Running older Oracle software that you’re perfectly happy with, and paying for support from one of the world’s premier software providers – well, you should be fully covered, shouldn’t you? Think again.
Major companies using Oracle software may be surprised to hear that the support packages they are paying big bucks for may not be quite as comprehensive as they first thought.
So-called ‘support’
Oracle offers Premier Support packages for the first five years for most of its products. After that, if customers just love their current Oracle software support, they can buy Extended Support for an additional three years. If they continue to use the software after that period and do not upgrade, then Oracle will move them to Sustaining Support for as long as those product versions are supported.
Oracle databases and middleware are often the data workhorses of large companies’ operations and have originally involved big, complicated and sizable financial deployments into the bargain. Understandably, said companies aren’t that keen to constantly change or fully upgrade them.
They instead pay for continuing support from Oracle, just like they do with other major operational software in their technology environments.
Oracle is renowned for not wanting them to do this though, even though it is trousering literally billions of dollars every year from support contracts. Oracle ultimately wants to move customers off older legacy software versions and support, thus keeping the cost of support and resources down.
However, if companies manage to resist the charms of their kindly Oracle sales executive when it comes to migrating to the cloud and with features that are not offered within the cloud offerings, they will instead usually relax with the safety net that is Oracle Extended Support. What they may not realise after that though, is that the next stage of support to keep the wheels on the wagon – Sustaining Support – comes with a significant cost and offers far fewer features and much less protection.
Left exposed by Sustaining Support
While Oracle customers do get access to old fixes and the right to upgrade to the latest version, they DON’T get new bugs fixed or security updates. This leaves many of the biggest companies in the world in a precarious position, as cyber security threats proliferate, not the least of which is ultra-threatening and potentially bank-breaking ransomware.
Even when common, well identified vulnerabilities impact this older software, Oracle only patches the newer versions. Oracle is currently encouraging organisations to upgrade to its Version 19 database. There is nothing wrong with running Version 11 of this database, for instance, as it is a stable and trusted version. But if something goes wrong, Oracle’s typical response is: ‘You must upgrade’. This is an incredibly expensive, risky, and time-consuming activity, with near-zero additional benefits for many.
In recent years, we onboarded a European telecoms firm for its Oracle Billing systems and middleware. When considering moving their substantial database support, their CIO was shocked to realise that over half of their databases don’t receive security updates from Oracle as they are over 8 years old. In fact, this has become problematic for a large portion of Oracle’s customers.
We also resolved a problem with Oracle’s integration of older versions of Oracle’s Siebel and Microsoft Office365 software for a major UK retail bank. Whilst Oracle is pushing its customers to spend millions in upgrading its systems to get around the problem – a long-term fix that can take years of interruption to implement – why are your existing Oracle products not supported and secure?
Recognised by Gartner, the third-party enterprise software support market is expected to grow from $351 million in 2019 to $1.05 billion by 2023 – a 200% increase. No wonder why enterprise executives are seeking these options.
A wider issue
Our estimation is that in the UK alone, in the energy/utility, big retail, and banking sectors, up to 80% of organisations may well be on Oracle Sustaining Support, which means that some elements of the country’s critical national infrastructure are not fully protected from security threats. If something goes wrong, who will be responsible, and who will take the flack, when Oracle inevitably ends support with no option but to upgrade the software?
Many of these organisations are running stable databases at Version 12 or lower. At certain times, Oracle will potentially offer “market-driven support” beyond Sustaining Support when too many customers in a particular segment are running older software versions and may need protection against specific threats. But this is on an ad hoc basis and is no way to run a corporate cyber strategy.
CIOs usually don’t fully know what the situation is as Oracle doesn’t obviously go out of its way to tell them. Some of the information is published in the Oracle Knowledge Base, but it is still hard graft to get a full understanding of your organisation’s potential exposure to threats, unless you dig deep or have been recently audited.
Enterprises may well feel they only have two options – play Oracle’s game or upgrade. But there is alternative support available – third-party support is an excellent alternative that delivers an average of 60% cost savings, and personable and comprehensive support delivered by highly skilled senior engineers.
The tide is turning and attitudes within enterprises are shifting – whether Oracle likes it or not.
Spinnaker Support is a leading global provider of third-party support, managed services, and consulting for mid-size to Fortune 100 global enterprises. Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce customers benefit from more responsive, comprehensive, and affordable services for their enterprise applications and technologies. Whether you need immediate help for high-priority issue resolution, ongoing monitoring and development, or project-based consulting, we have you covered. Since 2008, our award-winning services, exacting standards, and unparalleled expertise have earned us the trust and loyalty of more than 1,300+ organisations in 104 countries.
