When Business Connexion acquired Bidvest Network Solutions, now Business Connexion Communications, the transaction came as particularly good news for Business Connexion CIO, Hugo Winterbach. As the man in charge of the technology needs of a very large technology company, he was on a drive to ensure the company benefited from the efficiency gains that are a cornerstone of the solutions it takes to market.
Because Business Connexion offers a wide selection of business technology through its many divisions, it found itself in the position where competing systems were serving similar needs of different business units. While that situation was acceptable in the short-term, Winterbach was looking for a centralised and standardised system to improve management control and reduce costs. The availability of a network that would reliably and effectively connect these divisions and the necessary applications they required played right into his hands.
"We`re taking a message to market that consolidation is the answer for cost savings and improved organisational efficiency. That`s a message that we are also applying within our own environment," says Winterbach.
He notes that, while it is a business solutions supplier, Business Connexion has its own need for the solutions it provides. "We`re a corporate just like many of our clients, we have business needs and I am responsible for supplying the technology to meet them," he says. "As Business Connexion, we advise our clients how to best apply their technology-enabled business services. Internally, those same lessons apply."
Winterbach says the network that Business Connexion acquired through the Bidvest acquisition has played a key role in the internal roll-out of the SAP enterprise resource planning solution. "We provide a number of different business solutions through our various divisions, ranging from HR and payroll solutions through financial applications to business intelligence and knowledge management. Of course we also have an impressive SAP implementation capability in our CDE division. After careful consideration of available options, it was decided that SAP best met our business needs as an enterprise. As such, CDE has rolled out the solution to our 4 000-plus users."
The network, he explains, is a central resource that determines the success of that SAP roll-out. "SAP is a centralised system, while we are a geographically dispersed company. For the solution to be effective with these realities, a highly available and reliable network is an absolutely critical requirement," he says.
Winterbach adds that the availability of a private and secure network, which is also a key value proposition in the solutions that Business Connexion offers its clients, is a clear requirement for the company. He points out, however, that it is the quality of the personnel managing and supporting the resource that makes the real difference.
"The people who have joined Business Connexion through this acquisition have considerable skills and abilities, matched with a high level of business acumen. The decision to use this network to support our internal SAP roll-out was based purely on Business Connexion Communications` ability to deliver as well as cost effectiveness," he says.
"Business Connexion is a new big user of the next generation network - and we are seeing the benefits of quality of service for specific applications [in this case SAP], the advantages of virtual private networking, sufficient bandwidth to support enterprise applications, and a level of security of which we can be proud."
He adds that the industry emphasis has moved from a technology to a business focus. "However, this is only really possible with the correct infrastructure in place - geared for the next-generation services and business applications. Business Connexion has hit the sweet spot by exploiting technology and building the architectural foundation from which optimal business benefit can be derived," he says.
"Coming back to SAP," Winterbach says, "Business Connexion is live on the human resources module, while further modules - including materials management, financials and more - are scheduled to go live on 1 June.
"SAP is becoming strategic to running our business more effectively, as it brings order and discipline to business processes. Success for a dispersed company like ours also depends on having 100% network uptime and quick responses - something that I am satisfied our network fully addresses."
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