As software sales continue to stagnate, both vendors and solution providers have been forced to look at mining existing installation bases to drive revenue on service offerings. A state of affairs that has ultimately resulted in clients getting more value for their tech spend.
"Our vendors have been expanding their solutions in a drive to keep revenue up, as sales of new products remain flat. We have aligned our revenue and service delivery models accordingly. The services and support part of our business has seen a sharp upswing in the last year," says Marlon Reddy, senior manager: business support at Comparex Africa`s CDE division.
The division, involved in ERP implementation and support, is focusing heavily on additional support and value-driven offerings. Among these is a new offering that focuses extracting value out of existing ERP implementations, Ongoing Value Optimisation (oVo).
"Many users are sitting with expensive ERP systems and haven`t used a quarter of the available capability. We are looking to add new dimension products such as CRM and BI offerings, but most importantly, we are involved in the optimisation of the systems," explains Reddy.
This drive to reach higher revenues in a soft software market has benefited the client. Clients can demand improved levels of service, which in turn benefits their business in a tangible way.
"One of the knock-on benefits of the support and service delivery drive has been the drafting of tough service level agreements (SLAs). Clients now understand that a more formal structure in contracts, with measurable deliveries for both parties, means they are firmly in the driver`s seat," says Reddy.
Technology has also changed, and Reddy says Comparex Africa has become more proactive in its service offerings.
Remote monitoring devices, which detect systems flaws as well as advanced reporting tools, mean service providers can now detect and rectify faults before they result in system failures.
"This kind of remote administration and support has resulted in less down-time, higher levels of performance and economies of scale. Ultimately, a slowdown in the market has meant we have had to be far more business-driven, service providers have to understand the client`s business far better and move to create technology packages which derive real business benefits," concludes Reddy.
Share
Editorial contacts