CA partners with ESi to aggressively target manufacturing sector

Computer Associates International (CA) has appointed Enterprise Systems Implementation (ESi), an IT Business Solutions provider based in Centurion, Gauteng, as a business partner in order to more aggressively target the manufacturing sector.

Established in October 1998, ESi provides ERP product implementation and support services, network solutions and IT services, support, design and outsource services. The company focuses on supplying business solutions to medium and large sized corporates in South Africa with the aim of expanding its customer base into sub-Saharan Africa. According to Kenny Dick, MD for ESi, the company focuses its solutions around the customer`s business and then finds ways to use technology in order to improve business processes. "The enterprise business focuses on the mining, manufacturing and project management sectors. We are keen to extend the Unicenter management suite into these arenas," he states.

Armin Marxer, divisional manager for ESi`s Enterprise Management Solutions division, says that ESi wanted to become a CA business partner in order to supply a true end-to-end enterprise management and monitoring solution to its customers. "We`ve partnered with CA on the IT group of products, as well as on Unicenter TNG and all its Options, as both a sales and a technical services partner. We are also very keen to begin working with CA on the new e-commerce products that they acquired through the Platinum acquisition. On the ERP side, we are keen to begin working with the interBiz Solutions suite of products. We intend to become CA`s premier partner in Africa."

Marcel Gerber, channel manager for CA, comments, "ESi were appointed because of its focus on customer solutions, their expertise and their dedication to providing technical support. They have also shown an impressive commitment to CA. ESi is the partner through which CA wants to focus on the manufacturing sector, since they have strong expertise and focus in this market. They have a credible strategy which, we believe, will make them a force to be reckoned with in the market."

Marxer, who personally has six years of experience with Unicenter TNG in the enterprise management system arena, continues, "We have already got one certified Unicenter TNG engineer, two Unicenter administrators who are busy qualifying as engineers and another two staff members who are currently undergoing Unicenter training."

He states, "Unicenter TNG was the key product for us; it is the only true enterprise management system available because of its openness, cross-platform capabilities and its scalability. It allows us to provide customers with a solution to enable them to run their existing business processes more efficiently. Our strategy there is to assist customers to integrate Unicenter into their core business applications, such as SAP, JD Edwards, etc."