CLIENT SUCCESS STORY

How This Retail Chain Secured Support for Its Heavily Modified Point-Of-Sale System

Organisation Stats

HQ

UK

Revenue

$30b+

Area

UK

Employees

150,000+

Industry

Retail

This organisation has multiple stores throughout the UK, and is looking to further build upon its brand heritage and reputation for quality, range, and innovation, while lowering prices and delivering  consistent value.

The Problem

Oracle would not provide support for the many customisations developed and used by the organisation as  part of its essential POS system, Retail-J

This organisation uses the renowned point-of-sale (POS) system, Retail-J, to record sales data, track inventory, process payment transactions, and report on sales performance. The system is crucial to the supermarket chain, and, over the years, the organisation has developed thousands  of customisations to accommodate its evolving needs and operations. Retail-J is considered one of the best till operating software systems on the market and the solution was acquired by Oracle in 2014. Despite its popularity throughout the retail sector, the vendor shelved the product, meaning Retail-J is no longer eligible to receive any investment or innovation.

It is a well-known fact that Oracle prefers customers to adopt an ‘out-of-the-box’ product as the vendor is typically unwilling to provide support and patching for any customisations. This left them in a precarious situation and could have seen its carefully cultivated reputation tainted by unforeseen system downtime or disruptions, a security breach, or operational inefficiencies. 

The organisation geared its operations to involve Retail-J as a critical system. Oracle’s decision to acquire and shelve the product could be considered an attempt to force the retailer – and all those using the system – into a Cloud solution, or to take up the vendor’s Market Driven Support offering. The organisation, however, was keen to ensure its system – and all its customisations – remained secure, supported, and compliant which led the organisation to move away from Oracle.

The Solution

Support Revolution now supports their Retail-J system, while providing significant cost-savings

We onboarded them to our support model, taking responsibility for the product fixes, maintenance needs, and tailored solutions required by the organisation. 

Our dedicated team of technical experts will work to identify and understand any incidents that arise within their systems. We pride ourselves on delivering tailored solutions and developing tailormade patches to ensure we resolve an incident correctly the first time, getting the organisation’s system back to business-as-usual status. 

Plus, all customisations are supported by us, regardless of who initially created the customisations. Support Revolution makes no differentiation between supporting the companies customisations and any other piece of code in the organisation’s system. 

Our third-party support has enabled them to continue using its familiar and optimised system, despite the fact Oracle shelved the Retail-J product. We don’t push de-support dates, so they can continue to enjoy our high-quality services for as long as it aligns with the organisation’s needs. 

The organisation now enjoys a unique support experience that encompasses all its support needs, and all while it makes considerable savings on its annual Oracle bill.

The Benefits

Savings to reinvest into the organisation

Moving to Support Revolution has enabled the organisation to significantly reduce its annual Oracle Support bill. The organisation can look to reinvest these savings into future developments and operational improvements, helping them to continue upholding its exceptional reputation for value, consistency, and innovation.

Support for a complete myriad of customisations 

Having spent years tailoring its Retail-J system to perform optimally, the organisation had sought a partner that could support all its customisations. We recognise that every organisation is unique and will have different needs, so  a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach won’t work when it comes  to their IT estate. At Support Revolution, our expert team  are able to provide tailormade patches to ensure all of their customisations remain current, secure,  and compliant.

Stability for a business-critical system

Unlike Oracle, we don’t enforce degraded support dates and we don’t have a tiered support model. As such, the organisation can continue to enjoy its Retail-J system, and a great standard of support, for as long as it suits the best interests of the organisation. Plus, now free of Oracle’s Cloud agenda, they can take comfort in the knowledge that its core business system is fully supported, providing the stability the retailer needs to focus on what really matters.

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