SAP Digital Access Case Study: California Tech Company Avoids Hefty SAP Digital Access Fees
Background
A fast-growing technology company in California, specializing in e-commerce platforms, utilized SAP as its financial and order management backbone. The tech firm had numerous custom applications and third-party systems interfacing with SAP through APIs.
When SAP introduced its new Digital Access licensing model (charging for documents created indirectly via non-SAP systems), the company grew concerned that its integration-heavy architecture could trigger massive new licensing costs.
Challenges
An initial assessment revealed that everyday operations, like online orders flowing from the e-commerce platform into SAP, were creating a high volume of SAP documents (sales orders, invoices, etc.) indirectly. Under SAP’s Digital Access rules, these could count towards additional license fees.
Early estimates suggested the company could be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) in new licensing fees if all digital access documents were charged.
The challenge was to assess and minimize the exposure to Digital Access fees and to negotiate a solution with SAP before an official audit or bill arrived. The tech company needed to avoid turning its seamless integrations into a financial liability.
Solution (How SAP Licensing Experts Helped)
- Digital Access Audit: The company engaged SAP Licensing Experts to perform a specialized audit focused on Indirect/Digital Access. The team inventoried all external systems interacting with SAP and quantified the volume of documents (like orders, deliverables, payroll entries, etc.) created indirectly. This analysis used SAP’s Digital Access Measurement tools to get an accurate count.
- License Mapping and Reduction: The experts then cross-matched these documents with existing licenses and usage. They found that licensed SAP users or engines actually generated a portion of these documents and thus didn’t incur extra cost – a nuance the company hadn’t realized. For the remaining truly “indirect” documents, the team explored technical mitigations: for instance, adjusting certain processes to batch operations (reducing document counts) and archiving obsolete transactions to lower the count.
- Digital Access Adoption Program: SAP Licensing Experts advised the tech firm to leverage SAP’s Digital Access Adoption Program (DAAP), an initiative SAP launched to help customers transition to document-based licensing with predictable costs. They helped the company project a reasonable number of documents and negotiate a flat-fee license for digital access that covered current and future growth, instead of paying per document at list price.
- Negotiation and Safeguards: In negotiations, the experts presented SAP with the measured data and a proposal: the company would commit to a specific digital access license package (at a much lower cost than paying per use) if SAP would agree to consider the firm compliant on indirect usage. Essentially, it was a proactive settlement to avoid any surprises. Because the data was clear and the company was willing to engage constructively, SAP agreed to a tailored deal. The experts also ensured contractual clarity that integrations like the e-commerce platform were now fully licensed, preventing SAP from later claiming non-compliance.
- Future Monitoring: Finally, the team put in place monitoring scripts for the company to track digital document creation going forward. Alerts would notify IT if document counts began nearing the agreed license limits, allowing the company to manage integration usage proactively or plan for additional licenses if truly needed.
Outcome and Savings
Through these efforts, the California tech company successfully avoided what could have been an enormous bill for digital access. Instead of an open-ended exposure, they secured a reasonable fixed-cost agreement for their indirect usage.
In real terms, analysts estimated the company saved potentially seven figures (USD) over the next few years by preemptively addressing digital access rather than reacting after an audit.
The company remains fully compliant with SAP licensing while keeping its integrated architecture intact – no drastic system changes were needed to reduce usage. Moreover, by adopting a smart measurement and monitoring approach, the firm can continue to expand its services without fear of hidden SAP costs popping up.
This case demonstrates the importance of tackling SAP’s indirect access rules head-on with expert help, turning a looming compliance risk into a manageable, budgeted line item.
“Our business relies on tight integrations between systems. The last thing we wanted was a huge SAP bill for those connections. With expert guidance, we got ahead of the issue and turned an unknown risk into a fixed, affordable cost. Now we can integrate freely, knowing we won’t be blindsided,” — CTO, E-Commerce Tech Company
