“I don’t think it would have been possible to be successful in my role without the Rimini Street partnership. It just delivers peace of mind.”

— VP, Enterprise Applications

Just after coming on board, the new VP of enterprise applications of a major technology firm was hit with a major challenge. Faced with a series of executive directives to reduce costs — including moving the oversight responsibility for Oracle applications to an offshore team – she needed bold solutions.

Jumping in – without a safety net

As part of the migration, the VP discovered there was minimal documentation to share with the new team — along with many completely undocumented customizations. That meant the team would have to review manuals and in many cases, plow through the actual code to address an issue.

To complicate matters, it became apparent that the offshore group was not used to providing front-line, day-to-day support. Previously, this team only dealt with issues that had already been defined by its US colleagues at the main office. The situation was stressful.

Not for the faint of heart

To comply with the cost-cutting mandate, the VP investigated options and made a strategic decision to leave Oracle vendor support. Her research revealed that the company could cut its Oracle annual support fees in half by contracting with a third-party provider. But this meant she would have to handle transitioning to a new support provider while simultaneously preparing the offshore team to handle daily demands. To be successful, the team would have to work closely with the third-party support provider to deliver what was required. That’s when she discovered Rimini Street.

Rimini Street encouraged the new team to reach out immediately for assistance. The team at Rimini Street collaborated closely with the VP and her organization, reviewing the documentation and analyzing the code. Together, they developed strategies to address each issue.

The VP was pleased with how quickly and easily the new working relationship was implemented. Her previous experience with external support from Oracle had not been positive. When she raised tickets, she rarely expected useful responses. A typical reply was that she should simply update to the new release. Unlike Oracle, she saw the new third-party support provider working hard alongside her team. It was clear Rimini Street was serious about developing a true partnership.

In it together

In addition to delivering a superior level of support while simultaneously slashing costs, Rimini Street jumped into the void to help guide the overseas team in how to run and maintain Oracle applications effectively. Knowledge transfer and coaching helped the new team elevate its own expertise and raise its level of competence — an activity that the VP described as a “lifesaver.”

Additionally, she points to Rimini Street’s “follow-the-sun” model as a game-changer. The new team was not internally staffed to work around the clock. With 24/7 coverage from Rimini Street, the company’s IT functions are far more effective. The VP has noticed that any handoffs from their engineers to the Rimini Street team are always smooth and she’s seeing real value in having fresh perspectives as an issue is continuously worked around the world.

Since this new collaboration has been established, the company has experienced dramatic process improvements — with falling incident rates and faster resolution times. Because of knowledge sharing, the internal support team has become more proactive and is establishing a record of best practices.

Rimini Street: Getting it Done

The VP credits her team’s success to choosing Rimini Street third-party support for Oracle, commenting that she doesn’t think she would have made it through the first year without Rimini Street:

“We have some very tough, exacting business users: Rimini Street makes it possible to keep them happy and move forward with our plans. Despite all the turmoil we’ve been through, Rimini Street has brought us the stability we need to get our jobs done.”

She added, “I don’t think it would have been possible to be successful in my role without the Rimini Street partnership. It just delivers peace of mind.”