FIRST UK GOLD after the Olympics

In the summer, GB did really well in winning and unprecedented number of golds in the Olympics (19 in all).
Well one more GOLD has been won recently that is worth note in the world of SAP.

SABIC UK have just been presented with the first ever WestTrax GOLD Award for an SAP system to be won in the UK.
What does this mean?
It means that SABIC UK, IT Manager, PAUL ETTRIDGE can now PROVE beyond doubt that his department are adding significant value to the SABIC UK Business.
Winning a GOLD Award (rather than Silver or Bronze) means that the SAP system in SABIC UK has set new Best Measured Values for several of the key criteria measured in the four areas of Cost, Quality, Productivity and Performance.

Bottom-Line: Paul and his team acn PROVE that they run an excellent SAP system that is low cost, high quality and provides great system performance boosting business productivity.

You should be able to PROVE to your business executive the same thing....... see http://www.csi10.co.uk/Solutions/Westtrax/Westtrax.html for more about WestTrax.

SAP Enterprise Support - showing first cracks

SAP has doggedly stuck to its plan to improve the support of their clients in an ever increasingly complex technological world. Their announcement of Enterprise Support and the subsequent 5% increase in maintenance costs has gone down like a lead balloon.
But to date, SAP has stuck to its guns......... the change is coming, staged, gradual but still inevitable ...... OR IS IT??

A recent article identifies the first chinks in the armour!
German and Austrian customers seem to have the law on their side and SAP has given way to allowing them to retain their current support contracts.
A landslide starts with a few loose rocks - the few loose rocks are moving - will it develop into a landslide?
Take a look at the article and make-up your own mind.
SAP Support Contract Concessions

SAP GRC - too technically challenging for some...

A UK based mid-sized SAP customer needed to be able to prove that the security of its systems was of the highest order - this was a business imperative - not a nice to have.
This mid-sized (by SAP standards) company decided that the SAP GRC was the most applicable solution after a trawl of the market and began the implementation 14month ago.
It was initially defined as a 4-5 month programme.
3 re-installs and several major escalations later they are happy to now prove to the business that 100,000's of risk and conflicts are now being managed down to only 1000's.
Why did this happen? Several reasons really:-
- the GRC system is technically very complex and bleeding-edge
- the newness of the solution meant that support was generally less-than-helpful
- SAP resources to help (even in emergency) were very few and far between
- a mid-sized SAP customer does not have the depth and breadth of technical resources to support such a complex implementation.
As the GRC programme comes to a close, the customer can show measurable value-add, and real credit goes to the tenacity and dogged determination of the customer programme team, but the pain of the journey will leave deep scars that will take a longtime to heal.

BOTTOMLINE: Think twice about SAP GRC if you have anything less than a complete and comprehensive bleeding-edge technology team.

Will mid-market SAP survive?

Recent information gathered from a few of my many contacts in the mid-market of SAP UK seem to imply that there is a reducing amount of work in the mid-market. Does this mean that SAP are not making their numbers in the mid-market – is the grand scheme of taking the mid-market not working.
Recent information points to several of the current SAP VAR's pulling out as they miss winning any level of sustainable business. And even more surprising, one of the mid-market support companies is now managed by the receiver.
What will SAP do when they see their channel to market reduce and their support functions that assist that channel disappear.
Watch the SAP mid-market, it could be disappearing before your eyes....

....and more consolidations

I know I have been harping in about consolidation, but it would seem that if you want to sell your SAP consulting business now is the time...... we are looking for SAP consulting businesses for no less than three SAP focussed businesses. It would seem that there is a race to fill the gap left by Axon, Xansa and Diagonal.
If you would even consider selling your business then please get in touch as we will do our best to match you with the right partner.
A great time to capitalise on all your hard work ....... maybe before it gets really tough out there.

Continuing consolidation of SAP service companies...

As the battle for the Axon rages, the continuing consolidation of the SAP market seems destined to continue.
I have talked to 2 of the small but fast growing SAP consultancies in the UK who are looking to make acquisitions in the near future, So who will fill the gap that Axon leaves, who will be the next mid-sized SAP SI which gives the SAP customers a realistic alternative to the big guys.
Currently no-one fills that spot but maybe you know someone who is destined to do just that...... I would be really interested in hearing your ideas; just post them here!

Finding more budget for SAP investment

Through an introduction I made between 2 companies, a new service has been created to help companies recover 'lost' profit, which can be invested in new SAP projects (or anything else of course)....
The service is called SmartRecovery and combines advanced data mining with traditional accountancy skills to find your businesses 'payable' transactions that have been overpaid - which are then recovered.
On a No Recovery - No fee basis - a company can't lose!.
This service is a must for any company seeking to increase their profit this year or to find some monies to invest in a transformation programme....... Imagine going to the board with a business case that is funded by the retrieval of LOST PROFIT.
I have a data-sheet if you wnat to know more.

Axon the last mid-range SAP SI - GONE!

I was astounded to hear that Axon are in the process of being bought!
I see Axon as the last of the mid-sized SAP SI's (in a league with Xansa and Diagonal) and I feel that this will seriously impact the choice of the SAP customer.
The market will now be dominated by the big-boys who even though they have very different models (think Accenture and Infosys) will now be the only option for SAP implementations and will leave the customer to deal with a massive unweildy and frankly preditory partner.
I now see a very hard choice for the CIO of the medium sized SAP business, either rely on a big-bad-predatory SI or gamble on a much smaller niche supplier....... the options dont look good....
Do you think this polarisation of the market enhances or threatens the SAP market.....
I think its plain where I sit!

Use LEARNING to align IT and ‘the business’ better.

I was at a meeting yesterday which focused on the difference between training and learning from an IT perspective….
The remarkable thing was the difference in perception that the 2 words put in the minds of the participants and the significant shift in thinking that can be generated from looking from these 2 different perspective…
Training was seen as the responsibility of IT to provide to ‘the business’ when new systems are introduced.
However it was seen as ‘the businesses’ responsibility to ensure that their users were offered the learning processes to ensure they can do their jobs properly ……
Surely, these are one and the same thing and the only thing that matters is that the person at the end of the process can fulfill their role at the highest performance level.
So, as I did to the people in the meeting, who were project focused guys with responsibility to the CIO function; STOP TALKING TRAINING and ALWAYS TALK LEARNING.
As I have seen in the past and through many transition processes, Learning Strategies and Approaches bring a much better and more involved approach from ‘the business’ than anything labeled TRAINING which tends to be the last to get budgeted, is generally resourced poorly, the first to lose budget, the seemingly easiest to reduce the delivery timescales on.
So convert your role and thought processes from one of ‘Training’ to one of ‘Learning’ and see what a difference it makes.

Is the SAP world about to get smaller......?

This week I have heard not just rumours about SAP focussed businesses withdrawing from the UK, but counter-rumours (those that say "NO! we are not pulling out but did you know that such and such are ......?"). I can confirm that neither the original target NOR the counter target for this speculation are leaving the SAP UK market.
However, one smaller european company is packing its bags and returning to its european base as it has found the SAP market in the UK too hard and chewing up too much of its heard earned resources to enable it to continue!
I think there is about to be another round of consolidation where the small and medium SAP service suppliers who will find it harder and harder to find new projects, will get snapped up by the big guys who need more innovation, focus and USP's.
As for the big guys; maybe its just me, but I can see nothing in their offerings that differentiate them, are SAP Services now completely commoditised?
Anyway back to helping my clients build value-propositions that we can take to our ever growing CIO network......
Have a good weekend!