Rimini Street urges ERP users to defy upgrade pressure

Rimini Street said thousands of organisations have adopted its Smart Path approach for enterprise software support and optimisation, as the company urged customers to resist vendor-led ERP upgrade and migration schedules.

The company, which sells third-party support services for Oracle, SAP and VMware products, pointed to survey findings produced with IDC that suggest many enterprises remain dissatisfied with traditional ERP upgrade cycles. Rimini Street also positioned its Agentic AI ERP product line as an alternative operating model layered on top of existing systems.

Rimini Street cited a survey of more than 700 enterprises and IT leaders across 10 countries. It said 47% of organisations had delayed innovation due to upgrade requirements. It also said 92% felt locked into their ERP vendor's roadmap.

Upgrade fatigue

Rimini Street said the survey results reflect frustration with vendor roadmaps and with the operational impact of major upgrades. The company argued that many organisations plan to keep existing ERP versions running for longer, while integrating new technology from other suppliers around the core systems.

IDC's findings cited by Rimini Street also included 74% of organisations saying their ERP has a longer valuable lifespan than vendor support periods. Rimini Street said 68% of organisations considered autonomy over upgrade timing very or extremely important.

The company also highlighted the adoption of artificial intelligence outside the incumbent ERP stack. It said 53% of organisations are integrating AI from alternative providers without replacing core systems.

Smart Path model

Rimini Street described Smart Path as a three-step methodology built around Support, Optimise and Innovate. It said the approach centres on replacing vendor support with Rimini Support for Oracle, SAP, VMware and other products. The company said its support includes assistance for customisations and runs for up to 15 years or more.

Rimini Street said the second step, Rimini Optimise, covers managed services, professional services, proactive security and interoperability services. It described the third step, Rimini Innovate, as a way to pursue projects such as AI, automation and analytics after stabilising systems and reallocating resources.

The company also linked the approach with its Agentic AI ERP offering. Rimini Street described "autonomous AI agents" that orchestrate business processes. It said these work across "composable architectures".

Cost claims

Rimini Street said its clients have saved more than USD $10 billion in IT costs since 2005. It also claimed customers can achieve up to 90% total savings on software support compared with vendor support, and said it offers 24/7/365 service with guaranteed 10-minute response times for priority cases.

The company said its model allows organisations to keep existing ERP and enterprise applications running "through 2040 and beyond", while adding an AI layer. It framed that approach as an alternative to vendor-led upgrade cycles.

"ERP Software is dead. It's reaching its technical and functional limits, yet vendors keep pressuring upgrades and migrations of an outdated technology." said Seth Ravin, CEO, Rimini Street.

Rimini Street said it views Agentic AI ERP as a shift in how organisations use ERP systems. It described a move from systems of record to systems that trigger and manage actions across business processes.

IDC's survey also pointed to architecture changes in enterprise applications. Rimini Street cited a figure of 72.5% of respondents reporting a composable architecture strategy for core ERP and other applications.

Analyst view

IDC said organisations can adopt AI without completing major upgrade programmes first.

"upgrades, migration and replatforming to the latest software release are not needed to adopt AI," said North Rizza.

Rimini Street said the same IDC research found that organisations are already integrating AI, agents and automation into existing systems. The company said these additions may sit outside existing software portfolios, depending on the organisation's choices and procurement model.

Rimini Street said it expects more organisations to challenge vendor narratives around upgrade necessity and to pursue operating models that separate innovation programmes from core ERP release cycles.