SAP's achievement of double-digit growth in 2007 - internationally as well as in South Africa and the rest of Africa - is in large measure due to the contribution made to sales and revenue generation by SAP business partners.
So said SAP South Africa CEO, Claas Kuehnemann, speaking at the annual SAP partner awards held recently on the SAP campus in Sandton, Gauteng, and attended by the director general of the national treasury, Lesetja Kganyago, who was the keynote speaker at this high profile event.
The SAP channel is split between large enterprises (LE) and small and medium enterprises (SME), with alliance partners in the LE space working with SAP on sales and SME partners going direct to customers.
Kuehnemann said that relationships between SAP and its business partners were now operating at a level of maturity and synergy that made partners a significant factor in SAP's achievement of its strategic objectives.
"In other words, our partners are so aligned with our roadmap and steeped in our products that they're able to continuously bring new customers into the SAP eco-system - because customers trust them to understand and implement our products and roadmap as we would."
Lorna Cook, head of alliance management for SAP Africa, said the strategic synergies being achieved between SAP and its partners were largely due to increased commitment by partners to training and certification in SAP's existing and new solutions.
"We see a direct link between that commitment and the significant increase during 2007 in customer satisfaction ratings for partner delivery. And that applies not just to those of our alliance partners who won awards this year, but to many others in the eco-system.
"As a consequence, our alliance partnerships were extremely successful during 2007 - driving significant growth in partner incremental revenue compared with the previous year. That's not just good news for SAP. It means customers' needs are being more accurately met - which means, in turn, that customer businesses are running better."
Hildburg Hofer, channel director, SME Africa, who is responsible for co-ordination and management of SAP Business One and SAP All-in-One sales through business partners, says nearly 70% of sales within the SME sector have been driven through the partner base.
"Looking at the achievements so far we are looking at a similar result for 2008. Our channel is extremely committed and enthusiastic and therefore hugely pro-active in supporting SAP to gain market share.
"So, in spite of the tightening economy, we're expecting to continue growing in 2008."
The SAP Africa Business Development Awards for alliance partners recognise partners who, through exceptional relationships with customers and prospects, have provided exceptional support to SAP throughout sales processes. The winners in each category are those with the highest partner incremental revenue during 2007.
Alliance partner: Accenture
Service partner: T-Systems
Special expertise partner: Izazi Solutions
Technology partner: IBM SA
Africa region: EPI-USE Africa
The SAP Partner Excellence Awards recognise partners with the highest customer satisfaction rating, as recorded by the SAP Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Technology partner: Hewlett-Packard
Special expertise partner: Consnet
Service partner: Pebbletree Consulting
Alliance partner: Deloitte
In the SME category:
SAP Business All-In-One Reseller of the Year (South Africa) - highest revenue in 2007: UCS Solutions
SAP Business All-In-One Reseller (South Africa) - highest number of new customers (South Africa): T-Systems
SAP Business One Reseller of the Year (South Africa) - combined best achievement in revenue and new customers: Bluekey Software Solutions
SAP Business One Solution Partner of the Year (South Africa) - best ISV partner based on revenue: XtendSD
SAP Business One Best New Reseller of the Year (South Africa) - first full year selling in 2007 based on revenue: Grenville Systems Development
SAP Business All-In-One Reseller of the Year (rest of Africa) - highest revenue in 2007: Rofftek
SAP Business All-In-One Reseller (rest of Africa) - highest number of new customers: EIM
SAP Business One Reseller of the Year (rest of Africa) - highest revenue in 2007: Oryx Computer Systems Limited of Nigeria
SAP Business One Reseller (rest of Africa) - highest number of new customers in 2007: Oryx Computer Systems Limited of Nigeria
SAP Business One Best New Reseller of the Year (rest of Africa) - first full year of selling in 2007 based on revenue: Deutsche Planung (Pty) Limited of Zambia
SAP Business All-in-One Excellence Award (South Africa): T-Systems
SAP Business One Excellence Award (South Africa): Britton Solutions
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SAP is the world's leading provider of business software (*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47 800 customers (excludes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP". (For more information, visit www.sap.com.)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.
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