Blog How to reduce your spend on Oracle Support?

How to reduce your spend on Oracle Support?

Insight has developed an Oracle Support Health Check Service to highlight to clients the validity and value of their annual Oracle Support Contracts.

By  Insight Editor / 20 Jun 2024  / Topics: Software Asset Management (SAM)

In the previous article we discussed Oracle Support on your Oracle on-premise and Bring-Your-Own License (BYOL) software licenses. In this article you can read how Insight can support you in reducing your spend on Oracle Support.

Insight has developed an Oracle Support Health Check Service to highlight to clients the validity and value of their annual Oracle Support Contracts as well as provide some additional scenarios which the client could explore.

This service might not be relevant for all clients, and is dependent on the client’s Oracle Future Roadmap. However, based on the many projects we have supported clients with over the years, we assess that for most clients it is definitely worth reviewing the alternatives. If you want to reduce your Oracle footprint or just want to keep the software running with minimal OPEX, this could be a good cost-saving opportunity for you.

The main questions we aim to answer are;

a) And what are the issues you might face (e.g., Oracle policies, contractual obligations, etc).
b) What ROI or value do you get from paying the Oracle Support?
c) What are the alternatives?

We tend to see 4 possible scenario’s when dealing with Oracle Support, which still comply with the Oracle Policies and Contractual Agreements:

  1. Continue paying Oracle Support (forced upgrades and indexation costs will apply)
  2. Cancel Oracle Support (for all or for a specific License Set, which is contractually allowed)
  3. Switch to a 3rd Party Support Provider (loosing your right to upgrade and apply Oracle patches)
  4. Reducing OPEX by Optimizing your Deployment (by Optimizing your Deployment, you could cancel all license support for the license you do not use)

Scenario 1 is the most expensive one (over 200% Opex increase over a after a 10 year period), however this is a low-risk scenario (do nothing, risks are limited to incompliancy)

Scenario 2 will save 100% on Oracle Support. This is also the most risky way forward, and might lead to incompliancy with your internal security policies or local legislation. This is therefore not always achievable.

Scenario 3 should provide a saving of at least 50% of your current Support fees. This will however also depend on your internal policies and your Oracle Roadmap.

Scenario 4 can also lead to a saving of up to 100%, however this will take more time to achieve and will also require a detailed deployment assessment (and where needed a recheck after identified change requirements have been applied), to assure continued compliancy. Savings will depend on the Oracle Roadmap and the complexity of the architecture used for running the Oracle software. This scenario will comply with the relevant policies and procedures. Since it also contains a deployment assessment, it prevents compliancy risks (so even better than Scenario 1).

So what does this mean for you as a client? How to handle this?

If you are interested in getting more information on the Health Check for your Oracle Support and what possible quick wins we can identify, please contact your Insight contact ASAP and send us all your latest Oracle Support renewals (all from last year). We will provide you with a proposal for the Oracle Support Health Check. If you agree to the service, we will deliver a report with a customized view for you of the 4 scenario’s (including a financial overview, pro’s & cons, Oracle policies, contractual agreements and possible responses) and identified possible savings.

As part of the service, we will organize an online workshop, where you can discuss this report with one of our Licensing Experts and determine the best scenario for you, based on your Oracle Roadmap and how to save on Oracle Support.

Author

Joost Bakker

EMEA Executive Consultant Oracle, Insight

Joost Bakker