Top 5 key principles for a great SAP Security software
SAP has traditionally been known for its complexity and high costs. This also applies to properly securing SAP systems. It seems as if the complexity of SAP naturally leads to complex SAP Security Software. Not only solutions created by SAP themselves, but also security solutions created by 3rd party vendors tend to be complicated and expensive.
Complex solutions often fail in their unbridled ambition to integrate everything and offer 1 total solution for everything. The idea behind this is that you can ask for a much higher price with a large-scale platform-based solution. The problem with this, however, is that such ‘all-or-nothing’ solutions not only entail high license costs but also a complicated and expensive implementation process.
Our vision is the opposite: complex problems require simple solutions. Simplicity should exist especially in the areas of installation, configuration, implementation, user adoption, maintenance and finally, the license model and pricing.
Based on the feedback from our customers we see the following top-5 key principles for great SAP Security software:
1. Getting started should be fast and easy.
Our SAP Vulnerability Management solution can be installed within 1 day, without agents or additional hardware, and a complete scan will take a few minutes without having any impact on the performance. In addition to being a continuous solution, the software can also be used for one-off scans as it can be easily removed.
2. Working with the software should be self-explanatory.
We noticed that with increased use of automation, SAP security also increases and becomes simpler and more reliable. What we often see is SAP customers not coping with SAP security because there is no automated solution and the security workload in terms of execution of checks and finding the correct remediation/mitigation measures is simply too much and too difficult to handle.
Our customers appreciate Protect4S because SAP security engineers (who are in most cases the technical SAP consultants) see the recommended solution for each vulnerability with reference to the correct sources. As a result, people learn on the job, which not only makes SAP security work more efficient but also increases in quality.
3. It should be easy to implement updates with new features.
Every month we send a software update to our customers that also includes the new features. And the great thing is that all product enhancements are simply included in the license fee.
4. Offer the customer the opportunity to start small and grow step by step.
With our SAP Security Software, customers can start as small as they want. For example, with a subset of all SAP systems and then expand the scope step by step. This is reflected in the pricing, so customers do not pay too much. If customers want to expand Protect4S with our future Threat Detection solution, they can either take both solutions or just one of the two.
5. Make the license and pricing model understandable and transparent.
A common complaint is that the licensing model and pricing are made so complicated that the customer feels that they are paying way too much. We like to make our software easy to understand, which also applies to our pricing. Our customers understand exactly what they are paying for.
Our goal as the makers of Protect4S is not to build big, complicated solutions that stretch the budgets of our customers. Instead, we want to provide a simple and working solution to real problems at a fair price. That is why we believe in the Art of Simplicity and why we see the worldwide interest of SAP customers in Protect4S increasing so fast.
