Moving to Third-Party Support Need Not Mean Your ERP Is “Frozen”

Moving to Third-Party Support Need Not Mean Your ERP Is “Frozen”

Rimini Street clients continue to grow and evolve their ERP portfolios, including modernization of their technology stacks and investment in innovations such as cloud-based applications and tools. We can help make similar evolutionary steps possible in your enterprise.

Canceling vendor maintenance does not freeze your ERP solution. In fact, the opposite happens. Enterprises become more agile and flexible as they free up resources to invest where it matters. Using a third party, such as Rimini Street, for support frees you from the vendor’s forced upgrade cycles. For many clients, this includes selectively implementing upgrades and patches they hesitated to apply without the safety net of a reliable support partner.

Example: A large Oracle customer with a dynamic environment is just one of many organizations that have canceled vendor maintenance as a part of a strategy to expand and grow. The story starts with the need to avoid the risk created by upgrading Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) in the middle of a global rollout. The organization continues to be successful with its ERP strategy after getting off the vendor’s roadmap, including a global rollout powered by Rimini Street and a database upgrade to Oracle R12. This Rimini Street client was also able to undertake several modernization and cloud innovation projects that it would otherwise not have been able to afford. The client is anything but frozen! (More details on this case study in our research report).

You, too, can benefit from taking control of your ERP roadmap. Assess what you are getting from your annual ERP maintenance fees and vendor-provided updates. Weigh that against demands from the business that are waiting in the queue for funding and resources. Assess how you can use Rimini Street to support you as you develop and execute your ERP roadmap.

Leaving Vendor Maintenance Does Not Freeze Your ERP Solution

Some Oracle and SAP customers who are considering a move to Rimini Street for level 3 support voice a concern that their ERP solution will be frozen. Yet, change is inevitable. Areas that we see ERP customers continue to change include updates to the core ERP solution (aka upgrades), extensions, modernization and innovation (often including cloud initiatives). Rimini Street is an enabler of change and helps enterprises grow and gain competitive advantage.

You Can Expand Your ERP Footprint

Many ERP customers use as little as 20 percent of the ERP functionality they paid for. If your enterprise fits this description, after leaving vendor maintenance you can still expand your ERP footprint by deploying functionality that you already purchased. You can also roll your deployment out to additional regions/plants/users as long as you adhere to your license agreement. You can even expand your license rights and licenses and purchase additional products from your ERP vendor to support growth.

Read more – this post is adapted from the introduction to Third-Party Support: Powering the Business-Driven Roadmap (You Are Not Frozen By Making the Switch).