Accelerating the Retailer’s Business-Driven Roadmap with Third-Party Support

Retail is immensely competitive. And margins are tight. Those are givens. To gain an advantage, retailers must make digital transformation a priority. But with 80 to 90 percent of a typical IT budget committed to operating existing systems, where will the IT innovation funding come from? Retailers who are early adopters of third-party enterprise software support have unlocked innovation funding by freeing up their precious resources: avoiding unnecessary ERP vendor upgrades, and letting overpriced vendor maintenance contracts expire. These retailers also follow a Business-Driven Roadmap that aligns all IT spending with business priorities, not vendor priorities. Taking these strategic, fundamental savings steps unshackles valuable IT resources-both budget and staff-for more critical initiatives such as: improving loyalty programs and delivery systems, enhancing customer service through artificial intelligence, integrating mobile technologies into the shopping experience, and even trying out robots in the warehouse. Download this eBook for helpful insights on how third-party support and a Business-Driven IT Roadmap can help you regain your retail competitive advantage.

The Impact of Moving to Independent, Third-Party Software Support

When organizations consider the amount of their IT budget that is spent on yearly maintenance, many focus primarily on the annual maintenance fees as a large and already-budgeted expense that must be paid without question. But looking deeper at the total price of support, it can become apparent that millions of dollars are often unnecessarily wasted each year due to the outdated support model of software vendors. This executive summary is derived from a Rimini Street impact study that was validated by independent analyst firm Nucleus Research. It confirms the significant savings that a sample of 70 Oracle and SAP licensees have realized by replacing their software vendor support with Rimini Street support.

JD Edwards World Software SPC Code and Expiration Dates

If you are running JDE World A7.3 or A8.1, you may be locked out of your JDE system as the JDE security checks for valid SPC codes to run its modules. Read this tech brief to learn more for a quick technical how-to. What to know: this verification code was designed to work only through June 30, 2019, and if the appropriate actions to bypass the verification code are not taken, the JDE-licensed software could be license-locked (unable to run). Download the tech brief or, better yet, come to Rimini Street for support and we can help.

EnterpriseOne Client License Verification Disable (Prior to 8.98 Tool Release)

This new JDE Tech Brief is important if you are running EnterpriseOne Tool release prior to 8.98. It explains why and how to update your EnterpriseOne Client Machine (also known as Development client, Web development client, Fat client or Workstation) since the accompanying license verification code will expire by June 30, 2019. What to know: this verification code was designed to work only through June 30, 2019, and if the appropriate actions to bypass the verification code are not taken, the JDE-licensed software could be license-locked (unable to run). Download the tech brief or come to Rimini Street for support and we can help.

Nucleus Report: A Business-Driven IT Roadmap with Rimini Street

Many organizations follow an ERP vendor-dictated IT roadmap — implementing patches, upgrades, and transitions to the cloud as their vendors recommend — usually at a significant cost and sometimes with no business benefits at all. It’s a problem; fortunately there’s a solution. Nucleus Research, an independent IT research firm specializing in investigative research and ROI investment analysis, has authored this paper on embracing a Business-Driven IT Roadmap, citing Rimini Street as an enabler of a best-in-class, agile, transformative route. Switching from a vendor-dictated roadmap to a Business-Driven IT roadmap — where all IT spending and activities support the business goals of the organization — will enable you to: regain control of your IT strategy reduce vendor dependency and support costs maximize the value and extend the life of existing hardware and systems future-proof your application strategy increase staff productivity and retention free up funding for business-critical IT initiatives free up funding for innovation Discover the 5 key benefits of a Business-Driven Roadmap and how it can enable you to maintain control of your company’s IT direction — and drive IT success.

Deep-Dive on Third-Party Support for SAP – How it Works

According to Gartner1, “…an array of on-premises customers will move to third-party support as a safe haven while evaluating their long-term plans.” Over 500 SAP customers have already moved to Rimini Street and have received award-winning support, cut their total support costs for their SAP platforms by up to 90%, and redirected significant budget and bandwidth to high-impact projects. Many SAP customers have questions around how third-party support for SAP software works, key differences between SAP support and how third-party support will help them meet their technical, functional and service level objectives to keep their mission-critical SAP systems running smoothly and in compliance. Request this OnDemand webinar to hear Jennifer Perry, VP, Global SAP Service Delivery, Rimini Street, share answers to key questions including: What are the main differences between SAP support and Rimini Street support? What is the scope of Rimini Street support services and software covered? What does the onboarding process and experience look like? How does the Rimini Street model and expertise provide responsive, tailored support globally? How can third-party support ensure ongoing compliance with respect to tax, legal and regulatory updates? Most SAP customers must notify SAP by September 30, 2020 in order to switch support provider. Get the answers you need to make an informed decision before you get locked-in for another year. Watch the OnDemand webinar! 1Gartner, Predicts 2020: Negotiate Software and Cloud Contracts to Manage Marketplace Growth and Reduce Legacy Costs, 18 December 2019

ProcureCon’s 2018 CIO-CPO Report

A recent survey by ProcureCon found “the state of collaboration between the CIO and CPO has continued to evolve in response to developing external pressure…today’s business conditions call for a strategic alliance between them.” That is easier said than done, especially when IT stakeholders may be reluctant to inspect pockets of spend that haven’t been touched for years. One such area is software vendor support. In our experience, most IT teams admit that the cost-to-value ratio of software vendor support is terrible, particularly when it comes to vendor support of ERP systems, but they don’t feel they have options. The responsibility falls on the shoulders of the CPO and their teams to ask the tough questions: Do we renew software maintenance contracts despite receiving what we feel is sub-par support or low-value updates from ERP vendors? Are we paying vendors each year without understanding the fully-loaded cost of software support and maintenance? Does our software support budget rob us of dollars we could apply to more strategic parts of our business? Do we make decisions based on fear of potential adverse responses or consequences from the vendor? If you answered “yes” to any of those, find out how GE Software and IT Sourcing Leader Aashish Talwar, and Head of Indirect Procurement for Ace Hardware, Fraz Baig build strategic alliances between the CPO and IT by asking the questions that may help to unlock funding to power their business-driven ERP roadmaps.