Nordic enterprises look for SAP price reductions as they navigate Covid-19

Businesses in the Nordic region are turning to SAP Cloud Platform for mobile application development and are seeking price reductions from their implementation partners.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for organisations, and the SAP cloud has emerged as a means to quickly build apps to address particular problems caused by the crisis.

According to a recent report from Information Services Group (ISG), Nordic businesses are using the SAP Cloud Platform to offer customers mobile applications and contactless payments.

The report said businesses in the region, including retailers and consumer goods providers, are turning to the cloud-based software platform to enable mobile-based services amid the pandemic.

The report also sees Nordic enterprises slowly adopting SAP’s S/4 Hana intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

But businesses are demanding price reductions or deferments as the Covid-19 economic slowdown bites, and many want outcome-based pricing and services from SAP’s service providers.

“The pandemic is leading to workforce reductions, and enterprises are looking to manage the cost of their SAP installations,” said Barry Matthews, partner and leader at ISG North Europe. “Many Nordic enterprises are looking to save money through new or revamped outsourcing deals.”

In April, Matthews told Computer Weekly that the likelihood of struggling businesses getting discounts from IT service providers in the Covid-19 climate was high. “We are seeing such a challenging few months ahead and suppliers are trying to retain their customers in any way they can,” he said at the time.

Discounts of up to 20% were being requested by businesses for their IT services, said Matthews. He added that he had not, at the time, seen a supplier refuse such a request.

“It is such a difficult time and suppliers know they are going to have to retain their clients,” he said. “The mentality at suppliers is to look after existing clients because they know they will be seen as trusted partners and, when it is over, they will be in a better position to support customers while they recover.”

In the Nordic region, the healthcare, manufacturing, retail and consumer goods industries are major users of SAP services.

The report also said IT service providers were expanding local SAP expertise in the region. “Providers are cross-training and upskilling their staff and providing employees in the Nordics with online and SAP-certified training,” said ISG.