Rimini Street boosts SAP support for SP Electricity NW

SP Electricity North West has cut support costs and removed persistent SAP access problems after shifting its core enterprise systems to third-party provider Rimini Street.

The British energy network operator, which serves more than 5 million customers, replaced vendor maintenance on its SAP ECC system with Rimini Street's support services. The company then extended the relationship into IT professional services, which led to the introduction of a new single sign-on (SSO) function for staff using its SAP-based financial systems.

SP Electricity North West reported that the SSO project addressed a long-running issue that had created hundreds of thousands of pounds in overhead costs. The problem had previously affected staff access for routine tasks such as checking bonuses, filing expenses and submitting holiday requests.

The company, also known as SP ENW, said it now receives SAP support from Rimini Street instead of relying on the software vendor and a previous support partner. The change forms part of a broader effort to stabilise core systems and extend the life of existing SAP applications.

Mark Ingleby, IT Supplier Relationship Manager at SP Electricity North West, said the new model has changed expectations of external support. "Rimini Street sets a whole new standard of what's possible," said Mark Ingleby, IT supplier relationship manager at SP Electricity North West. "It's their deep knowledge of our systems and their unmatched expertise in all things ERP that continues to impress us and deliver outstanding business outcomes for our operations. It allows us to maximise the full potential and value of our SAP investment while eliminating issues once and for all."

Login issues resolved

The energy provider initially engaged Rimini Street as a third-party support partner for its SAP ECC estate. It then expanded the remit after facing recurring system uptime and accessibility issues that it said neither SAP nor its then support provider could fix.

Martin Williams, Problem and Knowledge Manager at SP Electricity North West, said the company had struggled to obtain a resolution from its previous suppliers. "Neither SAP nor our support provider at the time could address the system issues we were experiencing," recounted Martin Williams, problem and knowledge manager at SP Electricity North West. "That's where Rimini Street came into the picture as our third-party support partner and effectively resolved all our SAP issues."

One of the largest pain points was staff access to the SAP financial system. Employees frequently found they could not log in, which triggered high volumes of password reset tickets and increased the load on the internal service desk.

Rimini Street's professional services team implemented a single sign-on enhancement that linked staff authentication into the SAP estate. The project aimed to reduce manual intervention for password issues and improve availability of key self-service functions for employees.

Ingleby said the impact on support workloads was immediate. "Thanks to Rimini Street's single sign-on solution, we went from 100 to 200 tickets for password resets a month - to none. This alone freed up 10% of our entire service desk team's time," said Ingleby. "Instead of spending cycles on accessibility issues, our team is now focusing their efforts on value-add projects that deliver real ROI for our business."

Cost savings and roadmap

SP Electricity North West said the switch to third-party support has delivered savings of about 50% on the software vendor's annual maintenance fees. The company has redirected some of those funds into targeted enhancements such as the SSO project.

Rimini Street positions its approach as one that adapts to each client's existing landscape rather than replacing it. Ahmed Magdy, Senior Professional Services Director at Rimini Street, said the firm focuses on client-specific solutions. "We take pride in prioritising our clients' unique processes and systems, creating equally unique solutions that simply makes things work," said Ahmed Magdy, senior professional services director at Rimini Street. "We don't come in with the attitude of 'you need to scrap this and start from scratch;' instead, we listen, we learn and we deliver innovation and real-world solutions that are centered around a client's timeline, budget and vision."

SP Electricity North West described Rimini Street as a strategic supplier within its broader IT and operations ecosystem. The company said the support model gives it more flexibility over the timing of any major SAP platform changes.

"We consider Rimini Street one of our top 10 critical suppliers, essential to running and maintaining our systems," said Ingleby. "Best of all, they give us a lovely, big window for us to decide what is best for our technology roadmap, and we're in no rush to upgrade or move to another product. We're stable, happy and building a future beyond 2030 with Rimini Street by our side."

Rimini Street said it plans to continue working with SP Electricity North West on further optimisation projects across its SAP environment as the utility develops its roadmap beyond 2030.