Are Hidden ERP Costs Burying Your IT Department?
This blog was originally published in October 2017 and updated in September 2026. Many organizations assume ERP support and maintenance fees are a predictable cost of doing business. What they often don’t realize is that those fees represent only a fraction of the true cost of keeping ERP systems running. ERP maintenance, upgrades and self-support […]
Independent, Third-Party Support Definition (in 1,300 Words or Less)
This blog was originally published in July 2020 and was updated in July 2026 Why keep paying more for software support that delivers less flexibility and slower resolution? Third-party support gives organizations a proven way to cut costs, avoid unnecessary upgrades and get more responsive service. Learn more about third-party support, its benefits and how […]
How Agentic AI Is Reshaping Digital Transformation for Modern Enterprises
Agentic AI is emerging as a powerful force for digital transformation, offering organizations new ways to drive agility and innovation. As enterprises face growing pressure to modernize while controlling costs, many are discovering that basic automation and generative AI (GenAI) alone aren’t enough to deliver material business value. Unlike other iterations of AI, Agentic AI […]
The ROI of Saying No to ERP Upgrades
How strategic decisions drive ERP operational efficiency and cost optimization What You’ve Been Told about ERP Upgrades — and What’s Missing from the Story For decades, ERP vendors have shaped the narrative around upgrades, promoting the idea that staying on the latest release is synonymous with innovation, security and progress. IT leaders have found that […]
Stop Upgrading, Start Innovating: The Case for Outsourcing ERP Operations
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are a crucial component of business operations — used to close the books, ship orders, pay employees, enforce compliance and much more. Yet for many CIOs, CTOs and boards, ERP has become both indispensable and unsustainable. Rising licensing fees, infrastructure overhead and internal support costs are only the beginning. Multi-year […]
IT Experts in Action: Stopping Oracle Database Chaos on Black Friday
Retailers are heavily dependent on the holiday season to meet their yearly targets, and Black Friday is the crown jewel of that period. In 2024, consumers spent a record $241 billion online between November 1 and December 31. Cyber Week alone, those critical five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, pulled in a staggering $41B […]
Innovation Comes in Many Forms: Fueling Progress via Enterprise IT
Innovation is everywhere in today’s headlines. It’s become crucial for staying competitive and meeting the evolving demands of both boards and customers. Organizations prioritizing innovation are better equipped to adapt to changes quickly, deliver value and get ahead of the curve. Having the opportunity to serve as a change agent in corporate IT for 20+ […]
VMware Price Shocks in Higher Education: What IT Leaders Need to Know
Broadcom’s acquisition of and sweeping changes to VMware have caused turbulence across industries, but nowhere is the impact felt more acutely than in higher education. Having served as the Deputy CIO of Arizona State University for more than eight years, I know firsthand that colleges and universities have long relied on VMware to power everything […]
SAP’s Maintenance Deadlines Are Looming for More Products
SAP’s end-of-maintenance clock is ticking, and the pressure isn’t limited to ECC and S/4HANA customers. A broad portfolio of SAP products — including Global Trade Services (GTS), Commerce (Hybris) On-premise, BusinessObjects (BOBJ), Business Warehouse (BW) and Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) — are approaching critical deadlines. Mainstream maintenance for many of these products ends as […]
No Extension to SAP ECC 6 and Business Suite 7 Mainstream Maintenance End Dates in 2025 and 2027
This blog was originally published in February 2023 and was updated in August 2025 The end of mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC 6 and Business Suite 7 is coming soon. Organizations are being pressured by SAP to migrate to S/4HANA, while many are considering sticking with ECC 6, as noted by several SAP analysts. Allow […]
Accelerating Out of the Turn
This summer, the roar of Formula One engines will echo not just from the big screen with the release of the new F1 movie, but also in boardrooms and IT strategy sessions around the world. Why? Because the principles that guide elite F1 drivers through hairpin turns are the same ones that can guide IT […]
Resilience in Action: How strategic manufacturers are finding opportunity in market volatility
The manufacturing industry is experiencing the pain of shifting trade policies and economic uncertainty. During a time when global systems are deeply intertwined, sudden tariff hikes are disrupting supply chains, increasing production costs and forcing companies to rethink sourcing strategies. Supplier delivery times have hit a two-year low due to companies reducing or halting shipments. […]
SAP Renaming Strategy Brings Added Confusion and Costs
The parade of new names announced at SAP Sapphire 2025 had attendees tilting their heads and furrowing their brows. “Wait, what?” “But I thought ….” “What does ‘RISE’ mean now?” What’s clear is that SAP has once again moved the goalposts for its customers. At first glance, the recent rebranding of “RISE with SAP” to […]
Redefine Supplier Lifecycle Management: Unlock Efficiency, Visibility & Strategic Value
Supplier lifecycle management shouldn’t slow down your business. If you’re stuck with manual processes, fragmented systems and reactive fixes, it’s time to rethink your approach. By taking a structured approach to review the current state of your supplier lifecycle, reimagine a more automated and intelligent future and reengineer your processes for maximum efficiency, you can […]
Aligning Technology Strategy with ESG Objectives
Enterprise software systems are vital to business operations, but frequent upgrades and replacements can disrupt workflows and place significant strain on budgets, hindering progress toward Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. ERP software vendors persistently push businesses to upgrade systems customers have already invested years into customizing to suit their unique processes, even imposing arbitrary […]
Impact of US Tariff Policies on Energy, Utilities and Resources Industries
Energy, utilities and resources companies are grappling with new challenges due to US tariff policies. Tariff changes often require rapid shifts in strategy, making long-term planning increasingly difficult. These changes impact investment decisions by increasing risk, lowering performance targets and limiting available capital. Although these industries are distinct, their shared experiences highlight common struggles such […]
What to Do Before SAP Says “NO”
No one likes to be told “NO.” Especially not from customer support, whose job is to say “YES” when you need help. Unfortunately, many SAP ECC6 and S/4HANA customers may be hearing “NO” a lot more soon. Mainstream Maintenance for SAP ECC6 is ending in 2025 or 2027, depending on which enhancement pack you use. […]
The New Retail Playbook: Strategies for Volatility, Tariffs and Transformation
Tariffs may be the headline, but they’re only one part of the broader economic pressures forcing retailers to rethink how they operate, source and sell. Inflation, shifting global trade policies, consumer anxiety and supply chain disruption have created a volatile market environment that is impacting nearly every aspect of retail operations. In this high-pressure climate, […]
Transforming Procurement with Strategic ERP Support: Lessons from Delek Israel
In the world of Procurement, smart use of company resources, be it people, time or money, is the name of the game. With IT costs continuing to rise, finding the balance to reduce operating expenditures while enabling company growth is a constant challenge. In a recent episode of the Smarts in Procurement podcast, hosted by […]
Act Now or Fall Behind: Telecom’s Response to Economic Pressure
The telecom industry is entering one of the most turbulent periods in recent memory. This moment is defined not by competition or consumer demand, but by economic policy and geopolitical complexity. With new tariff policies in flux, combined with an expected increase in inflation, telecom providers are facing a perfect storm of rising costs, squeezed […]
Digital Transformation in the Oil and Gas Sector: Navigating the Future of Energy
The oil and gas industry, long known for its deep investments into heavy machinery, systems and processes, are entering a phase of innovation with demand stemming from board members, shareholders and consumers alike. Digital transformation, which integrates digital technologies into all areas of business, is revolutionizing the oil and gas sector by enhancing productivity, reducing […]
AI, Innovation, and Emerging Tech: 5 Practical Steps for IT Leaders Navigating the Future
With the increase in velocity and the rapid technological advancements being released each month, IT leaders face both unprecedented opportunities and challenges. In this conversation between Rimini Street experts, Andrew Harsch, Product Marketing Director and Jaco Van Eeden, Global Enterprise Innovation Center of Excellence (CoE) Lead, we gain a deeper appreciation and discovery of Jaco’s […]
Dear SAP Support — I’ve Met Someone Else
I don’t think we should see each other anymore. It’s not you; it’s me. Actually, on second thought, it’s mostly you. Our relationship started as expected, but we’ve grown apart. We now want different things. Let me explain. You’ve changed It used to be that my annual maintenance fee got me support, maintenance and new […]
The Potential of Agile ERP: How Quick Time to Value Delivers Tangible, not Theoretical Results
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the cornerstone of the organization, enabling IT and finance leaders to integrate and manage their core business processes. However, the pace of innovation and the increasing demands for modern functionality and outcomes today, not in the distant future, are challenging the long-standing assumption that ERP transformation projects must span […]
2027: The ERP Innovation Inflection Point
As 2027 approaches, organizations face a pivotal moment in deciding how to modernize their technology landscape and in particular, their existing on-premise ERP systems and the associated business applications. The requests and requirements from senior business leaders for improvements in user experience, analytics and dashboards that provide real time glimpse into the business are now […]
How AI Can Transform Financial Services & Banking
As an IT leader in the financial services (“finserv”) sector, I often reflect on the challenges we face in today’s rapidly evolving landscape, as well as the best ways to overcome those challenges. I’ve seen my share of changes in this industry and have always recognized that finserv is a balance between art and science. […]
Low-code, AIOps, and Automation: Rimini Street and ServiceNow, Inc. Partnership Expands Options for Oracle EBS Clients
Frank Reneke is GVP of Professional Services for Rimini Custom™, a unique offering that extends Rimini Street’s support and services across the enterprise software landscape. With more than three decades of experience working across Oracle products, both inside of Oracle and with Rimini Support ™ for Oracle clients, Reneke has been at the forefront of […]
Strategies for Telecom Executives—Navigating the OPEX Conundrum
As the market becomes increasingly competitive and technology evolves rapidly, telecommunications industry (telecom) leaders must find ways to achieve more with less — managing operating expenses (OPEX) without sacrificing critical capabilities. This balancing act is especially difficult in a capital-intensive industry like telecom, where infrastructure investments and IT systems are crucial for ongoing operations. In […]
Strategies for Telecom Executives—Balancing Innovation and OPEX
In my previous blog, Strategies for Telecom Executives—Navigating the OPEX Conundrum, we explored the growing pressures on OPEX in the telecom sector, from network upgrades and regulatory compliance to rising energy costs and cybersecurity. As telecom executives work to navigate these challenges, finding a balance between fostering innovation and managing operating expenses is no longer […]
CFO-to-CFO Insights: Prioritizing Financial Services IT in 2025
After years as a CFO who collaborated closely with CIOs, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformation of the CFO role from a financial steward to a strategic leader. The interplay between finance and technology has become more intertwined than ever, creating opportunities to drive innovation, enhance operations, and achieve strategic goals. During a recent conversation, I […]
Rimini Street’s AI Apps: Helping Provide Human-First, World-Class Service for Clients
When people hear the term “artificial intelligence” or AI, it can prompt all sorts of images – from machines that appear to think and act for themselves to people being replaced as obsolete – but here at Rimini Street, AI is used to maintain and enhance the human experience not replace it. As a […]
CIO-to-CIO Insights: Priorities for Retail IT in 2025
In my many years as a CIO in the retail industry before joining Rimini Street, I’ve seen firsthand how the roles of CIOs and CFOs have become increasingly intertwined. Traditionally, IT strategy and investment were largely the CIO’s domain, but today, CFOs play an equally significant role. “C-Suite Imperatives: Evolving IT and Enterprise Investments,” Rimini […]
Enhancing the User Experience of ERP Systems with ServiceNow and Rimini Street
In today’s digital, mobile and always-on world, user experience (UX) is a critical factor in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of enterprise systems. Traditional ERP systems, like those from SAP and Oracle for example, while robust and reliable, often have outdated interfaces and cumbersome analog “workflows” of email and swivel chair integration into multiple systems […]
IT Experts in Action: Moving faster than the vendor
From our rigorous hiring process to our global collaboration and unique service delivery model, Rimini Street’s Global Service Delivery (GSD) team is the driving force behind our transformative approach to providing IT support. And for the last nine years, I’ve had the privilege of leading this team, fine-tuning performance, and watching it evolve and grow […]
Rimini Consult™: Unlocking the Full Potential of the ServiceNow® Platform
Rimini Street is excited to announce expanded support for the ServiceNow platform through Rimini Consult. With this evolution, we’re offering more than just technical support and guidance for ServiceNow software—we’re helping you envision a new future for your organization and find new life and new value in your existing software by “transformation without disruption”. In […]
No More FOMO – SAP ECC Customers Are Not Missing Out on New Features
FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a thing, mostly in social media and personal endeavors. But it also has a parallel in enterprise software roadmaps. Stay with me and I’ll explain. ERP software – it first hit the scene in the 1960s. In the decades that followed, the number and variety of ERP […]
Thanks, But No Thanks – SAP ECC6 EHP0-5 Customers Just Don’t See the Value of a Forced S/4HANA Upgrade
For customers of SAP ECC 6 versions EHP0-5, there’s a hard deadline coming December 31, 2025, when mainstream support from SAP will end for those versions. SAP isn’t offering extended support for EHP0-5. The deadline is a fork in the road created by the vendor. At that point, customers will be automatically converted to customer-specific […]
From TCO to TCC: Don’t Give Up Cost Control to a Vendor “Landlord”
The acronym TCO stands for “total cost of ownership” – a phrase that reminds us that the cost of a technology solution is rarely just the price of the solution. Oftentimes, there are numerous other components that comprise the total cost. But there is a fundamental problem when considering TCO for a technology solution: It […]
Navigating the AI Revolution in Financial Services: Unlocking Opportunities and Overcoming Challenges
Artificial intelligence (AI) has fast become a key consideration for the financial services sector. Operations from across the industry have utilised its technology in recent years in an effort to gain a competitive edge. From high street banks to trading floors and insurance organisations, AI has been leveraged to make decision-making processes faster, analyse datasets […]
How Smart Utilities Leaders Are Rethinking ERP Vendor Mandates
From maximising the lifespan of existing infrastructure, to delivering on sustainability goals and improving services for customers, utility companies face several well-publicised concerns. And the stakes are high, as the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) estimates the UK needs an extra £25-35 billion per year of accelerated investment to enable the National Grid to deliver […]
Global Survey: How CFOs and CIOs partner for innovation, revenue, and results
In today’s dynamic business landscape, the relationship between CFOs and CIOs is critically important. Synergy between the roles is shaping the future of enterprise technology investments while driving innovation with a focus on revenue and results. While each role maintains distinct responsibilities, their paths frequently converge, and that nexus highlights their combined contribution to business […]
5 Best Practices for AI-Powered CRM Readiness
With the advent of Generative AI, CRM applications are better positioned to fulfill their promise of providing a 360-degree view of the customer. It can also facilitate automatic processes in sales, marketing, and services, while analyzing vast amounts of data to deliver predictive analytics on business outcomes and improved customer experience. Organizations are increasing their […]
Three Steps Retail CIOs Should Take for AI-Ready IT
Retail IT leaders considering leveraging AI investments to potentially add more gold to the golden quarter should look before they leap. Start with these 3 need-to-knows for AI-ready IT that won’t leave you penniless. Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been a hot topic in retail but has now become a pivotal factor as retailers compete […]
Navigating Five Generative AI Challenges for Financial Services
Financial services have used AI in cybersecurity & anti-fraud operations for years, but Generative AI presents a new set of challenges; here’s how successful IT leaders can navigate them. While AI isn’t new to financial services—most organizations use some form of AI to support their cybersecurity and anti-fraud operations—the U.S. Department of the Treasury reports […]
Your SAP Support Clock May Be Ticking Faster Than You Think
If you’re running SAP ECC 6, your support clock is ticking—perhaps faster than you realize. Not to worry, you’ve got options and we can help. By now, just about every SAP customer knows that 2027 is the end date for ECC 6 mainstream maintenance support. But that’s only half the story. That’s because for half […]
Five Strategies for Navigating IT Black Swan Events
How can IT leaders better manage unpredictable, consequential events? Start with these five strategies drawn from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan. In his influential book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduces the concept of Black Swan events—highly improbable occurrences with massive impacts. These events, by their […]
Generative AI Headlines Outpace ERP Adoption
In just a few months, the volume knob on Artificial Intelligence was cranked up to 11. But for all that deafening noise, most CIOs are finding AI doesn’t yet live up to the hype. If you’re assessing AI for ERP, here’s guidance on how best to look before you leap. AI is all the talk […]
Do ERP Ecosystems Act Like Cartels?
While the ecosystems formed by ERP and database vendors, systems integrators, and other partners can create value, there can be downsides as well. Here are five things you need to know about ERP vendors. Over the decades, large ERP and database vendors, system integrators, and other partners have formed an ecosystem to help customers deploy […]
Rethinking the SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration Mandate
Contrary to what SAP may want you to think, ECC to S/4HANA migration isn’t mandatory for your enterprise. In fact, independent support can extend your current ERP investment beyond SAP’s projected end of mainstream maintenance for ECC in 2027. I sat down with three of our SAP ERP experts to discuss the options businesses have. […]
How Salesforce Data Harmonization and AI Impact Your Enterprise
November 2022 may ultimately be bookmarked as the beginning of the next era of IT. That is when OpenAI announced open access to its ChatGPT, a natural language model that promises to revolutionize customer relationship management (CRM), software coding, and productivity across many industries. “We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational […]
Answer 10 Tough Questions to Justify IT Modernization
IT system modernization can be achieved in different ways. Operational excellence in core and operational IT systems is a key part of most system modernization efforts. It contributes to profitability and makes the systems better able to accommodate change. Many currently deployed enterprise-level IT systems provide a strong foundation for change. For these systems, modernization […]
New Survey: Why CIOs and CTOs Want a New Model for IT Support and Services
In April of 2023, Censuswide conducted a survey of 608 US respondents from companies with $250m+ revenue. That study focused on CIO and CTO satisfaction with their existing IT support and services models for enterprise software. The results spoke for themselves. Respondents voiced broad dissatisfaction with their support services and models, including issues with support […]
How IT Can Sustain Business Growth and Profitability Amid Economic Uncertainty
During most of 2023, business outlook has seemingly ping-ponged between fears of an economic recession and hopes that an almost mythical soft landing—a term some economists use to describe a mild recession with a slight increase in the unemployment rate—will tame inflation without causing negative growth that generally results in high rates of layoffs and […]
Managed Services Projections Increase Through 2023
Spiceworks Ziff Davis (SWZD) surveyed more than 1,400 IT professionals from North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America to determine how recent economic events and inflation are impacting organizational plans to invest in technology in the upcoming year. The results of that research formed the 2023 State of IT report. In this report, the news […]
Technology Productivity: Applying the Deep Work Model
In the recent Harvard Business Review article, “Beware of a Culture of Busyness,” author Adam Waytz describes how corporate culture has evolved from valuing what is produced to valuing how busy employees are. In this article, we examine how overvaluing time affects businesses and how applying the deep work model can help increase technology productivity. […]
How a Unified Approach to Support and Services Can Help Hybrid IT Environments Keep Pace with the Business
This blog was originally published in April 2023 and was updated in June 2024 Supporting hybrid IT is different from individually supporting vendors’ products It is imperative for IT organizations to better operate, manage, and support hybrid-driven, multivendor IT environments. The complexity associated with hybrid IT scenarios (for example, from adopting a composable ERP strategy) […]
Unleash Your IT Potential with Rimini ONE™ All-in-One Support and Services
In today’s competitive business landscape, organizations rely heavily on their enterprise software systems to drive productivity and enable growth. However, some vendors provide only limited levels of support for existing versions. As a result, many companies find themselves struggling to: keep up with the associated costs and complexities of maintaining their software investments source high-quality […]
How a Unified Approach to Support and Services Can Improve IT Outcomes
Modernizing IT support and services should be a part of IT modernization Enterprise applications are changing at a more rapid pace than ever. The result is that many enterprises have hybrid-driven, multivendor IT environments. This creates a challenge for the IT organization — how to effectively operate, manage, and support an increasingly complex technology portfolio. […]
5 Strategies to Fill the IT Skills Gap
Finding and retaining IT talent is becoming a major IT cost The labor market and supply chain have experienced significant upheaval in the wake of the global pandemic. Fortunately, the supply chain has begun to rebuild — a recent construction project had me pleasantly surprised to see the prices of lumber becoming reasonable again. However, […]
What Oracle’s JAVA SE Licensing Change Could Mean to You
Is the JAVA SE licensing change as simple as it sounds? When software vendors claim to be simplifying software licensing terms, experienced enterprise customers know to dig into the details to find how it may impact their costs. So, when Oracle in January revealed “a simple, low-cost monthly subscription” model for licensing its Java SE […]
High Heels, High Tech, and High Expectations
A Blog for Women in Leadership Run the race and finish strong. That is the motto that I have lived by in my professional, personal, and spiritual endeavors for many years. For me it is a key foundation in my pursuit to be a Servant Leader, which represents a management style attuned to today’s often […]
Does Your Global Compliance Program Have Teeth?
Global compliance can be tricky At the end of 2022, the Department of Justice (DoJ) ordered a large U.S based conglomerate to pay over $160 million after they made bribe payments to a high-ranking official at Brazil’s state-owned oil company to secure an advantage when bidding on a major $425 million contract. The DoJ found […]
Are You Ready for the Consequences of a Cyberattack?
Cyberattacks don’t just affect an enterprise’s data — in fact, they can affect business’ ability to operate. In some industries, this could mean loss of life! There is one topic at the forefront of every industry event and every conversation I have with executives across the globe: cybersecurity. Computers, smartphones, tablets, and Internet of Things […]
Strategies to Help Win the Fight Against Breast Cancer
The fight to find a cure The fight to increase awareness of and find a cure for breast cancer is ongoing.. To support these goals, Rimini Street’s Team Pink and Nancy Lyskawa, Rimini Street EVP of Global Client Onboarding, hosted two webinars featuring speakers from the nonprofit Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) that provided information […]
Privacy Compliance is a Partnership
Privacy compliance is a critical priority for any organization, as it plays a crucial role in protecting the personal information of customers, clients, and employees. With the increasing amount of personal data being collected and stored by organizations, it is more important than ever to have robust privacy compliance policies and procedures in place to […]
IT Hero: The CISO
Jim Hillier is currently the director and principal advisor for security in the Office of the CTO at Rimini Street, but for years he served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for a number of organizations. It’s a job that has changed over the years as the Internet of Things (IoT) developed, and today looks […]
Do ERP Systems and Saab Cars Share the Same Interoperability Issues?
Product marketing thrives on analogies. So, it’s not too surprising that I was struck by a great analogy while driving home from our Pleasanton, CA office, in my new car – well, it’s a new-to-me vintage 19-year-old Saab – after a product session about Rimini Connect™ and interoperability. Avoiding the Bay Bridge (thanks Waze!), I […]
IT Hero: Systems Administrator
The systems administrator’s job is Nonstop As a lead systems administrator with Rimini Street, Dustin Jaeger, is part of an infrastructure team that serves internal customers almost exclusively. Its job is to ensure business continuity every second of every day, especially in case of a disaster. The team’s buzzword is “high availability” as represented by […]
Succeeding in the Stress-filled CISO Role
The role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has evolved into a strategically critical—and stress-inducing—role. As the old saying goes, security chiefs must be right 100% of the time, while cyber-attackers seeking to create operational or financial chaos only need to be right, or lucky, once. Digital transformation and the rapid increase in remote […]
How IT Leaders are Coping with Recession Concerns
With a war raging across the ocean, a looming European energy crisis this winter, and inflation numbers refusing to subside, the macroeconomic environment has caused enterprise IT leaders to rethink their strategies. Earlier this summer, we wrote on the impact that an economic recession and ongoing technology talent shortage can have on organizations, and according […]
How CISOs Put the X Factor in Being a CXO
The job of a chief information security officer, or CISO, is in many ways like that of other CXOs. Like their CXO peers, a CISO will have a strategic agenda that is aligned with that of the business. Within that agenda, a CISO will also have specific priorities, often strategic in nature and aligned with […]
Love It or Leave It: Should You Replace or Modernize Your ERP System?
As IT leaders look toward the future of their ERP system, they must decide whether to innovate at the edges of the current system or replace it completely. We’ve all seen those reality home renovation shows where a couple must decide whether to renovate their current home or buy a new one. If the place […]
Prioritizing and Cutting Costs to Meet Transformation Challenges
Rimini Street CEO provides global perspective to Brazilian executives Businesses worldwide are pressing their IT departments to accelerate digital transformation, but few are providing sufficient funds to support those efforts. That was the message that Rimini Street CEO and Chairman, Seth Ravin, delivered to executives in Brazil recently as he explained how they can fund […]
Tips to Avoid Burnout in Your Hybrid-Remote Team
The burgeoning hybrid-remote work model has been credited with bringing new levels of productivity, particularly to many tech teams. But it has also created higher levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout. Employee well-being is not always a top employer priority A recent national public opinion poll of U.S. adults by the American Psychiatric Association indicated […]
Economic Uncertainty is Causing CIOs to Hoard Their IT Budget
The uncertain economic outlook is causing some CIOs to defer spending and push out less-critical projects during the second half of the year. That was one key takeaway from a summer software market update presentation by J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Murphy. How CIOs balance dwindling budgets Almost 40% of CIOs surveyed by J.P. Morgan in […]
When Tech Talent Shortage Meets Economic Downturn
“Businesses are moving full-speed toward a collision,” warns Pat Phelan, Rimini Street VP, Market Research. “Companies are going to need people during a time of historically low unemployment but at the same time are going to suffer budget cuts due to economic recession.” How CIOs and application leaders manage those two waves will have significant […]
IT Hero: SAP HR Support Guru
David Melling, principal support engineer for SAP HR/UK payroll on the Rimini Street team, has specialized experience that clients depend on as they navigate the frequently changing UK regulatory environment. It’s expertise like his that contributes to Rimini Street’s 4.9/5.0 average customer satisfaction score and creates a loyal client base. Melling has been implementing SAP […]
Hostage No Longer: Break Free of Rising IT Vendor Prices
IT vendor price increases are coming Many experts are predicting software price increases, including higher support service costs. Reports show that some increases are already here. According to The Register, “Oracle support prices are set to rise by 8% in the U.S., and the company will also impose increases commensurate with inflation in other regions.” […]
Strengthen the Future of Your ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is projected to make up roughly 15% of total IT spending in 2022 — a significant amount of money. Organizations that don’t manage their ERP systems might risk falling short of their ROI goals. The challenge with ERP systems is there is no one-size-fits-all solution that works for every organization. […]
The Future of ERP: IT Talent Management Could Be Your Achilles’ Heel
Composable ERP requires a broader set of support skills than integrated suites. It also requires experts with knowledge that spans the business and IT. Yet, CIOs face a tough truth with IT talent management. Some ERP skills are going the way of COBOL programming: fundamentally critical to operations, but increasingly scarce and losing appeal as […]
Solve ERP Headaches with Consolidation and Third-Party Support
Organizations are more likely to migrate their ERP solutions to the cloud than they are to take advantage of the cost savings and reduced complexity they can realize by consolidating multiple systems. That’s one of the key findings in a new survey conducted for Rimini Street by UK business technology publisher Computing. ERP environments often […]
Is Your Cloud Strategy Accelerating or Hindering Innovation?
The following originally appeared on Diginomica.com CIOs consider the cloud for a variety of reasons, many of which are forcing them to rethink their application strategies. You are not alone if you are feeling pressure to migrate applications and infrastructure to the cloud. But which cloud moves are the right ones? One of the most […]
The Future of ERP: Composable ERP Support Is a Horse of a Different Color
When ERP is composed of a variety of products and services, who do you call when something doesn’t work? How do you coordinate changes across the portfolio of solutions? And how do you ensure that change in one component is compatible with other components? These are just a few questions that must be thoughtfully answered […]
The Future of ERP: With Composable ERP, Interoperability and Integration Are Not Optional
In a composable world, how do you ensure that the products and services comprising the application portfolio are bolted together properly and can interoperate seamlessly? Analysis There are many facets to interoperability and integration, and any of them can derail your success with composable ERP. Interoperability embodies the ability for solution components to exchange and […]
The Future of ERP: Top Emerging Technology Trends to Watch
In 1988, General Motors built an expensive relaunch campaign around the tagline, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” As we contemplate the 2027 future state of ERP, does it seem as if some vendors are pinning their hopes on a similar marketing spin? Hopefully, they’ll have more success than GM, whose campaign killed the century-old […]
Open-Source Database Market Roundup
The lock that long-time proprietary vendors have had on the database management system (DBMS) market is steadily eroding, even in the face of astounding industry growth. Overall, revenue growth is extraordinary for the industry in total. “Since its brief pause in 2015, the DBMS market has reeled off six consecutive years of growth, with the […]
If a Tech Talent Shortage is Inevitable, What Can CIOs Do?
Data from CIO (formerly IDG) suggests the global technology skills shortage hampers companies’ ability to thrive and grow. Beyond internal IT project delays and productivity issues, nearly one-quarter (24%) of U.S. respondents cited a lack of available IT/technology talent with legacy knowledge, which could impact customer churn. “Top-of-mind technology challenges such as cybersecurity protection and […]
9 Open-Source Database Migration Best Practices
Deploying open-source database management systems (DBMSs) can deliver unique benefits to enterprises, including lower costs, greater flexibility, and innovation not always available with proprietary database solutions. However, migrating from an existing proprietary product to an open-source alternative requires planning and attention to ensure the process doesn’t go awry. The appeal of open-source licenses starts with the cost—free—and […]
IT Talent Crunch Forces CIOs to Make Tough Decisions
*By Pat Phelan, vice president of market research at Rimini Street 2022 is shaping up to be a year of increased technology investment. Still, as business leaders move to accelerate the pace of innovation, the IT skills shortage has forced many CIOs into a seemingly unwinnable balancing act. On one hand, they need to carefully […]
Is it Time to Rethink Your IT Software Services Strategy?
Changes in how technology is consumed and supported have clashed with an IT talent shortage to create a “perfect storm” in IT service delivery. To avoid getting caught in the storm, CIOs must rethink their IT software services model. In a world where companies latch on to best-of-breed technology to enable more agility, differentiation, and […]
How Oracle Customers View the Global Tech Talent Shortage
Could it be that Oracle customers feel the pinch of the global tech talent shortage more than SAP customers do? A Rimini Street-sponsored report from CIO suggests that may be the case. Findings from the report conclude that: Nearly nine out of ten (86%) respondents reported concern about the challenge of recruiting and retaining technology […]
Solving Your IT Talent Shortage: Upskill or Outsource?
The global tech talent shortage is real and caused by many factors, including: High demand for digital transformation The pandemic The great retirement/the great migration/the big quit Talent retention challenges Newer technologies and more fun at other companies As organizations worldwide try to crack the code on their skills gaps, how will you solve your […]
Gartner Predicts 2022: Why Enterprise Software Costs Keep Climbing
A report from Gartner® suggests rising software costs thanks to a widespread embrace of SaaS. In its Predicts 2022: SaaS Dominates Software Contracting by 2026 — and So Do Risks, Gartner makes a case that as most of the top 20 software vendors phase out the sale of new perpetual licenses, certain software ownership and […]
Digital Technologies to Accelerate Innovation in 2022
Summary Business modernization strategies reign as a top priority for executives worldwide. Yet many IT leaders may not fully recognize that their software service models can be barriers. CIOs can modernize software services with digital technologies to accelerate innovation in 2022 and help the business gain competitive advantage. Analysis The digital revolution is in full […]
How to Overcome the 7 Toughest Multi-Cloud Challenges
Transitioning from locally hosted data centers to the Big 3 cloud providers is not a hypothetical “if” for most enterprises but a reality of “when.” The stability, security, and scalability of services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) can solve many problems for IT leaders. But taking on these […]
IT Succession Planning: How to Prepare for the Inevitable
The Great Resignation. The Big Retirement. In November 2021, 4.5 million workers left or changed their jobs. On one end are the Baby Boomers who have critical skills and possess business knowledge that’s scarce in today’s job market. These skills and knowledge form the backbone of many businesses that have run on Oracle and SAP […]
Overcoming Salesforce Challenges: Unblocking the Top 5 Roadblocks
Salesforce has the potential to transform your business. However, SaaS can sometimes be misunderstood as simple — fast to set up and easy to manage and maintain. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Misunderstanding the complexity of a SaaS platform as powerful as Salesforce can lead to a lower ROI than expected. […]
4 Quick Wins to Drive Success for Your ERP Consolidation Project
CIOs: All Eyes are on You An ERP consolidation is no picnic. And it’s certainly not fast. It can be long and complicated, with the potential for stakeholders to lose interest and abandon ship. Add to that the severe lack of skilled ERP talent able to do the heavy lifting of integrating and decommissioning servers, […]
Guest Blog Executive Client Series: Delivering for the Business, Part 1
Part 1: Manufacturing in 2022: Building Business Resiliency and Funding Innovation, an Interview with Bas Ursem How does a global manufacturer manage the impact of a global crisis? Bas Ursem, vice president, global IT at Kraton Corporation, a manufacturer of biobased chemicals and specialty polymers, paved a smart path to help his organization survive — […]
Going Digital – Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
Digital transformation in manufacturing is a top priority, but funding obstacles exist. Manufacturing IT budgets could hold the key to finding the funds to drive the future of manufacturing. According to the World Economic Forum, more than 70% of manufacturing companies are stalled at the first steps of digital transformation, unable to move past the […]
Third-party Support for SAP: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Hand SAP your software support cancellation notice before the September 30 SAP deadline and give yourself the gift of improved ERP support quality this year — and every year. 2020 was a unique year for all, as the world grappled with COVID-19 and the impact it had on personal and professional lives. The pandemic has […]
Creating A Customer Experience Devoid of Downtime
Third-Party Maintenance for SAP Helps T-Mobile Enhance Customer Experience and Reliability “Remaining connected to family, friends, and customers is incredibly important, especially in these times” states Erik LaValle, senior director of product and technology at T-Mobile. “Our customers need to know that they can rely on us 100% of the time.” The host of […]
Retail IT Trends: Retailers Continue to Lead Digital Transformation, Post-Pandemic — And by Necessity
CIOs: Note These 7 Retail Trends as You Advise the Business on IT Investments The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the world of retail necessitating accelerated digital transformation. Retailers around the globe were forced to rapidly reassess business models and operations to serve a customer base that was newly offsite and hands-free. Like many retail IT […]
Global Survey Results: CFOs Weigh in on Enterprise Digital Transformation and IT Spending Priorities
When it comes to helping right the ship in times of business turbulence, CFOs play a critical role. They partner closely with the CEO to refine business strategy and with the CIO on implementing enterprise digital transformation to quickly defend against the disruption. An important component of the CFO/CIO partnership during crisis management is prioritizing […]
IDG Survey: Navigating the Future of SAP
New IDG survey report explores how IT leaders are accelerating innovation while maximizing SAP investments IT leaders are feeling pressure on all sides. The business wants IT to accelerate innovation to take advantage of technologies such as big data, AI, and IoT. The budget dictates a fine balance between maximizing ROI from existing IT investments […]
Weathering the Winter with the Founder of Winter Streets Project
Hi! I am Lou, Founder and Director of Winter Streets Project Five years ago, I had the idea of, instead of buying Christmas presents for my family and friends (who would only put them on eBay in January), I would do something to help those living on the streets. After a quick Google I had an […]
Licensees Extending Life of PeopleSoft ERP with AMS, IaaS, and Third-Party Support
2020 Survey Results: Analysis of Global PeopleSoft Licensee Behavior Many organizations are spending too much of their IT budget ─ as much as 90% ─ on daily operating costs to run and grow the business, leaving only 10% to fund transformation.[1] Continued overspending on expensive Oracle annual maintenance contracts for PeopleSoft ERP, while following the […]
3 Strategic Takeaways from the Recent SAP Q3 Earnings Call
And how they can inform your SAP roadmap On October 25, SAP released its third-quarter results. Said to be its “biggest rout in 24 years,” SAP Q3 earnings reveal a weak quarter with significant drop in cloud and license revenue compared to its projections. This, despite an uptick in the industry overall, with the increase […]
Third-Party Software Support for SAP: Hidden Savings
The oft-quoted Michael Porter has stated that the essence of strategy is knowing ‘what not to do!’ ─ it is as important as knowing what to do. How does this apply to maintenance for SAP and IT roadmap strategy? In a November 2019 survey conducted by Rimini Street, 79% of licensees said that they have […]
Third-Party Support: A Strategy for IT Agility, Not Just a Cost-Cutting Measure
The financial benefits of dropping vendor-sourced maintenance in favor of third-party enterprise software support are very tangible; the lure of cutting expenditures by 50% – for what are commonly agreed to be superior levels of service – has proven compelling to thousands of companies. However, for many CIOs, the transition to third-party support presents advantages […]
5 Questions on S/4HANA Migration — Answers for SAP Business Suite Licensees
SAP’s extension announcement of ECC 6.0 support from 2025 to 2027 is an apparent acknowledgment that SAP customers do not see value in a prompt migration to S/4HANA. Even prior to the pandemic, nearly 80% of SAP licensees planned to continue to run their current customized, mature SAP systems for five additional years or more.1 […]
The Time to Act is Now to Meet SAP’s September 30 Maintenance Deadline
By September 30, many SAP customers need to retain SAP Enterprise Support at 22% of license contract price,1 or save 50% of that support price, and up to 90% of overall support costs with third-party support? It is no news that 2020 has turned out to be an unusual year! For IT leaders, this means […]
Roundup: Gartner IT Cost Management Reports
Controlling costs is a constant strain on IT teams. The business wants enterprise-grade IT, but it also wants to execute big goals with a lean budget. Add to that the global disruption that has touched both lives and livelihoods around the world. The cost of adapting can bring with it even more budget turmoil. Making […]
The Hidden Tax that Comes with Traditional Application Management Services (AMS)
The model for traditional application managed services (AMS) is broken. It’s dated and complex with a time and materials contract structure and a “man-hours” billing system. While the model was originally provisioned for issue resolution, the reality may lead to a continuous, almost unwitting client accommodation of large and growing numbers of billable hours for […]
Status Quo is Not an Option – Overcome Technical Debt to Accelerate Innovation
This article originally appeared on Diginomica.com; it has been modified for this space. In today’s increasingly digital economy, competition is intense. Sticking with current business models and technology will result in many enterprises getting run over by competitors. Status quo is not an option. Yet, the cost of technical debt, created by past technology decisions, […]
New Application Management Service (AMS) Models are Emerging to Address the IT Talent Shortage
This article originally appeared on Diginomica.com; it has been modified for this space. The pool of IT experts is shrinking and the talent that remains is being spread thinner as new technologies create demand for expertise. According to Gartner’s “Survey Data: Gartner Talent Management for Tech CEOs Survey, 2020“1 report: “Tech CEOs rank attracting and […]
Fast-track Your Cloud Strategy
This article originally appeared on CIOReview.com; it has been modified for this space. Considering a move to the cloud? CIOs cite a variety of reasons to do so, including cost savings, scalability, and the ability to more quickly deliver/enable initiatives for the business. At the same time, the number of cloud vendors and products — […]
The Best Time to Take Back Control of Your Oracle Roadmap is NOW
Many Oracle customers are currently facing a May 2020 maintenance renewal deadline that may lock them into another year of high costs, limited innovation and falling behind. IT today is facing a mandate from the business to evolve beyond a cost center to a source of innovation and growth. However, CIOs running Oracle can be […]
9 Signs that Market Forces are Affecting your IT Roadmap
Most CIOs believe they are in control of their IT roadmaps, yet external dynamics are creating pressure to change course. No longer can enterprise roadmaps be calibrated once and then put out of reach. To continue to enable business priorities and drive growth in a dynamic technology environment, roadmaps must be monitored and adjusted to […]
Gartner Predicts 2020
A new year (and a new decade) are ideal times to prognosticate about the future. While it’s one thing for a business to predict great things for its future, it’s quite another for a respected, trusted analyst in the industry to predict great things for your industry … and your business. That’s precisely the case […]
Why IT Needs a Business-Driven Roadmap
A Business-Driven Roadmap is an IT planning framework driven by business goals and the potential for smart use of technology to further those business goals. Besides fostering better alignment between IT and company goals, this approach can be a boon to IT departments and the people within them who aspire to do more meaningful work. […]
11 Characteristics of a Successful Business-Driven Roadmap for IT
A Business-Driven Roadmap is an information technology plan built around business priorities. Although it is informed by the vendor roadmaps of major technology suppliers, it avoids letting them dictate enterprise IT plans or take control of the organization’s budget. This is easier said than done, particularly when you see the need to diverge from the […]
5 Ways to Leverage ERP in the Cloud Without Necessarily Moving to Cloud ERP
This article originally appeared on Diginomica.com; it has been modified for this space. Everyone is moving to the cloud, no doubt about it. How to take advantage of the cloud is the multi-million dollar question. Get stampeded into making the wrong decision, and you could wind up throwing away millions. Do it right, and the […]
Overwhelmed by Opportunity, Salesforce Customers Need Assistance
Salesforce customers are drowning in opportunity – a good problem to have. In most cases, the challenge they have with Salesforce is not that it is rigid or limited, like the enterprise software of the past, but that it is so flexible and ever-evolving that they worry they aren’t extracting all the value from it […]
Following Your Own Business-Driven Roadmap for IT
Read a few recent blog posts and research notes from this space and you will likely notice a theme: Following your own Business-Driven Roadmap is a big deal. The latest research note, The Business-Driven Roadmap Imperative, explains it in the context of how CIOs can respond to the expectations of their CEO and/or board about […]
The Real Deadline to Consider Third-Party SAP Maintenance is September 30th
In less than three weeks, customers of SAP enterprise software need to act if they wish to keep their options open for assessing better value support choices for the calendar year of 2020 and eliminate the risk of the planned end of full support for SAP ECC 6. Instead of being bound for yet another […]
S/4HANA: Exploring Three SAP Customer Roadmaps
Are you questioning your S/4HANA roadmap options? According to Gartner, “The complexity of the SAP S/4HANA roadmap, lack of clarity in industry-supported functions and the range of deployment options available (both on premises and Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS) mean that customers must spend more time selecting what is best for them, given that SAP has stated […]
Two-Thirds of SAP Licensees Surveyed Not Ready For S/4HANA
Two-thirds of SAP licensees surveyed have no plans to migrate to S/4HANA, according to Rimini Street research. That’s true, despite SAP’s planned end of mainstream maintenance for Business Suite 7 and its core ECC6 ERP platform*. The deadline puts pressure on CIOs decide their SAP roadmap and strategy for the next decade and beyond. They […]
The SAP S/4HANA Skills Crunch – How Bad Could It Get?
Our colleagues in Japan recently forwarded a series of SAP user group newsletter articles where the title of the series translates roughly into, “The Depression of SAP Users.” Why are they depressed? Likely, because they are being told they must hurry up and implement SAP S/4HANA before the deadline, when SAP says it plans to […]
Creating Capacity for IT Innovation and Business Success
Do you know people who are so much more productive than the rest of us that you would swear they have found more hours in the day? Companies are the same: some do much more with what they have, regardless of limitations of time, technology and budget. What are the limits on your capacity for […]
How To Fix Desktop Java Version Glitches With Enterprise Applications
ERP systems and other enterprise applications sometimes break when the software was written to work with a specific release of Java that is not the one user desktops are configured to use by default. What are you supposed to do when that happens? Make users revert to a version of Java that may be obsolete […]
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 […]
Video: Draw Your Own Roadmap to Avoid the Risks of SAP’s Fast Road to S/4HANA
Over many years, SAP has built a reputation as a safe bet among enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Today, however, following SAP’s roadmap may be riskier than many business and technology leaders appreciate. The potential risks apply to SAP S/4HANA in the data center or in the cloud – and even to organizations that delay […]
How the World of Enterprise IT Is Changing
CIOs and other information technology leaders are feeling the pressure to move systems to the cloud, including not only pressure from vendors who see the future of their products in the cloud but from the CEO and the board. The cloud is capturing the imagination, and increasingly the budget, of not only technology organizations but […]
How Welch’s Squeezed More Value From IT With Rimini Street
Because my ultimate bosses are family farmers, I do not get a lot of credit for spending money on technology for technology’s sake. Farming is a tough business, and they are right to have high expectations of the technology investments we make. Welch’s is such a well-known brand many people probably assume we’re a subsidiary […]
What Retailers Have In Common on IT Spending and Digital Innovation
The holiday season gave retailers an unexpected gift: sales rose 5.1 percent between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, a six-year high1. To put that into perspective, the National Retail Federation put the average annual increase at about 3.9% over the previous five years. Even so, online sales accelerated even more rapidly, rising 19.1 percent2, according […]
With ERP Support from Rimini Street, Multnomah County Gains Flexibility While Making Best Use of Taxpayer Dollars
At just 465 miles square, Multnomah County in Oregon is home to 800,000 residents. With the county seat in Portland, the organization employs 8,000 people and has an annual operating budget of $2 billion USD, funded by taxpayers. Multnomah County is responsible for its operating units and for securely maintaining its systems to fulfill certain […]
ESCO Rides the Wave of Economic Change with Help from Rimini Street
In today’s dynamic global economy, organizations in nearly all sectors are subject to shifts in the marketplace, experiencing periods of high growth as well as slumps. If your organization is like most, when a downturn occurs, you may start to think about trimming operational expenditures. Often, one of the largest budget line items, aside from […]
Five Steps for Bringing About Change in IT
IT leaders are upbeat for the most as they continue to move ahead with digital transformation efforts. It’s not that the budget spigots are opening wide – for most, spending and hiring rates are flat. “One of the biggest reasons for the hopeful outlook is the fact that business and IT are finally on the […]
Taking Control of Your Software Licenses in the Cloud Era
Software licensing is like a devil’s pact. Enterprises fund and commit to continue funding software development costs in exchange for the promise of ongoing support and, hopefully, functionally rich upgrades. Over time, however, CIOs often end up cursing the growing costs of supporting mature-but-critical applications and having to pay for forced upgrades they don’t always […]
5 Reasons to Kill (or Rethink) a Pilot Project
Once they get a foot in the door, enterprise software vendors will predictably start pushing pilots of their latest and greatest wares, from hybrid cloud to in-memory databases. For customers, testing these extensions and enhancements can make sense, provided there’s a strong business case, supportive leadership, and the right success metrics. Innovative organizations are always […]
Video: How to Fix ERP Browser Compatibility Issues
Solving web browser compatibility issues can be a surprisingly big issue for any IT organization trying to maximize the useful life of its ERP and other enterprise systems that came of age early in the web era. Wasn’t browser-based computing supposed to make everything easier? If your current ERP system meets your needs, we don’t […]
Maximize Your Opportunity within the Cloud
One of the most appealing aspects of cloud computing is the promise — in theory at least — that if you’re not happy with a vendor, you can migrate to another with much less pain than with traditional enterprise solution providers. Today, CIOs have an almost bewildering choice of cloud applications and cloud platforms. This […]
Digital Transformation: Funding the Ongoing Journey
If a technology solutions salesperson walks out of your office without playing the “digital transformation” card, he or she is not likely long for that job. Vendors, whether through strategic vision or competitive necessity, have latched onto the aspirations and concerns of business customers who fear digital disruption. “Digital transformation rocketed to the top of […]
Why Everyone Wants to “Help” with GDPR Compliance
With the May 25 deadline for compliance with the European Union’s General Data Privacy Protection Regulation (GDPR) rapidly approaching, interest in the topic is at a fever pitch. The only bigger news will come when the first company gets slapped with a big fine for failing to adequately protect personal privacy under the law. Repeat […]
Don’t Allow SAP Indirect Access Fees to Block Innovation
Much of the digital business innovation taking place today involves reaching beyond the transactional systems at the core of a business to create new user experiences. Unfortunately, some SAP customers have discovered that creating a new user experience front end to an SAP back end can land them in hot water, if SAP decides that […]
Why SAP Will Likely Extend ECC6 Maintenance Beyond 2025
*On February 4, 2020, SAP had announced mainstream support for SAP Business Suite 7 until 2027 We’ve seen it happen before and we will probably see it happen again. Within the next two years, it is increasingly likely that SAP will extend the maintenance window for ECC 6/Business Suite beyond 2025*. In 2014, SAP announced […]
How to Achieve a Healthy, Balanced Relationship with Your ERP Provider
Observing the enterprise software market today is like observing a major relationship crisis where one side is failing to listen to the other. It appears that suppliers are unrelentingly pushing their customers to move to the cloud. Their customers want to move to the cloud too, but not to rip and replace their perfectly functioning […]
Maximizing Value from Your SAP Business Suite Investments
Over a period of years, you’ve likely invested millions in an SAP platform that today is robust, stable and core to running your business. Like any good investment, your ECC 6.0 system and other Business Suite applications should yield strong dividends for years to come. In the context of IT, that means delivering the efficiency, […]
Why Is Cloud Confusing? It’s Deliberate.
Major enterprise software vendors like Oracle and SAP are aggressively promoting “cloud” however chronic overuse of the term “cloud” may be creating common misconceptions. There are essentially two distinct cloud models, with very different characteristics, that are frequently confused because they are both generically called “cloud”. The ongoing blurring of the term “cloud” can disadvantage […]
Cut IT Support Costs to Drive Digital Business Initiatives
Does your IT organization eagerly embrace digital transformation, or quiver in fear at the prospect of it? If the former, you’re following the model of world-class IT organizations that run more efficiently and devote a larger portion of their process costs to new business-focused initiatives. That’s the takeaway from a study by Hackett Group, as […]
What You Need to Know to Exploit the Cloud
As digital transformation shakes up traditional business models, organizations of every size, in every industry, are exploring better ways to keep pace with change. Adoption of cloud computing technology has significantly increased over the last few years, promising a great opportunity for innovation amongst businesses if approached correctly, selectively and at the right pace. And […]
Don’t Trip on the Cloud Migration Path
It seems like everybody is rushing to migrate to cloud applications, and you don’t want to get left on the wrong side of an inflection curve. But there are pitfalls for hasty cloud migration, so it’s important to sit back and fully analyze what you’ve got and where you want to go. Early in 2016, […]
What’s the State of the CIO?
The life of a CIO? It’s complicated. That’s the conclusion of CIO Editor in Chief Dan Muse, introducing the publication’s 2017 State of the CIO report. “Moving apps and workloads to the cloud, ensuring legacy software can talk to off-premises apps, and keeping networks and systems secure remain core functional tasks of the CIO role,” […]
Is There Hesitation to Commit to SAP S/4HANA?
Most SAP licensees plan to continue running their proven, SAP ERP releases given its rich functionality that more than meets their business needs without the cost, disruption and risk of migrating to S/4HANA. This was the top finding in a recent global survey conducted by Rimini Street, selected by 89 percent of the survey respondents. […]
Revealing the Risks at the S/4HANA Crossroads
As SAP continues to raise its bet for S/4HANA, SAP customers find themselves at a crossroads. Is it time to migrate to SAP’s new application, or is a wait-and-see approach the best option? More than two years after SAP launched S/4HANA amid considerable fanfare, user adoption has been underwhelming. In the UK, just 5 percent […]
The Evolving Role of the CIO in the Digital Age
For the longest time, the role of the chief information officer was set in stone. The job was all about keeping the technology “lights” on and, if possible, reducing costs. Today that job description is outdated. In the era of big data, apps and cloud computing, the role of today’s CIO is to enable the […]
The Truth About Forced ERP Upgrades and How to Beat Them
Companies running ERP software are at a crossroads with their software strategy: “Should I follow the vendors’ upgrade path or is it time to consider other options?” Vendors want ERP users to upgrade on the vendor schedules, but that’s simply not the right fit for all (or most) customers. CIOs know they need to invest […]
