SAP is pushing to offer more cloud-based services via subscription as it winds down its old license-based model. But its German customers are claiming that SAP is not providing enough guidance on how to execute their digital strategy, while upgrading to its premium cloud-based database, S/4HANA, remains tricky.

Marco Lenck, head of the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG), told its annual congress in Nuremberg that SAP must provide an out-of-the-box solution without customers having to do their own development work.

Lenck said only a quarter of German customers felt well informed by SAP about digital strategy; 45 per cent percent partly so; while 30 per cent lacked confidence in SAP’s guidance.

The DSAG said the company needed to offer better integration; unified data standards; broader and more stable functionality; and more scalable solutions.

Installations of the S/4HANA database were going slowly, it added, while SAP’s C/4HANA marketing suite was less popular than rival brands and needed to be better integrated.

“We need a business model for scalable performance and costs,” said Lenck. “That’s what distinguishes cloud solutions. That’s what the market offers. And that’s what we expect from SAP.”