Supported Software, the sole representative of IXOS Software in sub-Saharan Africa, reports that its local IXOS Software user base has grown significantly from five user companies at five sites in 1997 to 24 user companies at more than 42 sites countrywide at the end of 2000.
"The success of having a user base representing 90% of the installed data and document archiving third-party systems within the SAP R/3 environment in Southern Africa is a huge success and, in part, we attribute this to our strong alliance with SAP Africa, which is responsible for all SAP R/3 support and implementation in Africa," says Supported Software product marketing manager Rob Shaw.
For the last five years, Supported Software, part of JSE-listed Datacentrix Holdings, has represented German-based IXOS Software, of which SAP - also a German company - owns a percentage.
IXOS Software works closely with SAP AG as a technology partner within the data and document archiving arena. In 1994, IXOS partnered with SAP to co-develop ArchiveLink, which was the original bridge between SAP R3 and Archive Storage. Later, SAP and IXOS co-developed the Internet Transaction Server (ITS), also currently offered by SAP.
As recently as June 2000, SAP and IXOS Software signed an agreement to extend their strong relationship into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software market. This commitment involves further development and implementation of service processes and document-based solutions in mySAP CRM. Building on many years of successful partnership, IXOS and SAP will focus on integrating and developing document interfaces for CRM applications and extending document integration in mySAP CRM.
Also, last year, SAP acquired the product rights to the IXOS Mobile/3 solution, which provides service engineers working in the field with on-site and constant on-demand access to all service and maintenance documents through mobile terminals, enabling enhanced customers service at a lower cost.
"Due to the close involvement of IXOS and SAP in Germany and Supported Software's strong partnership with IXOS Software, Supported Software's relationship with SAP Africa is also extremely important and is maintained at a high-level," emphasised Shaw.
Supported Software is a SAP certified Complementary Software Partner and a member of SAP Africa's Complementary Software Partner (CSP) Program.
"Collaboration through the CSP Program assists in the delivery of complete, technically verified, turnkey software solutions to joint customers with reduced implementation times and costs. The goal is to minimise disruption of existing applications and to safeguard existing software investments. Clearly this, with in excess of 600 certified applications, positions SAP R/3 as the most open ERP solution available in the market today," says SAP Africa alliance manager John Turner.
The CSP Program provides dedicated resources to support interested third-party vendors in developing their integrated solution with mySAP components. In addition, SAP Africa offers professional services, such as specific training programmes, special test and demo licenses, technical integration consulting, as well as focused business and marketing support.
Locally, the CSP Program includes companies, such as Supported Software, that provide products with proved inter-operability with a mySAP component and that add significant value to these mySAP components. IXOS Software's product and service offerings fall into this product classification.
Supported Software has five certified installations and support engineers and four data and document archiving consultants dedicated to the support of IXOS software and SAP R/3 in Southern Africa.
Supported Software is also a partner with SAP Africa in its ability to present document and data archiving courses to SAP users, and is certified by IXOS' training arm - iXtrain - to give courses in all IXOS products and related systems.
Supported Software is hoping for a large increase in the demand for these courses because the IXOS user base is increasing by leaps and bounds in South Africa.
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Supported Software
Supported Software (Pty) Ltd, a company in the JSE-listed IT group Datacentrix Holdings, has been providing IT infrastructure optimisation solutions for the top 200 South African companies since 1992. Supported Software offers electronic business integration, document and data management and network storage integration services. The electronic business integration division integrates processes on disparate platforms and optimises resources, while the document and data management division focuses on SAP and Microsoft Exchange environments. The network storage integration division provides software, hardware and consulting services to large companies implementing enterprise-wide data storage solutions. In these spaces, Supported Software represents major software solution vendors, such as ADIC, Computer Associates, IXOS, Landmark Systems, Sterling Commerce, Veritas and XcelleNet.