U.S. manufacturers are grappling with disruptions that cut into profitability. Such challenges include unprecedented challenges of supply chain issues, high raw material prices, and rising labour costs.
One solution involves rethinking IT support, as a means to provide financial relief. For example, Standard Foods (Taiwan) reduced annual costs by 50 percent and redirected those savings into AI innovation by shifting away from traditional providers. The move unlocked new potential in their existing systems and drove growth.
Standard Foods shifted its newly saved resources to fund AI innovation through reimagining their IT support strategies. Part of this strategy includes ditching support from major IT providers. Leveraging an alternative support provider maximizes their existing systems to unlock innovation and drive AI-powered success.
As an example, the company selected Rimini Support™ for SAP, enabling the firm to achieve significant cost savings, improve quality of support for its mission-critical SAP systems, and reallocate IT resources towards projects that will drive stronger profitability and enable growth for the leading Taiwanese food manufacturer and distributor.
Jerry Lee, Director of IT at Standard Foods explains: “Rimini Street immediately halved our annual support costs and helped our SAP systems run better than ever before. Because of the efficiencies gained, my IT team can focus on using data to improve sales estimations and benefit our partners and distributors. It will be a game-changer for Standard Foods, made possible by Rimini Street.”
Better Software Support Allows for More Focus on Data Initiatives
On a search for better software support, Standard Foods received strong recommendations by multiple IT partners and peers to explore Rimini Street.
“What impressed me the most about Rimini Street was that they took the time to get to know our systems in detail, and understand our vision,” said Lee.
An important application of AI in the supply chain is demand forecasting. AI-based forecasting techniques incorporate real-time and multivariate data sources, and these can reduce forecasting errors by up to 50 percent compared to traditional time-series based methods.
He adds: “What sometimes took weeks to get resolved with SAP, compared to the timeliness of the support that Standard Foods gets from Rimini Street is really something else…The combination of fast response and expert solutions has allowed us to increase our investment in AI and machine learning but with less staff needed to keep those systems running at full speed.”
“With Rimini Street, we only need three people to support the five SAP modules we use, and we maintain full functionality,” Lee shares further.
By integrating AI with real-time data, Standard Foods has enhanced decision-making across its supply chain.
“Predicting how much to order is an ongoing challenge for manufacturers, and a misstep in calculations in the supply chain can impact profitability,” Lee noted. “By running various models with real-time data and AI tools, we can both refine order recommendations and improve procurement processes.”
