The Challenge
D+M Group is a global company dedicated to enhancing life through inspired sound solutions delivered anytime, anywhere. With a strong belief that “Performance is everything”, D+M is focused on innovation to meet the needs of customers in an increasingly digital world. Serving the consumer, professional and automotive markets, D+M Group brands include, Boston Acoustics®, Calrec Audio, Denon®, Denon DJ, Denon Professional, Marantz®, Marantz Professional, and Premium Sound Solutions. D+M Group has approximately 2,000 employees worldwide, with products and services marketed in more than 45 countries. D+M Group is running SAP ECC6 in multiple sites across the globe. Their system has moderate customization and is very stable. They discovered that the maintenance fees paid to SAP at their overseas locations were excessively high. However, making a strategic change affecting the maintenance of their critical ERP system would not be an easy decision.
The cost of maintaining our SAP system in Japan was excessive. We looked at all of our alternatives, including other third-party ERP maintenance providers, and Spinnaker Support was the only organization prepared to handle our requirements in Asia. The ability to redeploy some of the ERP budget to other projects without putting the health of my systems at risk is a huge win for our organization.
– Scott Strickland, CIO
The Approach
D+M Group knew that the value of the support services received from their software vendor in no way matched the costs that had been expended. With no immediate upgrade plans, D+M Group began to consider alternative SAP support options. Key to their decision-making process was the need to support their Japan operation which had primarily non-English speaking support staff. Additionally, they had to contend with supporting local tax and regulatory requirements and deliver 24x7x365 support. With these requirements and more in mind, they began looking at third-party maintenance for SAP ECC6.
D+M Group desired to reduce its SAP software maintenance fees while at the same time significantly improving their level of support through personalized service, with ready access to experienced support personnel. The company desires a partner with the SAP competency, global infrastructure, proven support methods, and strict business practices to mitigate any potentials risks of the desired change, and who will deliver the value they deserve for the dollars spent.
The Solution
Spinnaker Support was selected as the partner of choice. “We looked at all of our alternatives, including other third-party ERP maintenance providers, and Spinnaker Support was the only organization prepared to handle our requirements in Asia,” commented Scott Strickland, Chief Information Officer of D+M. The Spinnaker Support software maintenance and support model is highly proactive and delivers software bugs fixes quickly and efficiently, continuously monitoring and applying necessary tax and regulatory updates, and report a monthly on service status. As part of the onboarding process, Spinnaker Support obtains as much knowledge as possible about a customer’s ERP environment. This ensures that they are able to act accordingly and provide the best third-party maintenance possible.
Spinnaker Support is a global provider of a comprehensive suite of SAP support services. Organizations around the world have realized tremendous service benefits and cost savings from Spinnaker Support’s service offerings.
The Results
In addition to high-quality maintenance services, one of the key benefits offered in a move to third-party support is cost savings. Over the course of five years, D+M Group is expected to save approximately $3.75M. “The ability to redeploy some of the ERP budget to other projects without putting the health of my systems at risk is a huge win for our organization,” Strickland also stated. Since joining the Spinnaker Support family of clients, D+M has had nothing but praises for the Spinnaker Support team and their services for SAP ECC6. During a recent exchange regarding a tax and regulatory review, D+M commented, “Thank you for providing these updates – this is something we never got before and is greatly appreciated.”
Following D+M Group engaging Spinnaker Support for SAP third-party support, the company signed an agreement for Spinnaker Support’s JD Edwards managed services for their World A9.1 application to cover internal managed services as well as ad hoc support. D+M then further expanded the partnership by moving their JD Edwards World A9.1 software maintenance to Spinnaker Support. “We feel confident that we have the right partner to ensure the stability of our SAP and JD Edwards environments” commented Christoph Hesterbrink, Vice President, Global IS Applications and Business Systems for D+M Group.