SAP division of BTG adds muscle to offering

Management consulting, project management and change management competencies added to SAP division`s offerings

The SAP business unit of BTG Systems Integration has after the merger with the CS Holdings SAP division, significantly bolstered its customer offerings with additional services and a defined go-to-market model.

Formerly Bytes Business Solutions Spearhead, the SAP division has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with international software vendor SAP, extending back as far as 1992. With BTG`s acquisition of CS Holdings the SAP focussed division therein has now managed to add critical mass to its portfolio of offerings.

Says Auret Kernick, Divisional Managing Director at BTG Systems Integration - SAP: "As Spearhead we were always well regarded by our customer base, which has remained very loyal to us. The merger has in turn strengthened our position in that we are now able to provide customers with a host of additional value-added services and competencies."

The value-added offerings within the division include project management competencies, as well as management consulting, training on the SAP platform and change management capabilities. Over and above the critical soft skills the acquisition has also, but not exclusively, provided the division the ability to tap into an intellectual pool experienced on the SAP HR or Human Capital Management elements of the software.

"Our business model has been centred around our ability to provide client centric support by implementing business practices and models of an international standard. In addition to which existing strengths in the application maintenance environment has positioned us as a specialised service provider of choice for a number of Blue Chip companies.

"The merger has allowed us to unlock value we knew we had but which was previously limited by availability of resources, the joint client base is also completely complimentary with no overlap - and we are now able to cross skill over a variety of disciplines. All of the clients we have begun dealing with in our `new` capacity have been very excited about the potential to use us as their single SAP Shop," he adds.

But the benefits are not only external, as staff at the SAP division can now better themselves through training from Bytes People Solutions improving growth in career paths. The SAP staff at BTG, are now also able to get involved with clients at a more strategic level providing an overall view of the customer and their needs.

"ERP has become a strategic purchasing decision, and clients have moved away from ERP for ERP sake. To that end the open systems approach SAP follows is testimony to this, a strategic systems integrator of the SAP platform has to be able to work on, and with a number of additional vendors systems. The depth of the BTG SI Group allows us to offer customers additional services on products such as BusinessObjects, Kronos, Microsoft, AXAPTA, Cisco and even Desktop outsourcing and Managed Consulting Services," states Kernick.

The company is also strongly committed to continuing within the spirit of BEE, evidenced through the 27% stake held by strategic partner Kagiso. BTG also has a number of learnerships running presently, and group companies are able to take advantage of hiring from a pool of people trained in the BTG environment.

"With the combined forces of the CSH SAP team we are now able to look across the entire spectrum of SAP competencies while also tapping into the public sector. The entire new structure within our business and our now extended portfolio of offerings is truly exciting to us as we are now start taking on the African market space stronger than we were before," ends Kernick.