Retail IT leaders face mounting pressure to balance operational demands with strategic growth initiatives like AI. According to Gartner, 80% of retailers will use AI to enhance their business operations by 2026. However, the burden of expensive support fees from vendors like SAP and Oracle ties up crucial funds that could be better directed toward your organisation’s game-changing projects like AI and digital transformation in retail technology environments.
These large vendors continuously inundate businesses like yours with updates and upgrades that further divert resources and reduce ROI, placing a strain on budgets and resources already stretched thin. Meanwhile, their slow resolution of critical issues leads to extended downtime, jeopardising both your revenue and reputation. Oracle and SAP’s traditional security patching model also leaves your systems vulnerable because slow-to-publish patches require downtime for implementation, making them susceptible to zero-day attacks.
Explore how redirecting funds and resources toward strategic projects can yield significant savings and bolster initiatives like advanced payment systems and omnichannel that will drive your organisation forward. We’ll outline strategies for optimising your systems to achieve maximum uptime, strengthen operations, enhance revenue, and elevate your reputation in the IT retail sector.
Vendor support fees represent a significant financial outlay that can restrict your organisation’s ability to innovate and adapt in a competitive environment. These fees are often a substantial portion of the IT budget, both tying up funds and restricting resources toward strategic projects.
If you’re running Oracle ERP and choose not to upgrade and opt for Oracle Sustaining Support, you’ll no longer get support for new fixes and patches—which is virtually no support at all. This type of support will significantly impact your business. High vendor support fees can impact revenue and damage your company’s reputation. All these concerns underscore the need to reassess how your organisation’s resources are allocated and explore alternatives to traditional vendor support models.
In the pursuit of maintaining full support, businesses are often caught in the cycle of forced updates and upgrades. This approach not only consumes financial resources but also leads to operational disruptions. Retail IT professionals encounter significant challenges when managing these upgrades/updates, which require a considerable budget and resource allocation.
Upgrading Oracle or SAP ERP can easily run into the millions based on scope, customisation, and deployment type. Continuous improvement updates, though less expensive, are much more frequent, leading to what many call the “Death by a Thousand Cuts”. The ROI is often marginal, especially when weighed against the potential for channeling resources into transformative projects that drive growth in IT retail innovation.
With retail IT evolving rapidly, maintaining agility and flexibility is critical. You must evaluate whether the cost and operational interruptions associated with these updates truly align with your broader strategic goals. Alternative approaches that focus on maximising legacy system efficiencies can lead to a more profitable use of budget and resources, enabling your organisation to pursue innovation without the heavy financial burden of constant updates.
In retail, downtime equates to lost sales, diminished customer loyalty, and loss of brand reputation. The impact of slow resolution for critical issues extends beyond immediate financial loss, affecting longer-term growth and sustainability. CIOs in the retail sector must navigate these challenges while ensuring continuous operational functionality. Unplanned downtime for retail organisations averages a staggering $336,000 per hour. However, this figure can be much higher for larger enterprises, with some estimates reaching $1 million to $5 million per hour. Every minute of downtime translates to missed opportunities, making it imperative for IT leaders to find efficient solutions to resolve issues promptly to protect revenue streams in retail operations.
Retail IT leaders must reassess their approach to resolving critical issues, ensuring systems remain operational and ahead of potential issues. By prioritising rapid response and resolution strategies, your business can protect revenue, maintain customer confidence, and bolster its competitive edge.
The traditional security patching model has a fundamental flaw—its lack of agility. Because patches are slow to publish and require downtime, systems remain exposed to vulnerabilities, including zero-day attacks that can have catastrophic consequences for security and business continuity. According to Infosec, the average number of days to remediate a vulnerability is between 60 to 150 days. This delay places significant pressure on Retail CIOs to implement better security measures that protect their infrastructure against threats; in 2024, the average cost of a data breach in the retail sector was $3.91 million.
Organisations must pivot to more effective security strategies that go beyond conventional patching models. This involves adopting comprehensive security protocols and leveraging innovative technologies that provide zero-day protection for retail infrastructure. The stakes are high, with the potential for security breaches to negatively impact not only operational performance but also trust and reputation. By enhancing their cybersecurity posture, IT leaders in retail can safeguard their operations and pave the way for sustained business success and resilience in an increasingly threat-laden digital landscape.
While traditional vendor support fees, forced updates, and inadequate security models pose notable challenges, there is another way. As noted in the Gartner Market Guide for Independent Third-Party Software Support for Megavendors, “[Third-Party Software Support] alternatives offer cost-cutting and cost-avoidance opportunities for organizations to reduce current- and future-year opex spend and budget.”
Third-party independent support for SAP, Oracle, and VMware is an effective option to vendor support, costing your organisation 50% less than vendor fees, delivering ultra-responsive SLAs with guaranteed resolution times, and providing comprehensive security protection. Retail CIOs can unlock tremendous value by redirecting resources previously tied up in routine maintenance and upgrades towards more strategic initiatives like omnichannel, AI, and virtual reality. By focusing on legacy system optimisation and achieving maximum uptime with Support Revolution, you can enhance operational efficiency, increase revenue, and bolster your company’s reputation in retail.
The potential for significant savings and strengthened operations is within reach. Implementing guaranteed resolution times and state-of-the-art security measures ensures protection against emerging threats, adding another layer of resilience to IT infrastructure.
Now is the time to redefine your approach. Download our overview brochure or book a time to discuss a new path forward.
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