Exclusive: Rimini Street's CTO on AI, future of ERP systems

Rimini Street, a global provider of enterprise software support services, is positioning itself as a disruptive force in the enterprise software industry.

In a recent interview with TechDay, Rimini Street's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Eric Helmer shed light on the company's core mission, its innovative approach to customer support, and the trends shaping the future of enterprise software.

Rimini Street is renowned for its expertise in providing support for major enterprise software systems such as Oracle, SAP, IBM, Microsoft, and cloud products like Salesforce and Workday. 

"We solve a couple of major issues with customers that have these products. Vendors like Oracle and SAP charge a massive amount of money every year for their annual maintenance and support. Many times, that support is quite inadequate and inappropriate for the mission-criticality of the workloads," Helmer said.

According to Helmer, the existing support models offered by these software vendors often fall short, leaving customers waiting for days or even weeks to resolve issues.

This situation creates a significant risk for businesses that rely on these systems.

"We solve that problem and take away that risk so people no longer renew their annual maintenance and support contracts with companies like Oracle and SAP. Instead, we provide a heightened level of adequate support for these environments," Helmer said.

Rimini Street offers an alternative that not only reduces costs but also enhances the quality and speed of support. Helmer proudly notes that in critical situations, their team logs into customers' environments and resolves issues within an average of 90 seconds, regardless of language or location. This level of responsiveness is a game-changer for companies that cannot afford downtime.

Another pressing issue for customers is the pressure to migrate from on-premise software to cloud-based subscription models.

"These vendors are forcing their customers to abandon their on-premise software models that they've had for the last couple of decades, throw it all away, and reimplement everything all over again to their software-as-a-service subscription-based model by threatening end-of-life support dates."

Rimini Street mitigates this risk by allowing customers to maintain control over their software and avoid unnecessary reimplementation. This flexibility gives businesses the freedom to run their software as long as they want, without being pressured into costly and disruptive transitions.  "We take those end-of-life dates away from those customers so that they have the freedom to run their perpetually owned software for as long as they want to," he added.

As an external-facing CTO, Helmer's role at Rimini Street is unique. Unlike traditional CTOs who focus on internal projects, Helmer is the public face of the company, engaging with customers, prospects, and the media. His primary responsibility is to help customers navigate the complex landscape of enterprise software, advising them on how to optimize their systems over the next three to seven years.

"We bring our customers together, especially in localized events, so that we all can be in this together and figure out what really to do, what options we really have," Helmer said.

These events, branded as 'Street Lights' and 'Street Smarts', are held worldwide and serve as forums for customers to discuss industry challenges and explore solutions collaboratively.

Two upcoming Street Smarts will be held this month, with one in Melbourne on August 13, and another in Sydney on August 15.

During the interview, Helmer admitted one of the key trends he observes is the growing push from software vendors to move customers from on-premise systems to cloud-based subscription models. This shift, he argues, is not always in the customers' best interest.

"In essence, these companies are asking people to leave home ownership and become now a rented apartment," Helmer states. "And we all know that when you rent from the landlord, the landlord controls the pricing."

Helmer is also closely monitoring the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in enterprise software. He notes that while many companies are eager to explore AI, they must be cautious about the costs and the ROI. "Everyone I talk to is definitely curious and is on some sort of journey to start adopting AI. But it's important to start small, see a proof case, and then scale where you start to see opportunities," he advises.

Helmer suggests that businesses should not rely solely on their enterprise software vendors for AI integration. Instead, they should seek out third-party AI specialists who can leverage the data from their existing systems.

"We suggest to people to use a third-party, AI specialist company that can ingest the right and relevant and clean data from specific places within the ERP and bring that into those models," he said.

The role of a CIO is evolving, and Helmer recognises the challenges that come with this transformation. CIOs are no longer just back-office operators; they are now expected to be innovators who drive business growth.

"CIOs traditionally have been the back-office maintainers of the business. Now suddenly, they're being asked to do something completely different," Helmer observed.

Rimini Street plays a crucial role in helping CIOs balance their budgets and reallocate resources from maintaining legacy systems to investing in innovative projects. By providing cost-effective support and enabling customers to delay or avoid expensive migrations, Rimini Street frees up funds that can be used for initiatives that drive competitive differentiation.

"We invented this category of third-party support," Helmer proudly declared.

Since its inception in 2005, Rimini Street has grown to become the largest and most sophisticated provider in the industry. The company's commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in its 4.9 out of 5 average customer satisfaction score, a result of a company-wide focus on meeting customer needs.

Looking ahead, Helmer is optimistic about Rimini Street's future. The company continues to expand its portfolio of services, now offering managed services, professional consulting, and support for cloud products like Salesforce and Workday.

"The positive outcome is that not only can we support existing systems for as long as people want without having to be forced to do anything, if they do decide that they want to go to a cloud or reimplement something altogether, we can actually be part of that end state as well," he said.

As Rimini Street continues to grow, Helmer remains committed to its mission of providing high-quality, responsive support that empowers customers to take control of their enterprise software systems.

"We're going to just have more and more services, and it's just going to be great enablers for companies all over the globe."