Customized SAP platform serves as an advantage, not a challenge

You’d be hard-pressed to find an SAP shop that doesn’t rely on customizations to fine-tune the enterprise platform for specific business processes or industry requirements. Rather than sticking with the out-of-the-box ERP system, many companies opt to modify the code for purposes such as:

• Creating unique billing reports to improve the customer paymen experience
• Establishing regulatory compliance processes for specific industries
• Implementing dashboards that aggregate data for more informed decision-making
• Developing specialized product tracking systems

These customizations are often vital to business productivity and can give companies a competitive edge. It’s important to keep customizations running strong, even if they take some extra effort to maintain.

According to a survey conducted by the American SAP User Group (ASUG) and Pillir, 91% of SAP users rely on custom code for essential business processes. Much of this code has been around for a while — 45% of survey respondents said they rely on custom code deployed six or more years ago. However, key personnel associated with custom code development and business logic are often no longer in the company’s employ.

“Customizations are fantastic for differentiating business, more so than the vanilla SAP platform,” says Scott Hays, senior director of product marketing at Rimini Street, a provider of third-party enterprise software support and services. “That said, customizations might not always be documented well, resulting in a dependency on the people who wrote them. But they are important to the business and need to be treated like any other mission-critical code.”

The third-party support advantage

Complicating matters, ERP vendors typically don’t include customization support as part of their standard maintenance programs. To fill the gap, enterprises can turn to expensive external consultants, spend additional funding to hire more staff or somehow find and dedicate internal resources to support the custom code.

Or, they can depend on an experienced third-party support provider with the proven expertise to tend to their important customizations.

For nearly two decades, Rimini Street has simplified the complexity of IT, providing tailored support and expertise for mission-critical customizations as if they were part of the standard product — and at no additional charge. Such a partnership could ensure seamless, secure operations and ample maintenance handholding, even for heavily customized SAP environments. And services can be added to document customizations, eliminating the knowledge gap for good.

“During the never-ending cycle of upgrades pushed by software vendors is where customizations are most likely to run into problems,” says Hays. “With Rimini Street, IT and finance leaders can maximize the potential of their existing systems while keeping their software running and fully compliant without upgrades, enabling them to benefit from the competitive advantage customizations provide.”

Significant savings can lead to business growth

Compared to the in-house costs for supporting customizations which can add 30% to 40% on top of the annual maintenance fees of ERP vendors, Rimini Street reduces SAP annual maintenance fees by up to 50% and dissolves the need for dedicated staffing for support.

For Proton, Malaysia’s national car manufacturer, the switch from SAP support to Rimini Street yielded significant savings, contributing to the expansion of one of their plants to accommodate greater production volumes.

“Many SAP customers around the globe choose Rimini Street because of the quality of our support, leading in the speed, scale and scope of our coverage,” says Hays. “We know and appreciate the importance of keeping customizations to differentiate their business from competitors. It’s all about growth, all about profitability, and Rimini Street is the proven partner that helps clients achieve both by leveraging their customized SAP platform.”

To learn more about how Rimini Street can help you get a handle on your SAP customizations and free up IT time for more strategic endeavors, visit here.