SAP Software Licensing Topic at SAPPHIRE

Can we simplify software licensing costs?   The topic of software pricing has become incredibly complex with its own cottage industry of consultants who can add valuable assistance to any company in the midst of negotiations.   This is true of a wide variety of software providers and SAP is no exception.   How did this come about?   One answer is that SAP has been flexible in their negotiations with new and existing customers and once the deal is finalized, others customers strive to take advantage of any modifications to T&Cs.   Secondly, SAP makes modifications to their licensing rules.  One day a product is licensed by processor cores and the next day it is by seats or company size.   This is no surprise from a company that changes their product names and advertising on an annual basis.   Third is the incredible diversity in discounts.

There is a cost to the customer and an impact to SAP's  revenue.  Do I want one price for all?   It has its advantages.  If we evaluate a HANA sidecar analytics implementation, I would love to be able to accurately price out the cost for SAP.   I would love to know the pricing of all the individual components and how they work together.   What is S/4 HANA Foundation?  What else do I need?   I currently pay a surcharge for my DB Software.  Will I need to pay that surcharge when I transition professional users formerly on DB2 to HANA.   In summary, what I really want is for software licensing to also be "Simple".  Perhaps life would be easier if I just relocated to cloud based applications.

Note:  This post is totally my opinion and not the opinion of my employer or any volunteer organization I am affiliated with.   Having said that....I totally want your feedback.