Global enterprise leader SAP has moved away from a focus on implementations to initiatives which support the entire customer life cycle. Claas Kuehnemann, general manager: Professional Services at SAP Southern Africa says as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) has been reduced through accelerated programs, such as SAP`s AcceleratedSAP (ASAP), which drive down implementation times, the challenge now is for customers to work closely with software vendors to maximise the long-term value of their enterprise systems.
In line with this, earlier this year SAP introduced its ValueSAP initiative, a comprehensive offering designed to support the entire customer life cycle, including evaluation, implementation and continuous business improvement of SAP solutions.
"ValueSAP represents a shift from a short-term focus surrounding implementation to one taking the complete life-cycle of an SAP solution into consideration," says Kuehnemann.
At the heart of ValueSAP are SAP`s industry, services and technology solution maps. These solution maps are used in association with key performance indicators, total cost of ownership calculations, Return on Investment (ROI) studies and benchmarks applied against industry leaders and averages.
"Based on this assessment, SAP makes recommendations for business improvement opportunities through a combination of products, training and services.
Kuehnemann explains that ValueSAP Continuous Business Improvement (CBI) services are the tools and methodologies used in conjunction with solution maps to allow any SAP customer to identify and adopt agile business practices to increase profitability and competitiveness.
"These services within ValueSAP enable customers involved in the evaluation and implementation phases of an SAP solution to define their own benchmarks and business improvement opportunities, establishing the platform for proactive value generation."
North American pilot customers are already reaping added business benefits from the first deliverables of ValueSAP, CBI services, which provides complete life-cycle support by leveraging the SAP software solution, streamlining business processes, increasing productivity of people, and extending the enterprise through additional SAP products and services.
"ValueSAP is a significant offering for our customers that ensures they can obtain the optimum value from their SAP investment," said Henning Kagermann, co-chairman and CEO of SAP AG. "ValueSAP is a paradigm shift in deploying total solutions. Through our leading enterprise business solutions, we established and delivered on the business promise of cost savings. Now with ValueSAP, we are improving on the promise with value generation."
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