1978 was a year of world firsts: Intel introduced its revolutionary 16-bit 8086 chip; the world's first ever cellular telephone was launched in Illinois; and the first spreadsheet, Visicalc, released for the Apple II. Space Invaders was the hot computer game and gold had reached an all-time high of $200. In September of that year, in a backroom in Johannesburg, South Africa, brothers Chris and Phil Duff launched Syspro, now the largest independent, international vendor of enterprise business solutions.
This was the decade in which entrepreneurs like the Duffs understood that competitive advantage could be gained by harnessing, linking and interpreting raw business information. Enterprise software was born. Since then Syspro has become a global leader in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions industry, with offices in the United States, UK, South Africa, Australia and Canada, and representation in India, China and Asia. Syspro also has over 1 500 channel and support partners and more than 14 000 licensed customers in over 60 countries.
“We wrote the first Syspro software in Cobol under the company brand Impact.” says CEO Phil Duff. “In our first decade, we were selling 100 sites a year.
“By 1992, we were making waves in the ERP industry, signing a 64-user system for a large steel manufacturer. However, by 1995 we had realised that the days of Dos were ending and we tackled the six-year task of converting Impact. In 2002 came our biggest deal to date, a 700-user system to a beverage distributor.
“Today our local client base includes some big household names like Bidvest, SABMiller Africa & Asia, Bravo Group, Lithotech/Silveray, Astrapak, Delta Operations, Nissan Diesel, Chubb Security SA, Nestl'e and the Legal Aid Board.”
Looking ahead, Duff says Syspro “wants to make customers more self-sufficient, using Web-based tools to give quicker access to information, ensuring a faster ROI.
“We also want to move from generalised support to a more specialised model where support analysts are experts, not only in the Syspro focused market verticals, but also in product areas such as Lean manufacturing. Syspro will also identify and sign on bigger partners with the ability to address specific vertical markets, creating super VARS for super verticals.”
Duff explains that Syspro's offering is a business solution providing a wide range of ERP solutions, targeted specifically at the mid-market in all types of industries, including accounting, manufacturing and distribution. “Currently, we have a strong focus on vertical markets, where we expect to see critical change. Growth industries from our perspective will continue to include Medical Devices and Food & Beverage because of Lot Traceability requirements. We see new verticals emerging in companies supplying the Oil & Gas industries and any company that is involved with or managing green initiatives.” To mark the 30th anniversary, Syspro has also launched a book aptly named “Thinking About ERP: The executive's guide to setting strategy for buying, implementing and operating ERP.” Says Duff: “It's aimed at business executives to help them regarding their involvement in the buying of ERP systems for their companies.”
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