Visitors to Futurex and Equip Cape will be able to see SAP Business One, the SAP business solution for small businesses, live in action. They will be able to see why this popular world-class solution has achieved 10 000 customers worldwide in less than two years.
They will be able to talk to some of the SAP business partners specialising in the sale and implementation of SAP Business One in this region and discuss with them the business reasons why the solution has worked so well for such a range of different organisations - from wholesale and retail nurseries, food manufacturers, publishers and advertising agencies to sporting goods stores, accounting associations, and electronics parts suppliers.
One of the strategic reasons the solution works so well, according to SAP Africa`s director of small and medium enterprises, Brett Parker, is its affordability. "The strength most small businesses have is agility and intimacy with their customers. What they lack is information about their markets and their own operations. By contrast, big businesses don`t have agility and intimacy but do have powerful systems that collect and manage their information - improving their ability to make strategic decisions.
"Small businesses prefer to run the risk of operating blind rather than incur the perceived cost of such systems - not realising how substantial the risk actually is in a market that shifts as quickly as today`s. You need real-time information to enable you to respond quickly and accurately when the market changes.
"So, we designed SAP Business One specifically to make it affordable for businesses with no more than 100 employees and up to R100 million in revenue to have the sophisticated systems they need without the costly implementation and maintenance and management costs of bigger systems.
"Clearly, it`s hitting the mark - as our sales figures show. Customers have realised that there is no other software in the mid-market with such comprehensive, out-of-the-box, integrated and therefore affordable capabilities."
SAP Business One is also implemented according to a specific SAP-backed methodology, with the aim of reducing the cost and time burdens for small businesses of an implementation.
"Our research shows that small businesses were becoming victims of an installation rather than an implementation mentality among vendors," Parker says. "There`s a significant difference in value for the customer, because an installation simply entails the loading of software onto hardware and ensuring that it runs. An implementation, on the other hand, ensures that the solution is aligned with the customer`s business strategy and processes and follows a formal implementation strategy and methodology that cuts cost and risk for the customer.
"So we`ve laid down an optimal technology architecture framework and implementation methodology that ensures that every SAP Business One implementation is consistent and predictable. And all our SAP Business One partners use the architecture and methodology, so customers are assured of the lowest cost, most relevant implementation no matter which business partner they use."
Futurex Cape will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 27 to 29 September and will be collocated with eQuip and a new business equipment show.
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Exhibitions for Africa (EFA) is South Africa`s leading business-to-business exhibition organiser. EFA evolved from TML Exhibitions, through TML Reed Exhibitions and Reed Exhibitions SA, into Exhibitions for Africa. Today, EFA is recognised as the trade exhibition industry leader in South Africa.
A well-established BEE company, EFA organises and manages over 15 sector-specific exhibitions on a biannual schedule of events in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western and Eastern Cape. All events have established places on the South African businessman`s calendar.
With an emphasis on quality and service delivery, and a mission to deliver business contacts that create value for clients, Exhibitions for Africa is capable of providing the full range of services required to launch, organise and manage world-class exhibitions. EFA`s management practices are well respected in the exhibitor community and the company`s delivery is without equal in the industry.
The company has formed outstanding relationships with the media - trade, technical and business - working cooperatively to promote shows.
Furthermore, most of the company`s shows are strategically aligned to key initiatives and economic drivers.
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