February 04, 2022

Larry Goldman | Senior Director, Product Marketing

On January 1, Oracle ended Premier Support for E-Business Suite 12.1 and transitioned users to “Sustaining Support” – bad news if 12.1 is still working just fine for your business. With Sustaining Support, you lose pretty much everything that’s critical to keeping EBS 12.1 up-and-running optimally for your business:  

  • No new software updates 
  • No new security alerts and patches 
  • No unlimited tax, legal, and regulatory updates 
  • No new upgrade tools and scripts 
  • No Platinum services 
  • No middleware and integrations
  • No certifications for most third-party products
  • No architectural changes
  • The list goes on… 

They may as well call it “life support”; it’ll keep your EBS alive, but not much beyond that. Sustaining Support is still going to cost you, though: typically, a 4% increase over what you paid the previous year for annual support.

What are your alternatives?

  1. You could upgrade to EBS 12.2, which also means redoing all the customizations you’ve made to 12.1 and, of course, paying Oracle a large sum of money.  
  2. You could keep using EBS 12.1 and get Oracle’s “Market Driven Support” (only if you’re on release 12.1.3) – definitely a temporary fix, especially when you consider that your costs will continue to grow, even as service levels shrink – but it’ll give you some support through the end of 2023. 
  3. Go it alone. Dropping support is always an option, but not a typical one for an ERP as complicated as EBS. You would need a highly capable in-house staff and likely an EBS managed service provider on retainer for development or worst-case scenarios.
  4. Third-party EBS support. Replace Oracle-provided support with a vendor that can provide the assistance you still need in areas like security, break/fix, interoperability, and tax and regulatory updates. 

Here’s the thing: Oracle customers are overwhelmingly satisfied with their current versions of EBS. Surveys show that as high as 70% of Oracle EBS users are getting value from their current EBS version. And a large proportion of that 70% uses third-party resources to keep their EBS up and running, including independent, third-party support from companies such as Spinnaker Support. 

What’s the benefit of third-party support? 

Oracle EBS customers are increasingly choosing third-party Oracle Database and E-Business Suite support from Spinnaker Support over Oracle’s Sustaining Support or Market Driven Support, and it’s easy to see why: 

  • Reduces support fees by an average of 62%
  • Delivers less-than-15-minute response times, from Level 4 senior engineers
  • Provides more comprehensive coverage, including customizations and interoperability issues
  • Helps extend the life of stable, customized, productive applications indefinitely
  • Offers flexible commercial terms that match your licenses and business needs
  • Lets you keep using on-prem EBS until cloud solutions or a different product make sense for your business 

Of course, every Oracle customer is unique, and your decision is going to depend on several factors. But that doesn’t mean you should just automatically go along with whatever Oracle wants you to do.  

Make an Informed Decision 

Find out more about your EBS 12.1 support options before your renewal date, including how you can cut the Oracle support cord altogether and continue to get efficient, personalized support for your EBS instance. Contact Spinnaker Support today.