21st Century SAP Services

Background
Organizations using SAP to manage complex and inter-related functions face some less-than-desirable options when it comes to administration and support assistance. Internal support can limit the knowledge base available to optimally run your SAP environment and is subject to coverage issues such as sick leave and vacation. Domestic support is expensive and hourly fees are difficult to manage. Offshore support is often less costly, but language, time zone and the deep technical knowledge of today’s complex SAP environments are all common weaknesses. Hosting offers similar challenges, trading off quality and support against cost and service.

In all four instances, support contracts are typically rigid and impersonal with strict limits on scope of responsibility and hours of availability. Rarely is there continuity regarding who is the assigned support technician for a given organization, resulting in a loss of accumulated knowledge of your system and business as well as building a true partner relationship. This is the 20th century approach to SAP support services. To stay ahead in today’s business climate, SAP-based enterprises require faster, more proactive approaches that deliver more for less – particularly at a time when they are required to do more with fewer staff and a permanently reduced budget.

Yesterday vs. Today
High quality, flexibility, reliability; SAP support services with these characteristics have always been available from support organizations. But they always came at a cost. In the “20th century,” many of these costs were justifiable since the SAP systems they supported delivered a real business advantage. The storage, bandwidth, servers and travel costs associated with premium-level support were real and expensive.

However, in the “21st century,” computing has become more of a utility, which means costs are being scrutinized more closely and everything is being re-thought. For example, advances in processor technology and software breakthroughs have allowed platform virtualization to not only reduce hardware costs, but the energy footprint associated with racks of redundant servers used in the 20th century.

A dedicated T1 line, the gold standard for connectivity in the 20th century, was subject to an embryonic telecommunications infrastructure with a handful of providers and a limited selection of nationwide and international long haul connections. It was unreliable, and often inadequate for the needs of enterprises with multiple locations that needed to be tied together with nanosecond precision. In the 21st century fiber optic links, wavelength services, carrier Ethernet, MPLS networks and ATM technology have drastically reduced the cost of dedicated Internet and point-to-point private connections.

In the 21st century the speed and affordability of Internet bandwidth has facilitated the use of new remote diagnostic and management tools that not only eliminate the travel cost associated with 20th century support services, but allow for always-on, 24x7 remote monitoring services to not only address problems, but more importantly, proactively eliminate them before they occur. 

So Why the High Cost?
Q: With the advances in storage, hardware, processing power and software available today, why are so many SAP support organizations still offering premium services at 20th century prices?
A: Because so many SAP organizations are still willing to pay for it.

Steps Toward 21st Century Evolution
Of course, technology advances alone cannot address all of the shortcomings of the 20th century. How a support organization chooses to enable the technology determines if they can evolve to the 21st century model. To deliver a 21st century client experience, a service organization must be easy to do business with; they must exceed client expectations at every level rather than merely focusing on living up to service level agreements. This dedication to exceeding expectations is what defines “quality” in today’s world. Then, by taking the savings afforded by 21st century technology and putting it back into the organization in the form of technical and communication training, support organizations will be in a better position to provide quality. 

21st century SAP Support Quality =
Access and Communication Skills + Attitude + Technical Skills

Access and Communication
A company that uses SAP for critical business functions relies on that system to be available and fully functional at all times. Organizations that purport to offer premium-level service must provide support on the same basis. In a world of text messages, IM, broadband in air and at home, and instant, person-to-person access via mobile phone ubiquity, a true 21st century SAP support provider expands the scope of a managed service model to create 24x7, one-call access to a dedicated support team.

It is the opposite of the 20th century model, which often times resulted in individuals being assigned to support calls randomly. This discontinuous approach resulted in higher costs, as it takes time for new individuals to learn system details. The 21st century approach has a dedicated team whose knowledge and understanding of your system and the business priorities it’s designed to support, grows over time.

That said; no single person, no matter how familiar with your system, can know everything and possess the deep experience required to solve every issue as quickly as your business demands. The ideal arrangement has the primary support specialists linked to a larger group of full-time SAP experts. An internal “subject matter expert” list lets each consultant know who to call for the most in-depth knowledge of ERP, CRM, PLM, security or any other area of SAP operations or functionality. This virtual team then becomes an extension of your own team, preventing problems from escalating to bottom-line impact or significantly reducing impact when they do.

In addition, modern technology should also enable the 21st century support organization to provide domestic-based resources rather than having to look offshore to keep support costs in line. This strategy eliminates the drastic time zone and language difficulties that can add further stress to the environment when support is required.

Attitude
In the 20th century model, premium support and expertise did not come cheap. As a result, clients could be constrained from getting the help they need by tight budgets and unanticipated needs. They could also be forced to choose between gaining the support they need for existing technology and adding new hardware, software, connectivity, personnel, etc. to maintain their strategic advantage.

The 21st century SAP support provider must manage its resources in such a way that cost to the client is manageable and affordable. Contracts should allow for the relationship to be flexible enough to accommodate the client’s own resources and capabilities. In addition clients should have instantaneous access to an expert team, allowing for optimal leveraging of all resources available and avoiding the ‘you do it or we do it’ mentality. This approach keeps the focus on an optimally running system, not roles and responsibilities. The resulting partnership creates a win-win that allows the client to budget an appropriate amount for support and feel confident that they will get the support they need for that price. The service provider must also make a profit, of course, but not by placing an unmanageable burden on the client.

This arrangement is most readily accomplished through managed resources and fixed-price engagements. Client and service provider agree on the objectives, deliverables, schedule and terms, then proceed to accomplish the objectives together. If unanticipated situations arise, the service provider and the client work together to resolve the issues and get the system back into full operation as quickly as possible.

No time or resources are wasted arguing over blame or responsibility. Of course, a certain amount of ‘firefighting’ is a normal part of system management and thus should be factored into pricing and resource allocation on both sides. At the same time, if the assigned team needs some additional help, it should be readily available from the staff of SAP experts, at no additional charge to the client. This is the holistic, quality approach required for 21st century service.

A Business Approach to SAP
Understanding the technology is important, but SAP isn’t just technology. It’s a business system, and it is the business applications that deliver value for the client company. SAP is a complex and comprehensive application system that requires proactive management to ensure optimal operation that can only be properly supported by an organization that specializes in SAP support. In-depth knowledge of the applications and their use is an absolute necessity. The support organization must have experienced consultants on staff that know every aspect of SAP functionality and operation, in any environment, on any platform, database or operating system. And they should have sufficient time and resources available as well as the ingrained methodology to keep up with the constant changes and updates to the technology.

The 21st century SAP service provider will have an organization/team of experienced, knowledgeable SAP consultants available on-call to any client that requires their particular expertise. Each consulting engagement will be assigned a team of mission-focused consultants to proactively manage the client’s SAP systems 24/7. If a situation requires deeper expertise, the client can access any of the other staff consultants, at no additional cost, under their fixed price engagement. With all consultants being US.-based, concerns about availability hours, on-site support when needed, language or time zone issues or global distance communications are significantly reduced or eliminated entirely.

The Hosting Option
A true full-service, 21st century SAP support services provider will also offer hosting as an optional service in order to extend the partnership to the entire technology stack providing a complete solution and accountability. Because the provider is focused on SAP, and is both experienced and committed to SAP support, it is a host with a difference, providing the full array of dedicated SAP-specific resources. This provider understands the art and science of managing SAP environments better than any general hosting provider can and delivers a level of excellence that comes with that singular focus.

Of course, the hosting service will offer outstanding service and security, at least on a par with less specialized hosting alternatives. It will offer security, a ‘safe’ location, redundancy and a selection of resources and approaches to provide the client with the best configuration, availability and cost to meet their specific needs.

In Summary
21st century support for SAP user companies is different from what has been offered before. Clients contract for only the services they need, in a cooperative partnership with the supplier to optimize the use of resources of both parties and keep costs affordable. Contracts are generally fixed price, so people can focus on solving problems and maximizing availability rather than pointing fingers and sorting out responsibilities. The 21st century SAP support provider will deliver superior SAP support and optimum business results, the fastest response and problem resolution times in the industry, under reassuring fixed-price, shared-responsibility relationships. By providing the industry's most experienced, flexible, and personable support, the client’s business will benefit at every level.

About Symmetry
This position paper outlines Symmetry’s vision of what SAP support can be and should be. We have built our company using these 21st century ideas so that we can provide the kind of support that SAP users need and deserve. With more than 50 highly experienced SAP consultants on staff, Symmetry can deliver the best support in the industry and our fixed-price, managed services, shared-responsibility model assures the client that they will get the best value for their money and the most effective support for their critical business systems and applications. All of our resources are U.S. based and we firmly believe in the team approach to customer support so you have direct contact with consultants that know your company and know your SAP implementation. Our time-to-resolution is typically faster, giving you minimum down time and maximum benefit from your SAP system. We also offer SAP certified hosting for full service SAP support for our clients.