Challenges

Proton is Malaysia’s first national car company established over 35 years ago. Faced with tough economic conditions in the country, the company challenged all departments to lower expenses. Proton sought to reduce its overall operating expenses by 30 percent. For the IT department, this meant looking at ways to minimize maintenance fees from technology providers. The company decided to look for an independent, third-party vendor for assistance after attending a Rimini Street event in Kuala Lumpur. After a competitive review process, that included evaluating SAP, Rimini Street was selected as a third-party support vendor for Proton’s SAP ERP due to their knowledge and expertise displayed.

Rimini Street Solution

Proton uses Rimini Street’s services for its SDMM, FICO, plant maintenance, IS Auto, APO, production planning, and HR and payroll solutions. The Proton IT team appreciates receiving a dedicated, Primary Support Engineer (PSE) who knows their support history and background. Additionally, Rimini Street’s support coverage of integrations with other applications gives the company a reduction in downtime when issues arise. Not only did Proton save 50% on maintenance fees by switching to Rimini Street, the support they receive is both proactive and reactive, prompt and attentive – compared to the support services previously received from the technology provider.

Client Results

The savings delivered by the IT department’s relationship with Rimini Street contributed to enabling Proton to expand their plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak to accommodate greater production volumes. Proton now has the flexibility to upgrade to the latest version of SAP software when the business is ready to make the investment, versus having to abide by the timeline imposed by the technology provider. The company is also considering extending its use of Rimini Street to its export markets in the region.