For SAP customers, the push to the cloud probably should NOT be your biggest concern!

May 23, 2017 | Karen Blazek | Director, Product Marketing

A cloud strategy is top of mind for most companies, but a more pressing concern is your database support.  Do you have a database problem? With the possibility of SAP ending their relicense agreement with Oracle Runtime Database, it appears that SAP’s push to the cloud isn’t the only thing to raise questions amongst customers. It has been over 2 years since SAP introduced their next generation business suite and database all in one: SAP S/4HANA. SAP claims that more than 5,000 customers have licensed SAP’s S/4HANA and more than 400 customers are live on the S4 applications. Based on SAPs own published statistic, they have seen less than 10% of the customer base adopting their highly touted release. Undoubtedly, the push to get to 10% of their customers licensed on S4 was achieved, in part, with some clever deal negotiations on upgrades with some expansion into existing accounts. Simply ripping out decades of embedded processes on stable platforms, and replacing it with a new way of working would constitute a major disruption for many of SAP’s customers. Is it worth the disruption?

So what is S4/HANA?

S/4HANA is SAP’s answer to terminating their dependency on Oracle databases:

  • S/4 – The next business suite release after R3 (with the S standing for “Simple”)
  • HANA – Columnar, In-Memory Database

What are the implications to current SAP customers?  How can Spinnaker Support help solve this costly implementation?

First, there isn’t anything simple about upgrading to S4 and SAP appears to be backing down from publicly promoting the ‘simplicity’ of upgrading to it. The real kicker is the S/4HANA only runs on the HANA database, so for SAP customers on other databases like Oracle, it could require a full platform re-implementation just to run their ERP applications. Is there enough business value just to stay current on SAP’s newest business suite applications? And, customers may be losing their option to buy Oracle licenses directly from SAP.

Gartner1 recently published a research note on the impact to SAP’s decision to force customers off Oracle Runtime DBMS. SAP is threatening to discontinue their relationship with Oracle as a re-seller of the Oracle runtime DBMS licenses and enforcing their decision that S4 business suites can only be run on HANA, all by the end of this year! Last year, SAP had claimed victory in their columnar, in memory database processing speed; however, Oracle has now surpassed that speed advantage with Oracle 12C.

If your organization views SAP as strategic and your roadmap includes remaining on SAP applications, you need to plan to adopt S/4HANA by 2025 to be fully supported. Although, most SAP Business Suite users have until at least 2025 to decide on their S/4HANA strategy, SAP customers using Oracle runtime database licenses could face a much shorter timeline.

Gartner goes on to outline the major options that SAP customers have, which highlights considering third-party maintenance as a critical transition path. Customers must evaluate third-party support as an option to maintain Oracle runtime DBMS support and to significantly reduce SAP application and database maintenance costs. This huge reduction in maintenance can be reallocated to other IT projects over the next 5-7 years, while you strategically plan your move forward with SAP prior to 2025.

Spinnaker Support’s solution to these costly implementations:

Increasingly more organizations that run SAP – including Fortune 100 companies – are choosing Spinnaker Support for several reasons:

  • To gain significantly better support while saving an average of 62% because we give credit for unused licenses
  • To benefit from our wealth of knowledge and experience – to help them today and partner with them into their future
  • Because we support their entire SAP footprint (as detailed below) and advise on how they run optimally, even as the surrounding technology landscape continuously evolves

Brewster Home Fashions is a customer example that utilizes Spinnaker Support for both SAP and Oracle Technology.

“As one of the two dominant global providers of third-party software maintenance, we chose Spinnaker Support for its personalized and flexible support model, financial stability, and its best-in-class 24 x 7 x 365 global support. We are impressed with Spinnaker Support’s depth of knowledge related to SAP and Oracle Enterprise systems and their proven track record of quick response and issue resolution.”

Whether you are planning to replace your high-cost support/maintenance provider with alternative support or are seeking supplemental support for your SAP applications, we have a solution to meet your needs. Spinnaker Support provides cost-effective, personalized support and maintenance that saves companies on the average 62% of their annual maintenance spend. You can migrate support for both your SAP applications and your Oracle DB to recognize significant cost savings and world class support.

We support HANA in conjunction with support for SAP Business Suite applications, SAP Business Warehouse, and the SAP BusinessObjects, Business Intelligence platform, HANA Database as standalone; and support nearly 5,000 instances of the Oracle database. Allow us to handle your most unique SAP configurations. Spinnaker Support also uniquely rationalizes unused licenses and/or shelfware to help drive cost reductions substantially more than our competitor.

Fund IT innovations and drive business grow with savings from Spinnaker Support Maintenance offerings.  We have built a third-party maintenance model in order to best server SAP customers with a team of engineers averaging nearly 20 years of experience.

Contact us today to be informed of your options, prior to getting locked into your 2018 SAP support contract on September 30, 2017. We can also help with the possibility of no longer being able to purchase Oracle DB runtime licenses directly from SAP.

  1. Gartner “SAP Customers on Oracle Runtime DBMS Must Make Decisions Now, Amid Price Increase and Year-End Uncertainty,” May 1, 2017, Bill Ryan and Rob Wilkes.

The Intersection of Third-Party Maintenance (3PM) and Information Security

Security is usually a hot topic for those who are considering a switch to third-party SAP or Oracle support. Organizations that utilize software vendors for software support feel they might be exposed from a security perspective should they transition to Spinnaker Support. Prospective clients often question us regarding vulnerability and patch management. They want to understand how we proactively alert our clients when new vulnerabilities are detected. While we can challenge the assumption that there’s a critical exposure here, this is a valid concern that we will address with examples later in this blog.

Some important points to consider regarding Spinnaker Support’s approach to security:

  1. We have built a global security monitoring and advisory team to help our customers maintain more secure application environments. This growing team monitors and reports actionable security vulnerabilities and develops resolutions when required. We work with these systems all day, every day, in over 100 countries. We hire the best of the best for our team. We have built a unique ability to monitor and report on security issues, often before software vendors “approve” them as vulnerabilities.
  2. Spinnaker Support has access to the same public vulnerability databases as Oracle, SAP, and other vendors, and we use these databases to drive our security alerting process. Our legal team of experts are constantly monitoring and accessing the very same security vulnerability information.
  3. As part of our standard maintenance contract, we allow our customers to log security related concerns for issue resolution and advisory guidance. This cross-pollinates our substantial security knowledgebase. We leverage this cross pollination to alert our other clients when a security ticket becomes more than a specific client related issue.
  4. Our security experts become an extension of our client’s team of security professionals. Our security support team works closely as an integrated part of our client’s security and support teams. Engaging us is partnering with us.

There are a few considerations regarding information and cyber security that are relevant for any organization across any industry:

  1. Security is only as strong as its weakest link. All systems, technologies, and people are connected and all must work together to support organizational goals. Security controls also rely on all three to be integrated and efficient.
  2. Investment in security is like any other cost of doing business. Much like sales, marketing, and facilities, security is a necessary branch of any organization.
  3. Security never promises you 100% protection but if you understand the risks, implement the right mitigation strategies, and manage your investments wisely, you can achieve your security goals.

Where Security Meets Third-Party Maintenance

For security compliance, Spinnaker Support is addressing a range of challenges related to specific industry standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). PCI is one of the more technically-driven security standards in the credit card industry. Year after year and with every new revision that comes out, we see PCI incorporating more technical requirements from organizations that work in this industry.

We help clients regarding their PCI compliance efforts. We address these issues the way any compliance issue should be addressed – as a risk. Risks need to be managed. One specific PCI requirement we have worked on is the following:

“Ensure that all system components and software are protected from known vulnerabilities by installing applicable vendor supplied security patches.” (Requirement 6.2, PCI DSS ver.3.2)

To clarify, our clients that run SAP applications do not lose their ability to access SAP security patches when they transition to Spinnaker Support. However, our clients that run Oracle applications do lose their ability to access Oracle security patches upon leaving Oracle-provided support. Thus, we become the go-to vendor for security advice and patches on the Oracle front.

We often recommend using existing PCI controls as a set of compensating controls. Recurring activities such as quarterly vulnerabilities scans, semi-annual penetration tests, and other security audit and monitoring controls gives the organization the capability to address those known vulnerabilities with a much more thorough approach. Compensating controls are, as they should be, more than a tick in a box. Spinnaker Support is able to resolve customer issues in a timely manner by introducing our different approach, an approach developed specifically for each customer.

HIPAA is another standard that we team with customers to address. For example, a regulated Biotech company in the healthcare industry developed an amazing technology to provide in-home patient care. This technology allows remote treatment for the patient from anywhere at any time. The patient never has to leave the house. This was a significant breakthrough and subsequently became the next big thing in the industry. However, before our involvement, the biotech firm had failed to sufficiently address the fact that protected health information (PHI) must be collected and stored throughout the system. To comply with HIPAA requirements, the company had to shut down its production line for 3 months.

Here, just like in the PCI scenario, an out of the box approach was needed, and we developed a way for this customer to resume production, while satisfying all HIPAA requirements for security. We started by implementing encrypted data in transit. This stopped the bleeding. Next we identified and enhanced existing security controls we could immediately work within the environment, providing layered security that decreased risk to an acceptable level. We then worked with our customer to develop and execute a roadmap that eventually reduced risks to an even lower level, while satisfying all HIPAA requirements.

Compliance, in the eyes of security, is just another risk we need to manage, and knowing the landscape of security compliance can help us make better decisions on how and when to address its risks.

When we look at the ERP landscape and challenges our clients face in the realm of security, there are a few basic guidelines that we always bear in mind:

  1. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: ERP managers invest a lot of time and effort to get their systems functioning per their organizational needs. A top concern is the stability of the system, stability that, in their mind, can be at risk upon implementation of new security fixes.
  2. Patches are not always a solution: Patches are simply patches. Patching a system is important but it is far from being a structured, well designed and long lasting solution. It is what it is, a patch. Patches are one-off solutions that, in the eyes of an ERP manager or Database Administrator, can potentially open a can of worms for which they didn’t prepare.
  3. Not all patches are relevant: When vendors such as Oracle and SAP communicate a patch package it feels like there’s no alternative but to follow the herd and apply the patch. Not quite true. Not all patches are relevant to all clients. Companies use different versions, different modules, and even different implementation methodologies for the same version of ERP. The bottom line is that the ERP landscape is highly tailored to each individual organization, especially when it comes to security. We can’t expect all organizations to act and manage their ERP the same way.

The Spinnaker Support “Defense in Depth” Approach

Spinnaker Support is a world leader for 3PM security management. We deliver tremendous value to clients by addressing security as a unique solution to a specific need rather than a universal patch or a package. We are capitalizing on the opportunity to be trailblazers in this field by simply thinking about these security vulnerabilities from another angle, the angle of Defense in Depth – a concept in security whereby no single control will provide 100% protection. Rather, Defense of Depth calls for implementing overlapping and compensating controls that leverage people, processes, and technologies, to address most, if not all, threats.

Take automobiles for example. Ask yourself – Why do we have brakes in our car? Some will say to stop the car. Some will say to avoid collisions. We say we have brakes so we can drive faster. But, brakes alone are not enough of a safety control, therefore we also use seatbelts, airbags, collision avoidance systems, and rollover prevention systems. The same for ERP security and information security in general, one should always take a Defense in Depth approach rather than the single threaded approach of applying security patches.

We see a great opportunity to help our clients expand their practical approach to truly effective ERP security and we are more than happy to collaborate with you to develop an innovative approach to address your security challenges. Contact us with any questions or concerns.

Remote Database Support | Sybase | SQL Server | Oracle

Get Around the Clock Database Support at an Affordable Price.

Traditional remote database support services offer services based on your install base, if you need it or not. We offer a new approach to a database managed services that goes beyond the databases and covers the entire user experience of any application.

We Support These Systems



Discover the Difference Managed Oracle Database Services Can Have on Your Business

The basic concept of remote database support is to lower the cost of database administration. Traditionally, remote database support was offered to large enterprise corporations with entire teams of databases. The goal was to do the same at a lower cost. This is just another form of outsourcing.

The Right Remote Database Support Service Model For You

Our remote database support approach is one of the most flexible in the business. It is geared towards small and medium businesses that have one or more applications running on one or more servers. In many cases, there are test and development systems accompany the production systems.

No matter if you want to provide a backup to your lone database administrator, or you realize that you are operating under great risk without an expert database and application support, our flexible support plans will cover your needs and provide peace of mind that no matter what, you’re protected.

Our remote Sybase, SQL Server and Oracle database support coverage include 24/7 monitoring in every base plan and the following systems are being covered:

  • SAP Sybase ASE
  • SAP Sybase IQ
  • SAP Sybase Replication Server
  • SAP Sybase PowerDesigner
  • SAP Sybase PowerBuilder
  • SQL Anywhere
  • SAP HANA
  • SAP BusinessObjects
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Oracle Database
  • MySQL

Cost-Effective Plans to Fit Every Budget

Sometimes there is no need to actively touch the systems, but you want the peace of mind that somebody is watching out for you. Traditional remote database support services don’t distinguish between passive and active database support. The main difference is cost.

Why should you pay for 24×7 monitoring if nobody is using the system after hours, except for backups?

Our 24/7 monitoring captures small issues before they become a huge problem. If issues start to appear, the 24/7 monitoring will alert our central command center.

Here are some interesting facts:

  • Most issues can be fixed within less than an hour.
  • If repairs take longer, they tend to last much longer. In this case, it is more important to have a fail-over plan in place than a 24×7 repair team on standby.

Basic services include remote SAP Sybase database, SQL Server database and Oracle database support, plus this added services:

  • Pro-Active System and Application Monitoring with ManageEngine
  • Backup and Backup Verification (Ensuring that backups actually work)
  • Preventative Maintenance
  • Performance Tuning
  • Database Server and Application Patches (OS patches upon request)
  • Database Training
  • Data Warehouse and Strategic Database Consulting
  • SQL Server Remote database
  • SAP Sybase Remote database
  • SAP Remote database
  • Oracle Remote database

How Spinnaker Support is Helping Customers Embrace Digital Technology Transformation

May 4, 2017 | Karen Blazek | Director, Product Marketing

Most Spinnaker Support customers are transforming their businesses at a rapid pace to retain or gain competitive advantage. This is putting much pressure on IT resources, who are often expected to deliver cutting-edge IT solutions that support ongoing business transformation. Increasingly more IT projects deal with various forms of digital transformation. Spinnaker Support’s talented SAP and Oracle software engineers delivering our unique blend of third-party maintenance, managed services, and consulting, are assisting organizations to drive and execute innovation and digital transformation.

As popularly defined, digital transformation relates to the effective communication between two or more technologies. Digital Transformation is the accelerating transformation of business activities, processes, competencies, and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies and their impact across society in a strategic and prioritized way – with present and future shifts in mind. If you think about it, digital technology has been impacting our lives for 40+ years, for example, the adoption of cell phones.  Can you imagine carrying one of these around in your back pocket? Transformation can be a good thing.

So, what does Digital Transformation mean for your on-premise SAP or Oracle ERP system and how does Spinnaker Support help keep on-premise solutions operating at peak performance amidst the whirlwind of surrounding technology change and evolution? Much of the mega vendor research and development efforts are now focused on quickly bringing cloud solutions to market. Our customers leverage us to ensure they support the business today yet are ready to support the migration and transformation when they need to.

Increasingly more Spinnaker Support customers are taking advantage of the latest technology enhancements without replacing their on-premise core ERP applications. For example, they are implementing mobile solutions that deliver access to the Internet of Things (IoT), analytical tools, and cognitive thinking products without the need to upgrade to newer releases or to migrate to the cloud. We enable this “digital transformation” through providing a broad range of service offerings. Unlike the competition, Spinnaker Support goes beyond third-party maintenance by also offering application and technical managed services and strategic consulting engagements. Over a third of our customers have, at one time, leveraged two or more of our service lines.

How Spinnaker Support’s Services Enable Digital Transformation

  • We provide savings that are often redirected to help fund and accelerate innovation, digital transformation, and cloud migration.
  • Our experienced software experts are embraced as a true extension of the customer’s internal IT team and provide a wealth of technology advice (as part of every standard annual support contract) to help ensure interoperability, security, and strategic roadmap planning.
  • By consolidating service providers with Spinnaker Support, the customer receives a better-connected support and managed services-based deployment model (more closely resembling a SaaS deployment model), and therefore Spinnaker Support is helping to accelerate transformation and migration beyond simply helping to fund them.
  • We are being engaged in strategic planning and execution consulting projects and help customers migrate to more transformational solutions.

Customer Examples of Digital Transformation in Action

  • One of our customers, a multi-national leader of high tech solutions and information services, was rolling out new and more modern ERP, CRM, and PLM solutions that needed to interact with an existing on-premise ERP system. During the entire roll-out process, our support resources optimized the legacy system while our managed services gurus ensured necessary interactions between the new system and the old one.
  • Another customer, CSS Industries Inc., a consumer products company, engaged us to deliver a fully functional Mobile solution on an unsupported on-premise system, for use on their company issued iPads.

The bottom line, Spinnaker Support has emerged as a very valuable partner for customers to depend on as they embark on their digital transformation journeys.

 

Spinnaker Support Honored as Gold Stevie® Award Winner in 2017 American Business Awards(SM)

Customer Service Department of the Year Category for Oracle and SAP Application Services

DENVER, CO – May 3, 2017 – Spinnaker Support, the industry’s fastest growing provider of third-party maintenance, managed services, and consulting for organizations that run SAP or Oracle, was named the winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for the Customer Service Department of the Year category in the 15th Annual American Business Awards today.

The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Tuesday, June 20.

“Our world-class SAP and Oracle customer service departments have yet again been honored with a highly prestigious award,” stated Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. “In each Stevie Awards competition, the top scoring qualifying entry in each category receives a Gold Stevie® Award. This distinction validates our business model, ISO 9001:2015-certified customer engagement and support delivery processes, world-class software engineers, and our groundbreaking set of high-value service offerings. In large part, we earned this award based on the high satisfaction and loyalty of our nearly 900 worldwide customers – who are the most important judges of customer service quality.”

More than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a range of categories. More than 190 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s Stevie Award winners.

“Each year the judges find the quality and variety of the nominations to be greater than the year before. The 2017 competition was intense and every organization that has won should be proud,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2017 Stevie winners are available at http://stevieawards.com/ABA.

About Spinnaker Support

Spinnaker Support is the fastest growing provider of third-party maintenance, managed services, and consulting – providing a unique blend of services for organizations that run SAP or Oracle. Our maintenance customers gain better support while saving an average of 62% on their annual maintenance fees. Savings are often redirected to fund and accelerate innovation, transformation, and cloud migration. Customer resources focus less on ERP system issues and more on delivering cutting-edge IT solutions that support business strategies. Our customers are 98.6% satisfied. We also deliver tailored managed services, allowing reduced vendor count for less cost. Our consultants engage in strategic projects that drive continuous improvement, development, and migration of Oracle and SAP enterprise applications with the unique surrounding technology environments in which they operate.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at https://www.StevieAwards.com.