Is your AMS provider treating you like a cash cow?

7 warning signs it’s time to switch 

In today’s SAP landscape, Application Management Services (AMS) should do far more than ’keep the lights on’. Your provider should be a strategic partner; anticipating issues, preventing failures, and helping your business evolve.

Yet many organisations find themselves locked into AMS contracts where support feels reactive, slow, or purely transactional. Instead of optimisation and continuous improvement, they’re left with backlogs, rising costs, and a provider that feels more like a bottleneck than a partner.

If your AMS provider is treating your environment as a passive revenue stream rather than a platform for innovation, it may be time to reassess the relationship. Here are seven warning signs that it’s time to consider switching:

1.     Issues are repeatedly fixed… but never solved

If you’re seeing the same incidents reappear month after month, your provider is likely prioritising ticket closure over true problem resolution.

Reactive AMS fixes symptoms.

Progressive AMS fixes causes.

Providers should be using proactive monitoring, root-cause analysis and automation to prevent recurring issues, reducing incidents over time, not masking them.

2.     Slow response times and growing backlogs

Delayed responses, rising ticket queues, understaffed teams and repeated SLA breaches are clear indicators that your AMS provider is either overwhelmed or not prioritising your business. With global, follow-the-sun models now standard, slow responsiveness is no longer acceptable. Modern AMS should offer real-time monitoring, AI-powered triage for faster resolution, and predictive alerts that identify potential issues before they disrupt operations. If your provider takes hours or even days to respond, your operations are carrying the cost.

3.     Lack of foresight or innovation

Your AMS provider should be helping you move forward, not simply maintaining the status quo. If they aren’t bringing new ideas, recommending optimisation opportunities, or introducing automation and AI-driven improvements, it’s a clear sign they’re operating reactively rather than strategically. A modern partner should engage in regular roadmap discussions, share process insights and drive continuous improvement initiatives that evolve your SAP landscape over time.

At Invenio, for instance, our Progressive AMS model includes embedded innovation credits, quarterly roadmap sessions, and process insights designed to ensure systems continuously advance in line with your business needs.

If your provider hasn’t brought new ideas to the table in months (or years), it’s likely you’re not receiving the strategic value your organisation deserves.

4.     Limited coverage and no global support

Many organisations operate across multiple time zones, yet not every AMS provider is equipped to support such a global footprint. If your partner struggles to provide true round-the-clock availability, multilingual support, seamless handovers between regions, or consistent service quality across locations, you could be experiencing avoidable downtime and operational friction.

Invenio’s follow-the-sun model, spanning five continents with more than 300 consultants, ensures uninterrupted coverage and rapid response no matter where your teams are based. If your current provider can’t match the scale and rhythm of your business operations, those gaps will inevitably surface at the moments you most need support.

5.     You’re paying more but getting less

Costs quietly increasing? Change requests piling up? Additional support fees everywhere you turn?

A good AMS provider is transparent, predictable, and flexible. They should support evolving needs without treating every small change as a new revenue opportunity.

If your commercial conversations feel harder than your operational ones, something is off.

6.     No focus on business outcomes

AMS isn’t just about maintaining technology; it’s about enabling real business value. Your provider should be actively helping you improve system reliability, minimise downtime, enhance user experience and lower your total cost of ownership, all while ensuring your SAP landscape aligns with broader organisational goals.

If the only thing you receive is a monthly report of ticket volumes rather than clear insight into business impact, optimisation, or measurable improvements, then your AMS partner is falling short of what modern support should deliver.

7.     Transitioning away feels impossible

One of the biggest red flags? Your AMS provider makes the idea of leaving feel risky or complex.

A mature provider should have a clear, proven transition methodology, minimising disruption and maximising knowledge retention. Invenio’s 30-60-day stabilise-transition-operate model is designed exactly for this.

If your current provider can’t explain how they’d support a smooth transition, it may indicate deeper gaps in documentation, governance, or capability.

If any of these signs sound familiar, it might be time for Progressive AMS

Enterprises today need more than ticket management. T they need predictive, automated, continuously improving AMS backed by AI-driven insights, global expertise, and measurable outcomes.

At Invenio, we call this Progressive AMS: a model designed to anticipate issues before they happen, automate routine service requests, and provide true 24/7 global coverage. It reduces incidents through root-cause analysis and intelligent self-healing scripts, while driving continuous optimisation that aligns directly with your business goals. If you’re dealing with slow response times, limited visibility, or a provider that isn’t evolving alongside your organisation, Progressive AMS offers a far more strategic and future-ready alternative.

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