Why traditional SAP AMS contracts fail (and how to fix them).

AMS & Support
5 min read

Hamish O'Connor

Hamish O’Connor
Head of AMS · Bonfire · Published May 2026

Why traditional SAP AMS contracts fail (and how to fix them).

Traditional SAP support fails because service providers profit from recurring incidents and ticket volumes. When your partner is rewarded for billable ticket counts rather than root-cause resolution, technical debt compounds and business users lose faith in the ERP.

The ticket treadmill: why issues keep recurring

When Level 1 offshore queues simply reset passwords or apply quick fixes, underlying data mismatches and broken business logic remain untouched. High-performing organisations structure AMS agreements around problem elimination, where recurring incidents trigger mandatory engineering reviews.

Enterprise Advisory Context

Figure: Enterprise architecture planning and cloud governance.

Named local consultants versus anonymous escalation queues

When a critical billing run or supply chain batch halts, waiting six hours for a tier-3 offshore response costs tens of thousands of dollars. Having named senior New Zealand consultants who understand your bespoke configuration ensures issues are resolved within minutes.

Evolving support into continuous optimisation

A modern SAP environment is never static. Your AMS team should be continuously testing quarterly cloud releases, advising on automated regression testing, and identifying user friction before it escalates into operational disruption.

Hamish O'Connor

About Hamish O’Connor

Head of AMS · Bonfire. Veteran SAP practitioner specializing in complex New Zealand enterprise delivery and strategic advisory.

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