CLIENT SUCCESS STORY

How This Scottish Council Made Long-Term Cost Savings and Improved Its Support Services

Organisation Stats

HQ

Scotland

Revenue

£200m+

Area

Scotland

Employees

4,000+

Industry

Government

This council is one of 32 authority councils in Scotland. The Council is responsible for a myriad of services, from building standards, recycling, housing, and council tax, through to road works, education, and commercial licensing and permits.

The Problem

The council realised it was overpaying for its support services, and wanted to avoid the additional expense of upgrading its Oracle estate

As a Local Government body, the council is always looking for new ways to reduce its expenditure and stretch its tight budgets. Like so many organisations, they realised that its biggest IT cost was for the support and maintenance of its Oracle Support. 

The council provides a wide range of crucial public services so it’s critical that its systems continue to run securely and optimally. And yet, the council found itself becoming increasingly frustrated with the poor-quality support it was receiving from Oracle, with the vendor often slow to deliver critical patches and address incident tickets.

In addition to overpaying for support that did not meet its expectations (or needs), the council was growing increasingly concerned about the expense of the next upgrade for its Oracle E-Business Suite. Although often expensive in their own right, Oracle upgrades tend to incur additional and unexpected costs that can both hinder the process and disrupt business operations. 

The council was keen to maintain its tried and tested systems to ensure the reliable delivery of its core processes and services, but was aware of the need 

them to seek a cost-effective alternative to vendor support that could provide the support and flexibility its systems required.

The Solution

The council engaged Support Revolution to maintain its current systems and deliver significant cost-savings

As one of the few Scottish councils that can buy its own licences, the council recognised that 

it did not have the same buying power as the other councils that fell under the Scottish Government’s 

remit and, therefore, was not benefiting from more favourable pricing for its support services. However, they had the autonomy to seek an alternative support provider and through G-Cloud – the Government procurement platform – engaged with Support Revolution for its third-party support services.

We worked with them to seamlessly move its Oracle E-Business Suite to our flexible support model, and we have been working closely with them to improve the support services it receives. 

With Support Revolution, they can be comfortable in the knowledge that any support tickets and critical fixes will be efficiently and effectively resolved, minimising any disruption to their processes and services. Our proactive approach to support and stringent SLAs ensure our expert team will acknowledge and resolve an incident within predetermined timescales.

In addition to receiving an improved support service, the council is no longer subjected to the Oracle upgrade cycle. Support Revolution’s expertise means we can support all versions of Oracle’s products, so 

they can stick with its current system for as long as required. The savings made can be invested in other, more needing, areas of their infrastructure, or could be accumulated to fund a major innovation project in the future.

Now, having regained control of its IT roadmap, they can continue to improve its offering and prioritise the best interests of the communities it serves.

The Benefits

Savings to reinvest into the organisation

Previously, the council did not benefit from the economies of scale that so many other Scottish Councils received, as it was responsible for purchasing its own Oracle licenses. Now, however, their decision to move to third-party support has enabled it to benefit from significant cost-savings. And, no longer forced to undertake costly and unnecessary upgrades, they can stretch their budget (and resources!) further to ensure it delivers the services its communities require, without a hitch.

A much-improved support relationship

Support Revolution offers not one, but two SLAs; one for response times, and the other for the delivery of a resolution. We hold ourselves to the high standards our customers need and want from a support partner, so should they raise any support tickets, we’ll be on hand to resolve these issues promptly. Plus, unlike Oracle, we don’t believe in self-help guides and will ensure the critical fixes and patches required by the council are right the first time, ensuring the continued delivery of its critical services.

Reclaimed autonomy of its IT roadmap

Support Revolution’s ability to maintain all versions of Oracle products means that they can break from the Oracle upgrade cycle and continue to enjoy a familiar system, for as long as it suits. Having reclaimed control of its IT estate, they can consider the future innovation and advancement of its systems within timescales that better suits its objectives, budget, and communities.

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