The 5th of November is Bonfire Night, and is a date marked in the UK with impressive firework displays, toffee apples, sparklers, and (of course) bonfires.
An evening of remembering past events (“remember, remember, the 5th of November…”), we thought we would remember the top 5 reasons why organisations are choosing third-party support right now.
Reason 1: Resolve incidents as quick as a flash with unrivalled SLAs
With vendor support, it’s not uncommon to feel like you’ve been left on “read”.
Oftentimes, organisations will log a support ticket with their vendor, only to realise that there’s no clear guidance for when (or if) you can expect a response (that isn’t automated), let alone when a resolution might be provided. The priority level of the incident often won’t factor into the matter either, so before long you might find that the fat hits the fire.
Our customer-centric ethos and ability to provide best-in-class support services (far beyond what the vendors are willing to offer) sees many organisations switch off the default setting of vendor support in favour of Support Revolution.
Plus, our internal processes have been developed in line with ITIL best practice, as well as our ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications. Holding ourselves to such high standards means we consistently deliver at the level our customers expect (and require) from us. Something that can’t be said for the vendors.
That’s why we offer two SLAs.
Yes, that’s right. We have an SLA for our response time, and an SLA for when you can expect a resolution based on the assessed urgency of the incident. So, rather than waiting an undetermined amount of time for a fix, your organisation could find its systems are back to peak performance in as little as two hours.
At Support Revolution, we’ve achieved a combined success rate of 99.6% for our SLAs, so you can be confident in the knowledge that we’ve got you covered 24/7, no matter where you are in the world.
Reason 2: Gain more bang for your buck
With so many CIOs and IT teams being charged with innovation and development projects to push on organisations in this digital age, it’s no surprise that they’re having to stretch their budgets as much as possible.
But, despite being one of the largest IT expenses (not to mention terrible value for money), the cost of vendor support is often overlooked. Possibly because many organisations feel trapped, have reservations about moving away from their vendor, or are concerned about the service an alternative provider can offer.
A better service does not always mean a bigger bill, though. Third-party support could see you save at least 50% on your annual support costs.
In fact, on average last year, we saved our customers 64% on their support bills. That is a sizable chunk of IT budget to be reclaimed and reallocated.
Plus, these savings aren’t just a one-off; they’re yours to continue to benefit from for the long-term. For example, we have helped a key organisation in the British government save over £7 million per annum on its Oracle Support costs.
With third party support, you will be able to claw back a massive portion of your IT budget which could be funnelled into (actual) leading edge technologies and futureproofing your organisation.
Reason 3: Don’t get burned by unnecessary upgrades
As well as offering you long-term savings, moving to third-party support could also see you break free of the relentless upgrade cycle.
We know all too well that Oracle’s continuous innovation model is a guise to appear as a vendor rooted in innovation. Between its long-term support releases and innovation releases, Oracle customers will find themselves succumbing to the pressures of an upgrade either to avoid Sustaining Support (higher cost, lower support quality) or to benefit from the latest features on offer. However, more often than not, these new features involve a whole lot of smoke and mirrors.
So rather than fronting the costs of another unwanted, or unnecessary, upgrade to your estate, you could instead reinvest the capital and resources into other areas of the organisation.
These savings could progress those all-important plans and growth initiatives that have consistently been placed on the backburner in favour of adopting the latest features pushed by the mega-vendor.
We work to your timeframes, so you don’t have to bend to the vendors’.
Reason 4: Pull out of the fire and take back control
When we combine all four of the aforementioned reasons, they come together nicely to create our fifth and final reason why IT teams are choosing third-party support: you can take back control.
For so long, vendors dictated the terms, quality, and price of the service they offered their customers. It left little room for negotiation and many organisations felt it was better to go along with the vendors (and likely all the other businesses that found themselves caught up in the flames), rather than to challenge the status quo.
Third-party support does just that; we continue to challenge what was widely accepted as the only solution for Oracle and SAP support packages.
Our extensive expertise means we’re able to look after a range of systems including the product versions that the vendors themselves no longer support. And we can do this for a fraction of the cost charged by the vendors because we’re not funding research and development costs for other offerings, such as the Cloud.
So, if you decide you’re not prepared to part ways with your trusty system for the newest and shiniest product out there, we can help.
By offering organisations a quality service, as well as bespoke solutions, significant cost savings, and freedom from forced upgrades, we allow you to take back control and determine your own roadmap.
Reason 5: Keep your options open
Third-party support offers a flexible and fully compliant solution for your support needs.
Maybe you’re thinking that you would like to upgrade, but just not right now. With third-party support, you can stick with your current system version while you wait for an upgrade that will be worth the time and resources to pursue.
Perhaps you’re considering a move to the Cloud, or maybe even another vendor, we can help you through the transition period and save you money while you make the change.
Or, if you’re more than happy with your system’s performance and functionality as it is and don’t feel that it would be of any benefit to upgrade or migrate, we can support your organisation’s systems for as long as you need.
And we can do that without significant price hikes or declining service levels.
Stop fanning the flames of vendor support
Now that you’ve been refreshed on the reasons why third-party support is the preferred provider for a growing number of organisations, maybe you’re thinking it’s time to stop fanning the flames of vendor support.
Unlike mega-vendors, such as Oracle, who decrease their services over time (despite increasing their support fees), we do not diminish the standard or quality of service that we offer.
To help highlight just how much vendor support could cost your organisation, we did the calculations for a 10-year timeframe with Oracle. Spoiler alert: your costs could go up by 125% in that time!
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