Rimini Street Continues Strong Momentum in Israel and Eastern Europe

Rimini Street, Inc., the leading independent provider of enterprise software support services for SAP SE's (NYSE:SAP) Business Suite and BusinessObjects software and Oracle Corporation's (NYSE:ORCL) Siebel, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, Oracle Database, Oracle Middleware, Hyperion, Oracle Retail and Oracle Agile PLM software, today announced that the Company has continued to experience strong momentum and growing demand for its award-winning independent support services in Israel and Eastern Europe. Rimini Street opened its regional headquarters in Tel Aviv in September 2014, and has accelerated and expanded its investment in local staff, support capabilities and operations in the region.

Israel and Eastern Europe Fast-Growing Markets

Enterprise Resource Planning software revenue for all software segments is forecasted to increase in 2016 by nearly 10.73% and 12.25%, in the Middle East and North Africa (which includes Israel) and Eastern Europe respectively, according to a recent report1 from Gartner. Rimini Street already supports more than 55 global clients with operations in Israel and Eastern Europe, including Cellcom, Teva Pharmaceuticals, SWM International and Sitel Operating Corporation.

Proven IT Veteran and Former CIO Leading Regional Operations

Rimini Street Israel Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rimini Street, is led by general manager Jack Oster. Oster has been leading all sales and delivery of Rimini Street support services since April 2015, and is responsible for growing operations and driving revenue to support Rimini Street's fast-paced growth in Israel and Eastern Europe.

Oster is a proven technology industry veteran with experience building and leading successful, transformative IT organizations. Oster served most recently as the CIO of Cellcom Israel Ltd., the largest mobile telecommunications provider in Israel. Prior to that, he was senior director of Global Delivery and Shared Services at Teva Pharmaceuticals, where he was also part of the Global IT Management Team. Earlier in his career, Oster was a senior manager at KPMG Consulting in its Hi-Tech and Supply Chain Management practice.

"Israel is the 'start-up nation,' and quick to embrace new disruptive technologies and innovative modes of operation. A mature ERP landscape, combined with IT executives who are pushing for rapid time to value while seeking to maintain their IT budgets at a steady state, have contributed to the incredible momentum for Rimini Street's independent support in Israel over the last 18 months," explained Oster. "Furthermore, CIOs in Eastern Europe are now placing more emphasis on technologies and innovations that will enable digital transformation within their organizations. This environment is ripe for Rimini Street support as an ideal solution for Eastern European companies looking to maximize their investment in growth and innovation."

Oster added, "By allowing Oracle and SAP licensees to run their existing ERP applications for a guaranteed 15 years, and delivering premium-level services and hyper-responsive SLAs that are virtually unheard of in this industry, Rimini Street's independent support model is a game-changer for the Eastern European and Israeli markets as strategies and budget shift from an ERP-centric focus to digital, customer-facing innovation."

Majority of IT Budgets Allocated Towards Keeping Lights On

According to prominent Israeli analyst firm STKI, 60 percent of IT budgets in Israel are allocated towards ongoing maintenance and support.2 Moreover, the majority of overall IT spending in Eastern Europe will remain the same in 2016, compared with 2015, according to Gartner.3

As the leading independent software support provider, Rimini Street helps clients free up significant budget previously earmarked for expensive, low-value software vendor annual support fees. In addition, Rimini Street delivers premium-level support, at no additional fee, including support for customizations, a 24x7x365 support model with an assigned Primary Support Engineers (PSE) and ultra-responsive service with average urgent case response times of less than five minutes.

"The CIO and IT executive roles are under growing pressure from two implacable forces. On one hand, maintaining existing IT systems to ensure they continue to run smoothly. On the other, digitizing and applying the latest technology innovations to the organization, like cloud and SaaS," commented Dr. Jimmy Schwarzkopf, research fellow and managing partner, STKI. "Increasingly, companies have discovered innovative options like independent support can allow them to adapt their IT organizations in order to realize both objectives."

"Israel and Eastern Europe are two of the most rapidly evolving and dynamic markets in the world today. Jack's extensive experience and unique perspective on what propels IT adoption among organizations is key to Rimini Street's fast-paced growth in the region," said Seth Ravin, Rimini Street CEO. "For over a decade, Rimini Street has continued to widen its global footprint and increase market awareness in key markets around the world in order to offer a value-driven enterprise software support program to organizations worldwide. We will continue to make strategic investments in high-growth markets like Israel and Eastern Europe to expand our presence and execute against our global business plan."

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