Under pressure, SAP shuts down Russian operations
(2022/04/20)
- Reference: 1650436326
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/04/20/sap_closes_russia/
- Source link:
SAP announced on Tuesday it was exiting Russia after 30 years of operations in the country, leaving on-prem customers with no software support.
“Our hearts and hopes are with the people of Ukraine. More than anything, we want this war to end,” the German software giant declared, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, in a [1]canned statement announcing its exit.
SAP paused all Russian sales in early March in accordance with international sanctions. However, the biz faced criticism for still supporting its products in Russia. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called SAP out in a [2]viral tweet , alongside Microsoft and Oracle, for supporting technology in Russia.
[3]
Oracle tweeted on March 14 it had left Russia altogether, leaving existing customers without software updates or support. Microsoft did not. Ukraine's vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov stepped up the pressure with a series of accusatory tweets that tagged SAP.
How much longer will you continue help russia to kill children in Ukraine? [4]@SAP [5]@ChrstnKlein . SAP continues supporting bloody russian companies to make money to destroy Ukraine [6]#StopSAP [7]pic.twitter.com/HH789EyfkR — Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) [8]March 22, 2022
On March 24, the biz [9]announced it would end its Russian cloud computing services. Two days later Mykhailo [10]praised SAP and said it had not only agreed to support a digital blockade to Russia, but would one day open an R&D center in Ukraine.
[11]Nokia quits Russia over Ukraine invasion
[12]SAP to repay $23.1m in water contracts settlement
[13]SAP hits 50: Entrenched, spread out and fully middle-aged
[14]Ukraine president namechecks software giants to end support in Russia
SAP software can be licensed for on-prem use, or obtained as a cloud-based subscription service, making it not simple to shut off its product entirely in Russia.
"There are customers in Russia that have bought and deployed their SAP products on premise and run these products within their own internal IT departments," said SAP in late March. "This means that regardless of any SAP decision not to provide support or engagement of any kind, these customers are still able to continue using these products independently of SAP."
[15]
SAP chief financial officer Luka Mucic [16]reportedly said in a Tuesday call: "There is no magical red button that SAP could push to make these software licenses disappear from the computers."
SAP is giving cloud subscribers in Russia who are not otherwise subject to sanctions three options: have their data deleted, returned, or migrated to a datacenter outside of Russia. Those who choose migration will be forced to find an alternative solution eventually, as SAP said it will not renew the subscriptions.
[17]
For on-premises products, SAP said it was evaluating ways to exit support and maintenance while honoring its obligations to non-sanctioned customers.
SAP has a decent-sized presence in the region, [18]reportedly supplying over half of Russia's top 100 companies by revenue with its services in pre-war, pre-pandemic 2018. However, its combined business in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine only make up 1.5 per cent of its total revenue. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://news.sap.com/2022/04/sap-plans-russia-exit/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/ukraine_president_top_software_end_russia_support/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://twitter.com/SAP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://twitter.com/ChrstnKlein?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[6] https://twitter.com/hashtag/StopSAP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[7] https://t.co/HH789EyfkR
[8] https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1506203458327695363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[9] https://news.sap.com/2022/03/sap-continues-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-ukraine/?source=social-Global-TWITTER-GL-SAP4Good-SAP4Good-ST5_Brand_Purpose-account_name&campaigncode=CRM-YA22-BSC-1440505
[10] https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1507390872098426882
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/12/finnish_network_kit_maker_nokia/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/17/sap_ordered_to_repay_231m/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/01/sap_turns_50/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/ukraine_president_top_software_end_russia_support/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-sap-joins-western-corporate-exodus-russia-2022-04-19/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-russia-sap-idUSKBN1IB123
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
“Our hearts and hopes are with the people of Ukraine. More than anything, we want this war to end,” the German software giant declared, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, in a [1]canned statement announcing its exit.
SAP paused all Russian sales in early March in accordance with international sanctions. However, the biz faced criticism for still supporting its products in Russia. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called SAP out in a [2]viral tweet , alongside Microsoft and Oracle, for supporting technology in Russia.
[3]
Oracle tweeted on March 14 it had left Russia altogether, leaving existing customers without software updates or support. Microsoft did not. Ukraine's vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov stepped up the pressure with a series of accusatory tweets that tagged SAP.
How much longer will you continue help russia to kill children in Ukraine? [4]@SAP [5]@ChrstnKlein . SAP continues supporting bloody russian companies to make money to destroy Ukraine [6]#StopSAP [7]pic.twitter.com/HH789EyfkR — Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) [8]March 22, 2022
On March 24, the biz [9]announced it would end its Russian cloud computing services. Two days later Mykhailo [10]praised SAP and said it had not only agreed to support a digital blockade to Russia, but would one day open an R&D center in Ukraine.
[11]Nokia quits Russia over Ukraine invasion
[12]SAP to repay $23.1m in water contracts settlement
[13]SAP hits 50: Entrenched, spread out and fully middle-aged
[14]Ukraine president namechecks software giants to end support in Russia
SAP software can be licensed for on-prem use, or obtained as a cloud-based subscription service, making it not simple to shut off its product entirely in Russia.
"There are customers in Russia that have bought and deployed their SAP products on premise and run these products within their own internal IT departments," said SAP in late March. "This means that regardless of any SAP decision not to provide support or engagement of any kind, these customers are still able to continue using these products independently of SAP."
[15]
SAP chief financial officer Luka Mucic [16]reportedly said in a Tuesday call: "There is no magical red button that SAP could push to make these software licenses disappear from the computers."
SAP is giving cloud subscribers in Russia who are not otherwise subject to sanctions three options: have their data deleted, returned, or migrated to a datacenter outside of Russia. Those who choose migration will be forced to find an alternative solution eventually, as SAP said it will not renew the subscriptions.
[17]
For on-premises products, SAP said it was evaluating ways to exit support and maintenance while honoring its obligations to non-sanctioned customers.
SAP has a decent-sized presence in the region, [18]reportedly supplying over half of Russia's top 100 companies by revenue with its services in pre-war, pre-pandemic 2018. However, its combined business in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine only make up 1.5 per cent of its total revenue. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://news.sap.com/2022/04/sap-plans-russia-exit/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/ukraine_president_top_software_end_russia_support/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://twitter.com/SAP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://twitter.com/ChrstnKlein?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[6] https://twitter.com/hashtag/StopSAP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[7] https://t.co/HH789EyfkR
[8] https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1506203458327695363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[9] https://news.sap.com/2022/03/sap-continues-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-ukraine/?source=social-Global-TWITTER-GL-SAP4Good-SAP4Good-ST5_Brand_Purpose-account_name&campaigncode=CRM-YA22-BSC-1440505
[10] https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1507390872098426882
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/12/finnish_network_kit_maker_nokia/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/17/sap_ordered_to_repay_231m/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/01/sap_turns_50/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/14/ukraine_president_top_software_end_russia_support/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://www.reuters.com/technology/germanys-sap-joins-western-corporate-exodus-russia-2022-04-19/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yl-Z2a@P1iNyB8SV2R3tcwAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-russia-sap-idUSKBN1IB123
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Kabukiwookie
On-prem software may remain, albeit without support or maintenance
Presumably this is in breach of their contractual obligations.
AMBxx
I think there'll be a clause in the contract relating to wars.
Fight back / ramp down
Danny 2
It's surreal that Germany won't provide tech support to Russia while still buying it's oil and gas.
It's hard to picture what criteria will allow SAP et al to go back in - the end of the war, the death of Putin, reparations and criminal trials? Tax payers have to pay for the maintenance of the super yachts we've seized, we should at least get to take them for a spin.
I don't think this war will be over by 'victory day' on the 9th of May. Well, not this 9th of May at least. I remember the 'Iranian Hostage Crisis' which US media expected to be short lived, so they prefaced every broadcast with, "Day 4 of the hostage crisis", "Day 14 of the hostage crisis". The American public was sick and bored of it by day 444, and grateful to Reagan for cutting a side deal with their enemy to keep the hostages until he was elected.
Moral Compass
SAP has got a moral compass, it's just that the module takes a while to install and costs £3M (unless you need a custom install). That's why it took a bit of time to get it up and running.