Leading Japanese mobile internet and media service provider leverages support maintenance savings to introduce cloud and a next-generation security system while obtaining premium-level support
LAS VEGAS, June 12, 2019 – Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products and a Salesforce partner, today announced that GREE, Inc., a leading mobile Internet and media service provider in Japan, has switched to Rimini Street support for its SAP ECC 6.0 system. GREE has been using its SAP system for nearly six years and was satisfied with their current mature ERP environment, however a 2025 planned end of mainstream maintenance date for ECC 6, and high operations and maintenance costs from the vendor became an issue. As a result of making the switch to Rimini Street, GREE now receives premium, ultra-responsive support for its robust SAP applications for a minimum of 15 years from the time the company transitioned to Rimini Street support. GREE also immediately realized savings of 50 percent in annual support fees, and the company has redirected a portion of these savings to the implementation of cloud services and a next-generation security system which were top IT priorities.
Planning a Business-Driven IT Roadmap with a Strategic Partner
GREE and its group of companies started using SAP in 2013 for accounting and HR. After introducing the new system, they recognized many benefits to expanding their ERP function globally, but over time determined that new updates provided by SAP were not necessary for their business. After meeting with Rimini Street, the company began researching alternative solutions and discovered that using a third-party maintenance provider would allow them to continue using their current applications without spending time, money and resources on updates they didn’t need. Ultimately, when GREE switched to Rimini Street, the company found they had a strategic partner which not only provided a more comprehensive support model and helped them unlock significant savings from their ERP system, but could also help them accelerate their IT roadmap and business strategy. The company applied their ERP maintenance savings to several strategic initiatives, including the implementation of new cloud services as well as a next-generation security system which was essential to enable their mobile internet business.
«Recently, there has been an increase in awareness of third-party maintenance services and we were able to seek advice from companies who already leverage Rimini Street’s services, which helped us make our decision quickly,» said Hiroshi Okada, director, Management Information Systems Unit, GREE, Inc. «Rimini Street’s business model focuses on the quality of service and an engineer’s support response times. As a result, their services provide multiple benefits including ultra-responsive, award-winning support by experienced engineers, and a strategic partnership to help accelerate an organizations’ business-driven IT strategies for competitive advantage versus being held captive by a vendor-dictated plan. By switching to Rimini Street, it became possible to invest in an IT environment with the latest technology, while maximizing the value of our current ERP system. At the same time we have been able to plan for and fund our business initiatives over the next five years.»
Premium Service by a Primary Support Engineer
GREE was assigned a senior level Rimini Street Primary Support Engineer (PSE), and receives Rimini Street’s industry-leading service level agreement (SLA) guaranteeing a 15-minute response time for Priority 1 critical cases as well as access to a team of local engineers 24/7/365 to address their support issues.
«In the past, we often needed to pay extra for inquiries with the vendor, and despite paying separately for this service it took a long time for the vendor to respond,» continued Okada. «However, after switching to Rimini Street, we are able to work faster because even if a problem occurs in the midnight, they respond quickly as we are provided individualized support 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.»
«GREE was able to utilize their newfound IT budget, a savings realized by reducing high maintenance costs from the vendor as well as related costs and resource inefficiencies, to implement cloud and next-generation security systems while maximizing the value of their current SAP system,» said Yorio Wakisaka, general manager Japan, Rimini Street. «As with so many of our clients, GREE is now looking ahead with a strategic business plan, and investing in the latest IT environment. The mobile Internet industry is advancing rapidly, and with the support of Rimini Street, their IT team is ready to transform and innovate to help the company maintain its competitive edge.»
