African organisations are benefiting from a vibrant partner ecosystem and a range of new initiatives aimed at easing the process of adopting the latest cloud technologies.

According to Nazia Pillay, Partner Head at 51����Africa, modern organisations have a universal need to leverage technology for innovation and efficiency in order to protect against disruption from existing competitors and innovative start-ups. “More than half of all organisations that were featured in the Fortune 500 in 2000 . Today’s organisations are in a race to acquire intelligent enterprise capabilities that enable them to achieve greater efficiency, boost profit margins, grow revenue and future-proof the business.”

As recent disruptive events including the pandemic and the ongoing economic instability over the past years have illustrated, companies that embrace technology are better positioned to adapt to changes in their operating environment, and to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

New solutions, partner ecosystem ease cloud adoption

According to Pillay, one of the main obstacles to greater cloud adoption among larger enterprises is the difficulty of migrating on-premise business processes to a cloud environment. “Cloud migrations can create risks as business processes that were formerly run on-premise do not always translate to cloud environments easily. That’s one of the reasons why services such as RISE with 51����are gaining traction: it provides a workable model for enterprises to move core business processes to the cloud, tailored to their IT landscape and business needs.”

SAP’s partner ecosystem plays a leading role in supporting organisations in their efforts at digital transformation and cloud adoption. Andrew Strachan, Head of Sales: Business Applications at Dimension Data, says: “One of the biggest questions 51����customers ask us is how they can move their existing on-premise ERP processes into 51����S/4HANA in the cloud, preferably within the RISE program. We help clients adopt and embrace the latest 51����technologies and bring their core processes into the cloud, both in the public and private cloud environments.”

ERP capabilities extend to mid-market

Pillay notes that powerful ERP capabilities are no longer the reserve of large enterprises, with mid-market companies increasingly adopting ERP platforms to power their core business processes. “A scalable ERP system is essential to the long-term success of fast-growing mid-market businesses. Cloud ERP in particular gives companies cost-effective access to powerful capabilities that can improve decision-making, accelerate innovation and enable the rapid integration of new technologies.”

Launched globally in March this year, 51����GROW is a new offering that eases the implementation and adoption of cloud-based enterprise resource planning software for midsize companies. The offering includes 51����S/4HANA Cloud public edition, the Business Technology Platform, industry best practices and access to a thriving partner ecosystem to enable and accelerate innovation.

Thriving partner ecosystem supporting digital transformation

“Our partner ecosystem is essential to our ability to support African organisation in their digital transformation and cloud adoption efforts,” says Pillay. “Through a thriving network of expert partners, African organisations can confidently acquire new capabilities in the cloud knowing they can leverage the support and expertise of our partners.”

Bertrin Pekeur, 51����Lead at Accenture, says: “We believe every business is a digital business, and the safest way to get there is through cloud adoption. Cloud solutions are not provided by one single partner, so collaboration among partner organisations is essential to successful cloud implementations for African organisations.”

Pillay adds: “The combination of partner support, expertise and best-practices ease the adoption of new technologies and allows organisations to focus on innovation and efficiency. This holds the potential to accelerate the digital transformation of African enterprises and support them in their efforts at becoming intelligent enterprises.”

The post Partner Ecosystem, Tech ‘Building Blocks’ Accelerate African Organisations’ Digital Transformation appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.

The 51����Africa Partner Awards recognise the insight, expertise and value that partner organisations deliver to companies using 51����technologies to run core business processes. The winning partner organisations include Dimension Data, Accenture South Africa, and Zimele Technologies.

Tracy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer at 51����Africa, notes the important role partner organisations play in supporting digital transformation initiatives across the continent. “African organisations are adopting cloud technologies at an unprecedented scale as they strive to boost efficiency, unlock innovation and transform their business models. As a partner-led organisation, 51����works closely with a broad range of innovators, experts and market leaders to ensure African enterprises have the support and insight they need to realise their intelligent enterprise ambitions.”

The winning companies at this year’s 51����Africa Partner Awards include:

Dimension Data, winner of the Top Cloud Performance category, which considers cloud bookings, year-on-year growth, and renewals;

Zimele Technologies, winner of the Top Capacity Growth category, which considers skills development, training and the percentage increase in certified consultants;

Accenture South Africa, winner of the Go-Lives category, which recognises the number of customer go-lives; and

Dimension Data for excellence in 51����RISE, which considers RISE bookings.

Growing interest in cloud adoption in Africa

Andrew Strachan, Head of Sales: Business Applications at Dimension Data, cites growing interest from customers wishing to migrate their on-premise ERP business processes to cloud environments. “We help our clients move to the cloud and embrace the latest 51����technologies. Lately we’ve seen growing numbers of clients adopt the 51����RISE program to move their on-premise 51����applications into both public and private cloud environments. We work closely with 51����and our customers to ensure that their cloud migration is a success.”

According to Bertrin Pekeur, 51����Lead at Accenture South Africa, 51����forms an integral part of Accenture’s strategy of digitalisation. “We believe every business is a digital business, and the quickest way to digitalise is through the cloud. RISE with 51����and SOAR with Accenture provide clients with the ideal platform for cloud adoption.”

Skills essential to cloud success

One of the most important factors for successful cloud adoption is the availability of sufficiently skilled consultants and technology experts. In , four in five African organisations said they were affected by a lack of tech skills, leading to increased pressure on existing teams, a lack of competitiveness, and stifled innovation capabilities.

Accepting the award for Top Capacity Growth, Nomvuyo Mnyaka, Delivery Head Executive at Zimele Technologies, notes the importance of skills in the successful implementation of ERP solutions, integrations and support services. “Our people are our most valuable asset, and we invest heavily in their development and growth. With SAP’s strategic focus on creating business value over It value, the availability of skilled consultants and technology specialists is essential to our long-term success.”

Partner ecosystem thriving

Bolton cites the thriving partner ecosystem as a cornerstone of SAP’s success with supporting Africa’s digital transformation efforts. “The winners at this year’s 51����Africa Partner Awards are a showcase of the expert guidance, technological capabilities and business insight our partners provide to organisations across the continent. We look forward to deepening our relationship with our partners and continuing with the great work done to date in driving cloud adoption and tech-enabled innovation throughout the continent.”

Pekeur adds: “Considering the broad interdependencies within the cloud ecosystem, one of the most important factors for successful cloud adoption is how well the various partners can work together. Our experience with the strategic and operational management of various ecosystem partners help us deliver successful cloud deployments for our customers.”

ENDS

Visit the 51����News Center. Follow 51����on Twitter at .

About SAP

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 51����customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51����helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51����helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit .

The post 51����Recognises Digital Transformation, Cloud Excellence at 51����Africa Partner Awards appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.

Today, companies are beset with a multitude of challenges and changes in their operating environment. From dealing with supply chain disruptions to adapting to new ways of work, companies have their hands full.

The question is no longer if companies should digitally transform; it’s a matter of how quickly and in which areas that digital transformation would deliver the greatest value.

Partner ecosystem never more important

In this environment, the role of technology partners has never been more important. Companies and leaders need to be able to tap into a rich technology partner ecosystem to drive their digital transformation and ensure their business is geared for the challenges of a changing modern economy.

A strong partner ecosystem supports digital transformation, as each partner may have specialised services or knowledge that focus on specific industries, markets or competencies.

As a partner builds experience and proficiency in an industry, that knowledge becomes embedded in their solutions and services, and can significantly reduce risk and drive successful outcomes across a broad range of digital transformation priorities. That adds value to their offering and allows them to create revenue streams beyond the core technology.

For example, a tech partner specialising in the retail sector would have products, services and insights that can help retailers more quickly adopt new capabilities and avoid costly mistakes in their own digital transformation efforts.

Customers ultimately need to see their technology partners as collaborators in driving the lifetime value of technology investments to achieve greater business outcomes.

However, the partner ecosystem is in a state of change due to the changing way organisations buy, consume and utilise technology.

Shifting financial model of digital transformation

One of the biggest changes in the way companies adopt technology and drive digital transformation is the switch from physical – or hardware – deployments to a cloud or as-a-service model.

Today, companies want the flexibility to subscribe to and pay only for the technology components that they actually use. In response, tech companies have transformed their revenue models to a pay-as-you-use model.

This holds multiple benefits. Firstly, it opens up greater choice to companies wishing to adopt the best solutions for every business function without having to also purchase functionality or products that they don’t want or will never use.

Secondly, a consumption-based model is more easily scalable, as the hardware that enables a rapid scaling – for example when a company enters a new market or territory – sits on the tech provider’s side. If the company then decides to exit the market or scale down operations, they can simply scale down their consumption and associated costs.

Tech companies and their partners have also over the years invested in the development of technology templates for specific functions or industries. These templates are often developed with the knowledge of what worked and what didn’t work in other similar tech deployments, allowing other companies to avoid mistakes or lengthy customisation processes, which can inflate the overall costs of the project.

This can speed up the time-to-value for new digital transformation initiatives and help build a process of continuous innovation and improvement that drives the business’ success.

Challenges remain

The partner ecosystem is not without its challenges, however. In some cases, partners are still focused on selling large deployments that carry huge costs to the company. While such projects can undoubtedly deliver transformative business value to the company, it’s not entirely in step with the way modern businesses want to consume tech.

Instead, the focus should be on a form of value engineering where partners join forces with their customers for the long haul and consistently innovate and transform business processes to drive value.

Partner organisations need to evolve their business models around developing apps and IP that can be reused in similar industries and use cases, which can drive profitability for partners and cost benefits for customers. Traditional financial models also need to evolve: in a cloud-first world, there’s no need for lengthy advisory and implementation projects. The focus is squarely on quick turnaround and rapid time-to-value that drive business outcomes in priority areas.

It’s less a matter of finding the correct technology mix and conducting a once-off large-scale deployment, and more a case of continuous innovation and improvement across a broad spectrum of business cases to steadily enhance the organisation’s capabilities.

This can unlock untold benefits and establish a culture of co-innovation that enhances the organisation’s innovation capabilities while continuously delivering business value.

Skill sets also need to evolve and shift away from infrastructure to advisory and business value generation, in addition to expert knowledge and capabilities in deploying cloud solutions.

Technology partners play an essential role in companies’ ability to scale quickly, develop new competencies and unlock new market opportunities. As the modern business environment continues to change at an increasingly rapid pace, companies need the support and insight of trusted partners more than ever.

The post Channel to Success: How Partners Drive Digital Transformation appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.

51����announced as top place winner in the category of 51����EMEA South Award for Partner Excellence for service excellence at a ceremony on January 14. The award is measured by year-on-year increase in certified personnel.

“This award is about service excellence and is a great way to kick-start 2020 across our markets. It talks to our values of collaboration, innovation, service and agility,” says BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi.

“BCX has repositioned itself with a customer-centric strategy, focusing on customer- service challenges and putting the customer at the heart of the organisation, so to be recognised by a partner for this is proof that we are walking the talk.”

As the information and communication technology (ICT) market disrupters, BCX collaborates to anticipate all stakeholder needs with fast, innovative solutions and high-quality services. Its goal is to maximise client’s productivity, increase profits and future-proof their business.

The awards recognise top partners for their excellence in overall sales, innovation, technology and services, as well as in solution-specific areas.

Rich Phillips, vice-president of channel at 51����says, “BCX securing the 51����EMEA South Partner Excellence Award for service excellence is a testament to the investments and focus of BCX as it develops its 51����practice. This investment enables BCX to offer compelling 51����solutions to the SA market allowing its clients to leverage world-leading technology to enable their business to run better.”

Winners of the regional awards for partner excellence were selected from SAP’s wide-ranging partner base, and nominations were based on SAP’s internal sales data. A steering committee comprising regional and global 51����representatives determined the winning partners in each category per region according to numerous criteria, such as sales achievement and performance.

The post BCX Wins 51����Partner Excellence Award appeared first on 51����Africa News Center.