have been live with SAP for
5 days, 5 months, or 5 years, there are always opportunities to improve your support
landscape and optimize your SAP System.

On a weekly basis, I'll discuss and address issues, questions, concerns, and best practices
surrounding SAP Support. One caveat to mention up front is that there is no standard recipe
or silver bullet to fix your SAP support environment. Optimal support is difficult to pinpoint
as every company is different - from culture, personnel, geography, SAP environment, and
support management philosophy. I will, however, offer my own thoughts and personal
opinions on optimizing your SAP Support environment, based on my (10 years) experience in
the SAP field.

The discussion topics of this blog will generally fall into three broad categories:

 Support Strategy - Companies that are just going live with SAP can gain insight on
the best way to set up their support model. I'll address resourcing, governance,
support processes, program management and Centers of Excellence.

 Support Execution - Discussion of topics related to best practices around SAP

Support. I'll help you assess and benchmark your current organization and give
suggestions to bring it closer to world-class.

 Support Optimization - Discussion of supplemental support outsourcing and ways to

reduce TCO. We'll also look at methods to help the user base optimize the System and
better utilize the Support Team for long term SAP success.

A list of planned topics is included at the bottom of this thread.

Why SAP Support is Important

It boggles the mind how companies can spend hundreds of thousands, and even millions of
dollars implementing SAP, and yet, once they are live, they cut budgetary funds for
supporting their post go live environment. Months, and even years after the go-live,
companies are struggling from a support perspective because CIO's didn't push for a support
budget or properly plan for life after live. Typically, the effects are disastrous, and are felt
from both an organizational and user perspective. These include:

 No Competency Center or support strategy formed

 Running the system with antiquated or sub-standard processes
 Diminished buy in from the user community of the solution
 User frustration, bitterness and feelings of abandonment
 Delay in business benefit realization
SAP Support is important because it is the missing link for long term SAP success. And,
when the Support Team is strategically focused and aligned with business objectives, chances
for long term success drastically improve. Overall, SAP support is the foundation for driving
functionality enhancements and SAP knowledge to the user community. No matter what your
current situation is, it is never too late to take the necessary steps to optimize SAP and
surrounding business processes, boost user satisfaction, and improve overall business results.

Why Blog About SAP Support

From a personal perspective, I have been actively engaged in delivering and selling SAP
support for the past 4 years. Over this time, I have come to realize that some common
misconceptions, as well as general apathy, exist in the market regarding the topic of SAP
support. In addition, while many companies have a vision to provide best-in-class support
service to their organizations and capture the ROI envisioned at the project's outset, few have
had success turning the vision into reality.

The purpose of this blog is twofold: To de-bunk the common myths and axioms that exist
today about SAP support - from both an executive and user perspective, and to help educate
folks on the power and impact that a functional and harmonized SAP support Team can have
on driving business value to the entire organization. At a minimum, I hope this blog will help
the SAP community better understand the fundamental principles required for support
success.

Planned Topics

Below are some of the topics planned for discussion:

 SAP Center of Excellence - Overview and Introduction

 Steps for setting up a SAP Center of Excellence
 Benchmarking your Support Organization
 Fundamentals for Support Execution
 Best Practice Support Processes (Probably a 3 part series)
 The SME Support Challenge - Getting the Depth and Breadth of Coverage
 Supplemental Outsourcing - When and Why to Reach out To Third Parties
 Using the Support Function to Optimize Your SAP System
 Achieving the Final Frontier - Long Term SAP Success

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to
posting the first instalment of my blog next week.