Rimini Street challenges ‘vendor dictated' migration roadmaps with innovation play

Rimini Street wants IT leaders to question whether they really need to follow a “vendor dictated” transformation timetable when alternatives are on the table.

While the company is best known for providing third-party support for organisations’ ERP environments, it recently partnered with ServiceNow to address concerns over the innovation restriction some companies on traditional enterprise resource and planning (ERP) deployments are facing.

Instead of having to undergo a full migration or transformation project, Rimini Street's global presales group vice president Luiz Mariotto said the company can deploy the company's Now Platform, an enterprise service management platform, as a “transformation layer” over a traditional ERP.

“We can use this platform to bring in AI and analytics, including AI agents," he said.

"We can connect on top of your transactional systems, and you can innovate, but without disruption.”

More broadly, he said that the large SAP software vendors were putting pressure on IT departments to go through undue systems migrations, referencing SAP’s intention to end support for its legacy systems, originally slated for the end of 2025, but extended to 2027 or 2030 for those willing to pay an additional fee.

To move from those systems onto SAP’s more modern S/4 HANA requires a full systems migration, which can often be lengthy, expensive and flawed, according to Mariotto.

He said that ERP vendors were capitalising on pressure to innovate with new technologies, such as AI, by only making the latest products available on their newer systems, with large systems integrators and big consulting firms adding to the pressure to migrate because they also profit from those projects.

Mariotto said it should be up to businesses to migrate when it fits their timetable, not on a “vendor dictated roadmap” due to the vendor ending support.

“Clients may have different priorities - some clients are doing acquisitions or the clients are doing transformation as part of the business," he told techpartner.news.

"According to Gartner, two thirds of the SAP ECC (ERP Central Component) clients have not yet moved it to S4 HANA, [yet] S4 HANA was launched 10 years ago.”

He added that because vendors use either their own cloud or have agreements with hyperscalers, a subscription then can encompass infrastructure, software and service.

“Some clients, what they tell me, is 'it sounds a bit lock-in, because now, I don't own the licence and I have to bundle'," he said.

He also claimed that costs could increase after migration, which could be compounded by adding on further products and functionalities that each have an additional cost, whereas Rimini’s support solution, he claimed, is cheaper than first-party support, which would free up funds to use for innovation.

“[The ERP vendors] have this huge installed base, and when they convert to the cloud, they can multiply by three or by five times the revenue from the same clients in the licence," he told techpartner.news.

"So it's a good business for SAP, no doubt about that, but for the clients, it is a challenge.”