LAS VEGAS -- Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products, and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software, and a Salesforce and AWS partner, today announced the findings of the Foundry survey, “Forces Driving the Future of Your Oracle Database Road Map.” The Rimini Street-sponsored research was conducted among more than 100 U.S.-based Oracle application managers and leads, database architects, database administrators, and senior IT management.

The survey examines the strategies, underlying forces driving changes, and challenges experienced by Oracle Database customers as Premier Support for 19c comes to an end as of April 2024, followed by Oracle’s Extended Support in 2027.

Key Finding #1: Current Database Releases Meet Business Needs

Majority of participants plan to keep using Oracle Database (78%)

The survey shows that most enterprises depend on Oracle and are running a high number of Oracle instances, with survey participants averaging 182 instances.

To continue receiving full support from Oracle, organizations must upgrade, which can be both expensive and resource intensive. With 75% of the respondents reporting satisfaction with their Oracle Database investment, they have little incentive to upgrade.

Key Finding #2: Most Customers Running 19c or Earlier Face Expensive Upgrades or Sustaining Support in the Future

Most respondents (79%) are running version 19c or earlier.

The data reveals that 41% of respondents are running Oracle Database version 19c while 38% are running an Oracle database instance older than 19c. Today, the latter only receives Oracle’s minimal Sustaining Support service, while the former is scheduled to be forced to Sustaining Support by 2027.

According to the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy, Sustaining Support from Oracle does not provide new updates and data fixes, new security alerts and critical patch updates, new upgrade scripts, 24-hour commitment and response guidelines for Severity 1 service requests, among other important capabilities.

Key Finding #3: Customers Challenged with Cost, Effort and Upgrades

Top three Oracle Database challenges include: High cost (38%), cost and effort to apply security patches (38%), and regular upgrades to maintain full support (37%)

Most respondents say their Oracle Database includes customizations, with over one-third reporting that their instances are “highly” customized. Thus, these enterprises face an important strategic choice: spend a significant amount of time and money on an upgrade or find the support they need to extend the life of their current Oracle Database investment.

Key Finding #4: Oracle Database Customers Outsource to Optimize

Over one-third of respondents (36%) are outsourcing the management of their Oracle Database to achieve superior business outcomes

With limited time, money, and resources, over 36% of respondents are outsourcing some aspects of the management of their Oracle Database infrastructure to a managed service provider to optimize and improve performance (47%), reduce costs and the burden on staff (45%), and improve their focus on innovation (37%).

“With a majority of Oracle Database customers running 19c or earlier versions and enjoying the stability of the releases, the push to upgrade to a newer version does not provide enough ROI to justify the financial and resource commitment needed,” said Robert Freeman, published author of Oracle Database RMAN Backup and Recovery and senior director, product management for Database and Middleware at Rimini Street. “We are seeing more leaders take greater control of their IT roadmap by saying ‘no’ to the disruption and cost of upgrades and saying ‘yes’ to directing their people, time, and money towards strategic initiatives that accelerate their growth and profitability goals.”

“There are options when it comes to getting quality, end-to-end IT support and services, including zero-day security, that does not require extensive, expensive regression testing and offers comprehensive coverage of your customized environment,” said Freeman. “At Rimini Street, clients such as Hyundai Motor Group go from paying more than 20% of the purchase cost of the DBMS license for maintenance and support to saving 50% on annual support fees while enjoying support for customizations Oracle does not cover.”

“No matter the size of organization, IT leaders are always challenged to deliver innovation and add to the bottom-line at the same time. To drive ROI and maintain flexibility, successful IT roadmaps are drawn based on the needs of the business, not by the vendor demands,” says Freeman.