Connected services could be the next big thing in IT in 2011, says Softline Accpac vice-president for sales in Africa, Keith Fenner.
A connected service could be a procurement service, a payment service or a Web store that companies are able to plug in and use as they want, scaling them to meet future needs. "Connected services are becoming a major part of all our product sets, especially Sage ERP Accpac and Sage CRM," explains Fenner.
He cites Softline`s acquisition this year of Netcash - a secure, online transaction processing service, which is easily integrated into Sage ERP Accpac and Sage CRM for debit orders and company information. "The demand for connected services will continue to grow as Internet access becomes easier and more affordable, but solutions must be transparent to the user and literally be plugged in and usable," explains Fenner.
He says that in 2011, Web, SaaS and cloud technologies will also pose huge market opportunities. In the ERP environment, Fenner says there is a very clear gap in the tier 2 technologies available. "Companies are looking for modern technology ERP with a collaborative portal that enables them to compete in the global economy. This area of the market is quite open and Sage ERP X3 fills this space with an easy to use, fast to implement and cost-effective ERP solution," says Fenner.
Reflecting on 2010, Fenner believes that virtualisation has given customers choice in terms of deployment, elasticity in terms of payment and scalability, which has ultimately given clients full control over a hosted solution. "This technology has enabled IT providers to deliver all the benefits that customers want at a cost that has stayed about the same for the past 10 years. Technology has effectively reduced the cost of IT," he explains.
2010 was a tough year from an economic standpoint, and business slowed again during the World Cup this year as we all enjoyed the spectacle. As a result, Fenner says companies are exercising caution and taking the time to complete all due diligence work before making any major decisions. Companies expect more prototypes and develop a solid understanding of how any solution will improve their business process before taking decisions.
Looking ahead to 2011, many companies are looking to expand across the border into Africa and a number of opportunities are opening up in other African countries. "We have aligned our sales team territorially to be able to meet the expectations of our partners and prospects as they expand into Africa," explains Fenner. "The African expansion is a challenge that we embrace on a daily basis and we have started to reap the rewards of our persistent marketing and awareness campaigns, turning Africa into a great growth market for us," says Fenner.
Overall, the IT industry continues to move at fast pace in terms of cloud and connected services. Our customers are starting to reap the benefits of our technology investments years ago and have started to quickly and easily embrace our extended product suites like CRM, business intelligence and connected services. We are pleased to be leading the technology curve as all the hard work is paying off, concludes Fenner.
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