Origina Turns Digital Imaging Leader’s Murky IT Roadmap into a Runway | Manufacturing
- CASE STUDIES | 4 min read
CUSTOMER PROFILE
High-end digital cameras and office equipment are just two verticals in which this iconic brand has achieved household familiarity with multiple generations of consumers.
INDUSTRY:
Electronics Manufacturing
COMPANY SIZE:
Large
LOCATION:
U.S. Regional HQ, Part of Multinational Corporation
PRODUCTS
IBM® WebSphere Portal Server IBM® WebSphere Portal Server 20 IBM® Web Content Manager IBM® WebSphere Commerce Enterprise IBM® WebSphere Commerce Developer Enterprise IBM® Customer Experience Suite IBM® MQ Advanced Message Security Component IBM® App Connect Enterprise IBM® MQ
“It's really hard to make the case to pay for [OEM] product support when maybe 80% of the versions we’re using are not even supported by the vendor anymore,” says the senior application owner.
THE PROBLEM
PANDEMIC RESTRUCTURING FORCES SUDDEN CHANGE FOR GLOBAL ELECTRONICS POWERHOUSE
For this manufacturer of consumer, business, and industrial digital imaging products, several factors – including concurrent supply chain gaps and a temporary but massive downturn of supported consumer and B2B markets – created a pressing need for restructuring during the 2020 pandemic. As a result, members of its corporate leadership team took on entirely new areas of responsibility.
“I had assumed the ownership of several teams,” a senior IBM business application owner with the digital imaging company explains. “One of them was license renewals for a lot of our software partners.”
Facing executive orders for millions in IT cost reductions, the IBM application owner had inherited some unpleasant decisions, including a possible need to cut high-value consultants from the budget. But it didn’t fully make sense for a restructuring business to shuffle funds from working partnerships to those of less certain value.
“It’s really hard to make the case to pay for [OEM] product support when maybe 80% of the versions we’re using are not even supported by the vendor anymore,” says the senior application owner.
A short time later, the team was in contact with Origina – a decision that would cut artificial pressure from the timeline and set the IT cost optimization project forward by half a decade or more.
THE SOLUTION
ORIGINA PRESSES PAUSE ON PERSISTENT IT MODERNIZATION PRESSURES
Origina’s white-glove IBM software support delivered at up to half the cost of current Software Subscription & Support renewal fees garnered immediate interest, and the success stories the senior app owner heard from enterprise peers working with Origina added credibility to the claims.
The organization decided to test our skills in a two-year engagement. Although we only serviced a small portion of their IBM estate in this trial run, the budget space we freed was enough to satisfy the IT department’s entire cost optimization requirement and afforded them continued access to critical consultants supporting the digital imaging leader’s long-term plans.
Two years later, when the initial Origina contract came up for renewal, executives wanted to know what other products Origina would be available to help with.
The senior IBM application owner said almost every arm of the business, including flagship B2B and B2C functions, interfaced in some way with underlying IBM and HCL middleware that was nearing the end of support.
Going without support was not an option in an enterprise environment dominated by the presence of middleware. “But you also don’t want to go through the effort and expense of disruptive upgrades,” says the senior IBM owner.
The need, combined with the demonstrated successes of the two-year trial run, led to an expansive new agreement covering larger swaths of the electronics manufacturer’s IBM and HCL estate.
Knowing they had access to concierge-level, highly invested support for the software they’d already paid for – with no immediate need to upgrade versions – allowed the digital imaging company to turn a COVID-restricted IT roadmap into a runway to success.
“We were able to keep our consultants and still meet our cost-reduction goals,” the senior IBM application owner says. “Our CEO had the goals of reducing cost, growing revenue, and innovating […] The first year alone we saved $1.7 million, which was huge, and is being earmarked for future investments and innovation.”
THE RESULT
In this growing partnership, the iconic brand and Origina have achieved:
$10 million-plus in IT savings, sufficient to fully satisfy the IT cost overhaul project
Value-add services that allowed the company to keep using the software they had without forcing upgrades
A runway to future IT innovation, with resources freed for future expansion of their digital agenda.
“The feedback has been that Origina support is far superior to what we received from IBM.” — Senior IBM Application Owner, Digital Imaging Leader
Turn your IT roadmap into a runway for innovation.
Add years to your current IT infrastructure with Origina’s concierge-level support.
