LAS VEGAS, December 13, 2016 – Rimini Street, Inc., the leading global independent provider of enterprise software support services for SAP SE’s (NYSE:SAP) Business Suite, BusinessObjects and HANA Database software and Oracle Corporation’s (NYSE:ORCL) Siebel, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, Oracle Database, Oracle Middleware, Hyperion, Oracle Retail, Oracle Agile PLM and Oracle ATG Web Commerce software, today announced it has continued strong momentum and rapid client growth in Japan due to the increasing demand for Rimini Street’s ultra-responsive, premium enterprise software support for Oracle and SAP licensees. The Company announced that its total signed Oracle and SAP clients in Japan as of September 30, 2016 increased by 155% year over year. The Company has invested in numerous strategic hires in the region to meet this robust demand and announced the appointment of Nobutake Gohdo to vice president of Client Engagement and Service Delivery, Nihon Rimini Street.
Strong Momentum in Client Growth
Japan is one of the most highly developed information and technology markets in the world today. Japan also represents one of the fastest growing markets for Rimini Street with 63% revenue growth for the 12 month period ending September 30, 2016, compared to the prior 12-month period. Today, Rimini Street services more than 85 global clients with operations in Japan, including well-known local brands Pioneer Corporation, Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd., CAC Corporation, Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ltd., Chugoku Mokuzai Co., Ltd. and CMK Corporation.
“We needed to focus on reducing the ‘passive IT’ costs for maintaining our mission-critical systems running on-premises applications, as this was by far the largest budget item across our entire IT landscape. Our biggest concern was not only how expensive our annual maintenance fees were from the vendor, but the huge cost to upgrade our Oracle Database system,” said Kenji Tomooka, CIO, Information System Department, Fujitec Co., Ltd. “We made the switch to Rimini Street from vendor support because we could maximize our existing IT system, achieve significant cost reduction and avoid an expensive vendor upgrade. We were able to invest the money saved into more value-added services for our business such as digital, mobile and cloud initiatives that have remarkably improved the cost-effectiveness of our maintenance service.”
Top Industry Talent Joins Rimini Street Japan
Nihon Rimini Street has also been hiring top talent from Japan’s enterprise software industry, adding respected senior executives and experienced support engineers to service the Company’s fast-growing client base. Rimini Street increased its Japan staff 39% year over year, as of September 30, 2016.
Senior executive hires include the appointment of Nobutake Gohdo to vice president of Client Engagement and Service Delivery. In this newly created role, Mr. Gohdo is responsible for the region’s service delivery engineers and enterprise account managers, and assuring every client’s maximum utilization, success and satisfaction with Rimini Street’s support services. Prior to joining Rimini Street, Mr. Gohdo held senior management positions at Citrix, Oracle, and SAP. At Citrix, Mr. Gohdo last served as senior manager, technical readiness for Products and Solutions. At Oracle, Mr. Gohdo last served as director, Oracle on Demand, where he was responsible for service delivery and product deployment. At SAP, Mr. Gohdo last served as vice president, Active Global Support Japan, where he was responsible for a team of 150 who provided software support and managed key accounts.
Helping Clients Navigate a Challenging Economic Environment
Japan’s economy and businesses continue to be challenged with weak growth, an uncertain global trade outlook and a strong yen that makes goods produced in Japan more expensive globally.
Rimini Street’s unique value proposition helps Japanese organizations address these challenges. The Company provides a premium support model and offering that enables clients to save up to 90% on their total maintenance costs while receiving a much more robust and responsive set of support services. The savings allow clients to fund new initiatives that make their businesses more competitive and support growth. Rimini Street’s premium services allow clients to run their current software releases for a minimum of 15 years, avoiding expensive and unnecessary upgrades to their stable ERP system. Clients also receive full support for add-ons and customizations at no additional fee.
“As many IT leaders are looking for ways to cut costs from their IT landscape, reducing their ERP maintenance spend by moving to Rimini Street’s independent software support is an attractive option for them,” said Yorio Wakisaka, country manager, Nihon Rimini Street. “Rimini Street offers an enormous benefit to Oracle and SAP software licensees in this challenging environment and allows CIOs to reinvest the significant cost savings they achieve back into their business for innovative initiatives that help differentiate their company against the competition and support growth initiatives.”
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