- US
- $1.5b+
- Global
- 5,000+
- Manufacturing
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The Problem
Following a recent merger, this manufacturer faced financial pressures to consolidate its costs and drive shareholder value. Despite running a stable version of Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), Oracle was forcing the business into “Continuous Innovation” updates to maintain full support, plus annual support fee increases of 8 to 12% without receiving tangible benefits. The situation escalated when Oracle refused to negotiate and slow-rolled renewal offers for six months, attempting to trap the organization into a default contract extension. Coupled with aggressive pressure to migrate to Oracle Cloud and a negative audit experience, the manufacturer needed an immediate alternative. It sought a partner to deliver significant savings, guarantee license compliance, and support a business-driven roadmap free from vendor-forced timelines.
The Solution
The manufacturer selected Support Revolution to secure a comprehensive and flexible support model that addressed its business needs. The partnership immediately enabled the company to gain control over its Oracle roadmap, moving from a vendor-driven to a business-driven strategy. This guaranteed the ongoing support of its existing, stable EBS system, eliminating the threat of forced updates and unwanted cloud migration pressures from Oracle. By choosing a third-party software support provider that offers superior service, the business ensured support for its customisations and interfaces, whilst aligning its IT spend with the strategic goal of driving shareholder value post-merger.
The Benefits
Immediate and Long-Term Savings
The move to Support Revolution delivered immediate and significant financial benefits to the manufacturer. It massively reduced the company’s annual support expenditure, resulting in over $3.5 million in hard dollar savings over the first three years. These savings were achieved by eliminating the exorbitant and non-negotiable annual fee increases—previously 8 to 12%—imposed by Oracle. Additionally, soft dollar savings, such as eliminating the hassle and expense of applying unnecessary Oracle updates and resisting pressure to move to Oracle Cloud ERP, amounted to well over $5.0 million for the same period. The business immediately freed substantial capital to be reinvested into its strategic, business-driven initiatives rather than being allocated to mandatory vendor maintenance fees.
Control of ERP Roadmap
The manufacturer also regained control over its ERP strategy. It was running a stable instance of Oracle EBS 12.2 and had no business reason to upgrade. Support Revolution’s model provides full support for this proven system for its entire lifetime, effectively future-proofing the manufacturer’s current EBS 12.2 investment. This eliminated the constant pressure from Oracle to upgrade, such as threatening loss of security patches, new fixes, and Tax, Legal, and Regulatory updates. By securing a long-term support partner, the CIO and his team could now align their IT roadmap with the company’s genuine business priorities, ensuring IT spend was strategic, not reactive.
Enhanced Service and Support
Beyond cost avoidance, the quality of service fundamentally improved. Support Revolution provided comprehensive, high-quality support that covered the manufacturer’s entire Oracle EBS environment, including all custom code, interfaces, performance issues, and system tuning. In comparison, Oracle doesn’t include support for customer-specific modifications. A single point of contact for all technical and functional issues simplified IT management, dramatically increasing system stability and compliance. The enhanced support model ensures timely, expert assistance, guaranteeing that the manufacturer’s critical business systems remain stable, secure, and compliant with all regulatory requirements throughout the entire partnership period.
Switching to Support Revolution was a strategic financial decision for us. It delivered over $3.5 million in hard dollar savings right away, eliminating the pressure to adopt costly and unwanted Oracle upgrades. We now have control of our ERP roadmap and can reinvest those significant savings directly into business growth and innovation.
– CIO