Headquartered in Japan, santec is a global photonics company that develops and sells optical communication components and measuring instruments necessary for the development of such components. With 40 years of experience in the optics industry, santec has a deep knowledge of the key manufacturing processes to build lasers, instruments, and components for its communications, medical, and metrology customers.  

The telecommunications market, one of its largest sectors, has seen steady capital investment due to the global increase in traffic from the expansion of 5G communication networks, the growth of cloud services, and the rise of remote workers and their need for web conferencing capabilities. This increase meant that it needed to expand and accelerate the business to create an organizational structure that promotes faster and more decisive decision making. To achieve this, santec decided to split the company into four businesses and shift to a holding company structure.  

Photonics manufacturer looks to trusted provider for expanded services

A critical part of the reorganization was making major changes to its SAP system in a short period of time. “We’ve been using Rimini Street to support SAP since 2018. Since they already understood the details of our system from providing us with daily support, we chose Rimini Consult™ to help us transform our systems for the company split,” explained Shinya Hidaka, Group Manager of the Information Systems Group, Business Administration Division, for santec Holdings Corporation.   

Rimini Consult is the professional services component of Rimini ONE™, Rimini Street’s family of end-to-end support, products, and services for enterprise software. It is designed to help companies resolve challenging ERP issues — including security, interoperability, and integration. For santec, Rimini Consult provided the expertise and scale to quickly execute a complex project on an aggressive timeline. Even though santec had to start the project without finalizing the details of the company split, Rimini Street provided the freedom to decide on specifications as the project moved forward. “Our business department staff and Rimini Street consultants had a series of meetings where they discussed day and night about what needs to be done and how to execute,” said Hidaka.  

In addition to trusting Rimini Street based on experience, he was also confident of Rimini Street’s ability to support them as they grew. Hidaka said, “The majority of manufacturing companies are expanding globally. Because of Rimini Street’s experience, they can support us in reforming our systems with a global perspective.” Additionally, he was attracted to the breadth of Rimini Street’s capabilities. “Rimini Street’s experience in handling not only one system but multiple systems, such as SAP, Oracle, and SQL, allows them to make proposals from a broad perspective,” Hidaka added.  

Rimini Consult™ keeps santec agile amid changing business conditions

Over the course of the project, the santec team learned a great deal from their Rimini Consult engagement. “We’ve been using SAP for about 20 years without deep knowledge or making any major changes to the system. So, there were many technical terms and other things that we didn’t understand. Through communicating with the Rimini Consult staff, we were able to deepen our mutual understanding and move forward with the project,” Hidaka said. Rimini Street understood the majority of their intentions without the santec team having to use technical terms. “Rimini Street has always been very understanding and takes the time to check the facts, solve problems, and help us reach our goals. Therefore, we are grateful to have Rimini Street’s support,” he said.  

In just five years, Rimini Street’s relationship with santec has grown from providing system operation management and support into end-to-end professional services via Rimini Consult. Looking toward the future, Hidaka said, “Our impression of Rimini Street has changed from being a provider to a teammate. We view Rimini Street as a strategic business partner who is well-positioned and capable in their ability to support and guide us as we take on new challenges for our SAP and other systems.”