Effective Third-Party Software Maintenance for Better Efficiency

Third-Party Software Maintenance Market

The market for third-party software maintainers continues to grow at a rate of 30% per year. Key suppliers include the following:

• Alui

• Origina

• Rimini Street

• Spinnaker

• Spinnaker

• US Cloud

We anticipate that there will be more entrants to the market and that companies already providing service will continue to evolve and diversify their offerings. As adoption grows, enterprises are also evaluating third-party support for enterprise software as part of a broader cost-optimization strategy.

Is Third-Party Software Maintenance Right for Your Enterprise?

Enterprises should understand whether engaging with a provider that offers third-party software maintenance benefits is right for them. Below are situations where this approach can work particularly well:

• Stable software:

  Software that is stable (defined by frequency of support calls, type of support, severity level of the incidents) could be a candidate for third-party support. In a scenario such as this, third-party software maintainers tend to drive high savings and better support in most instances than the OEM.

• End of Support (EOS) by software OEMs:

  Instances where the OEM has announced an end to software support and maintenance are prime scenarios in which a third-party software support provider can be leveraged. Third-party maintainers are in a good position to preserve and sustain on-premises software.

• Older software:

  As a corollary to the EOS indications, if software is older but still under support, third-party providers are an attractive and viable alternative to OEM support. They can support titles as old as 15 years and older at nearly half the cost.

• Absent or expiring caps on maintenance and support:

  If there is no price protection language in your contract, or if the yearly price increases are higher than a recognized index such as CPI All Urban Consumers, then third-party software support and maintenance services should be evaluated.

Do Your Homework for Third-Party Support Services

While there are numerous situations and scenarios in which external software support and maintenance makes sense, enterprises should not blindly enter into an agreement with a third-party maintainer. Instead, it’s wise for IT procurement professionals and their stakeholders to use the scenarios above as a guide to determine if it makes sense to further investigate third-party services. If the enterprise concludes it’s feasible then we recommend the following next steps:

• An analysis of “total cost of ownership, including any fees or expenses to OEM maintenance:

  This would include an understanding of what the fees and charges would be to reinstate OEM maintenance, if required.

• A full “Request for Proposal” process:

  This practice will serve to thoroughly vet and analyze what the third-party provider can do and at what cost.

• Legal consultation:

  Partnering with Legal will be important for two reasons. First, a thorough review of contracts and support policy documentation from a Legal lens will make sure that the enterprise understands what it will give up if it discontinues OEM support of its software (including security patches, firmware updates and other items provided by the OEM as part of its maintenance and support of the software). Second, OEMs are eager to protect their maintenance and support revenue streams; some have already attempted lawsuits and injunctions against external software maintenance providers. Linking up with your Legal partner early on can help identify and resolve potential issues before they start.

• A pilot phase to “test drive” the third-party maintainer services:

  For example, the business may choose to carve out a small portion of its technology solution to the new maintainer for a few months in order to gauge their success, and later transition the rest of the business if that pilot proves successful.