LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rimini Street, Inc., the leading third-party maintenance and support provider for enterprise software, including SAP AG’s (NYSE: SAP) Business Suite and BusinessObjects software and Oracle Corporation’s (NYSE: ORCL) Siebel, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, Oracle Database and Hyperion software, today announced that Color Spot Nurseries, a leading wholesale producer and distributor of specialty horticulture, has continued to successfully expand its SAP footprint to meet growing and changing business needs while leveraging Rimini Street Support since 2010. When it switched from SAP vendor support to Rimini Street Support more than three years ago, Color Spot greatly improved the level of support it receives for its SAP system, and at the same time, was able to cut its annual maintenance and support costs by more than 50 percent. The savings were used to drive strategic initiatives and to meet the ongoing needs of the business.
Color Spot Benefits from Rimini Street’s Innovative Support Model
Color Spot specializes in the production and distribution of high quality bedding plants, vegetables, herbs and shrubs to more than 2,000 retail and commercial customers around the US. Since 2001, the company has relied on its SAP R/3 4.7C implementation for mission-critical operations, including finance, human resources and payroll processes. The company also continues to grow aggressively through acquisitions and expand its SAP instance across all entities. After an internal audit in late 2009 showed that SAP vendor maintenance fees consumed over 20 percent of the total IT budget and did not deliver value commensurate with the support the company received, Color Spot’s Chief Information Officer, Eric Robinson, made the decision to switch from SAP to Rimini Street in 2010. Moreover, SAP had announced that it would no longer provide support for version 4.7C, which would have forced Color Spot to undergo an expensive, unneeded and disruptive upgrade to ECC 6.0, or else face de-support.
Through Rimini Street’s innovative, premium-level support model, Robinson immediately cut his maintenance budget by 50 percent, gained support for customizations at no additional cost and received guaranteed support for Color Spot’s existing SAP R/3 release for at least another decade. The switch to Rimini Street support for SAP has enabled Color Spot to avoid costly, disruptive upgrades that would have been performed for the sake of continuing support. Color Spot also utilizes the Rimini Street Tax Engine for SAP Payroll and receives regular tax, legal and regulatory updates and that keep the organization in compliance with changes taking place at the local, state and federal levels.
Color Spot Expands Use of SAP While Supported by Rimini Street
Color Spot has aggressively managed its business to optimize market opportunity and streamline internal operations while under Rimini Street Support for the past three years, including making acquisitions to enter or consolidate markets. To enable this growth and expansion, Color Spot has expanded its use of SAP, including the purchase and deployment of new SAP licenses and has relied on Rimini Street for support of its growing, changing SAP footprint.
“Three years ago, we made the critical decision to switch from SAP vendor support to Rimini Street and we couldn’t be happier with the decision and the results. Their support model works as advertised and we have been able to achieve great success, including reducing our software maintenance costs from 20 percent to only 9 percent of my overall IT budget, and significantly improving the level of support we receive,” said Robinson. “Today, Rimini Street is much more than a vendor – I consider them a valued partner and extension of my IT team, especially during this important period of growth and expansion.”
Rimini Street Dedicated to Delivering Industry’s Best Support Service
Since 2005, more than 660 organizations around the world, including 75 of the Fortune 500 and 16 of the Global 100, have leveraged Rimini Street for their Oracle and SAP systems to reduce total support costs by up to 90 percent, while continuing to advance the scope, scale and use of their enterprise software to achieve critical business objectives. Rimini Street’s more efficient, personalized support program includes 24X7X365 support, an assigned Primary Support Engineer (PSE), support for customizations at no additional fee and support for a minimum of 10 years for existing releases without any required upgrades.
“Rimini Street set out to provide SAP licensees around the world with a more relevant and value-driven software maintenance option. Today, we are proud to be an integral partner to Color Spot and many other SAP licensees,” said Seth Ravin, CEO, Rimini Street. “Now with more than 660 clients signed, Rimini Street is the proven leader in third-party support for both Oracle and SAP licensees, and will continue to dedicate itself to providing all of our clients with the most innovative, ultra-responsive enterprise software support in the industry for the long-term.”
About Rimini Street, Inc.
Rimini Street is the leading third-party provider of enterprise software support services. The company is redefining enterprise support services with an innovative, award-winning program that enables Oracle and SAP licensees to save up to 90 percent on total support costs over a decade, including saving 50 percent on annual support fees. Clients can remain on their current software release without any required upgrades or migrations for at least 10 years. Hundreds of global, Fortune 500, midmarket, and public sector organizations from virtually all industries have selected Rimini Street as their trusted, independent support provider. To learn more, please visit www.riministreet.com or call within the USA 888-870-9692 or internationally +1 702-839-9671.
Rimini Street and the Rimini Street logo are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
