What do you do if you have an excellent product that's in demand in the market, and insufficient resources to service your clients? You go to someone who can - and merge.
This was the approach taken by Thoth and ALK almost a year ago. The result: their merger with Jera Consulting.
Raymond De Kock, operations director of Jera Consulting, and Jean Mouton, managing director of Jera Consulting, explained the strategy behind their decision to merge with Thoth and ALK: "This was an ideal opportunity for us to grow our client base and gain resources - instantly.
"As a leading provider of Softline Enterprise's Sage Line 500 in Africa, the merger with ALK in particular gave us a definite edge in terms of the African market." Something Jera has taken full advantage of in the year since the merger.
De Kock explains that Jera's modus operandi has enabled them to establish extremely beneficial relationships with these clients - the key being that they are ongoing, long-term relationships.
Bringing its own ready market for Softline Enterprise's Line 500, ALK proved itself an ideal merger prospect. With one of its key challenges being providing skills around Sage Line 500, Jera was the perfect business to partner with them.
De Kock explains: "At Jera, we pride ourselves on our skills and our skills quality. We have a wide range at our disposal - from project managers all the way to junior consultants. We then pick and choose from these as per our clients' requirements. Before the merger, ALK couldn't offer its clients the sort of support and quality service, in terms of skills, that it can now."
"We give clients access to a pool of skills, as opposed to just one consultant. This creates a depth in our service," adds Mouton. This has worked to Jera's advantage as it expands its market even further into Africa.
De Kock and Mouton cite establishing relationships with these "new" clients as one of their key challenges. Both agree, however, that while the merger was initially costly in this regard, a year on they are already starting to feel the long-term benefits.
"We merged essentially based on the potential business the deal offered us. Our value-add was definitely current business as well as growing the business, which we achieved by gaining at least 12 new customers; something that's very hard to do in this industry," says Mouton.
In terms of the business itself, the merger has meant Jera has had to source new skills. "Building a consulting business isn't easy. You have to have the right resources available at the right time," says De Kock. "We're remedying this by doing training of our own - especially when it comes to Softline's products. We're training our staff specifically on Sage Line 500, Sage 1000 and SalesLogix."
As a result of the merger, Jera has become a "real force to be reckoned with" according to its two founders. It is now one of the largest resellers in the industry, with a wide range of products and services on offer.
In a market where customers are demanding more and more integration into other products, it's easy to see why. Jera has responded to this directly by setting up its own development division, which adds great value when delivering integrated solutions. De Kock explains: "The trend in the market is for us to become more 'embodied' in our clients' businesses, to the point of us eventually having permanent resources on each site. The challenge of getting resources is thus critical."
When asked about the Softline Enterprise, De Kock and Mouton are adamant that there's a huge untapped market for them - especially when it comes to Africa. The Softline Enterprise products - especially those of Sage Line 500, Sage 1000 and SalesLogix - are ideal for the continent.
The systems are user-friendly, can be quickly implemented and allow full configuration of screens to limit possible errors when capturing transactions into the system. The market in Nigeria, especially, is growing all the time, with it being practically a household name in the country. "We're seeing increasing demand for the Sage 1000 products all the time. It's an excellent product to have within our stable."
With the full effects of the merger only just starting to be felt by the company itself, it's only a matter of time before Jera's full impact is felt on the market. As to where they see themselves and Jera Consulting in five years' time, De Kock and Mouton just smile: "Definitely bigger - and better."
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Softline Enterprise is a leading supplier of business management solutions, delivering performance and Web capability that is essential for success in today's competitive business environment. Addressing finance, construction, distribution, manufacturing, services, retail requirements, CRM and e-business, the product offering also supports and consolidates activity across expanding business needs. Available on a wide range of operating systems and compatible with a host of industry-leading databases, it gives mid-range and larger organisations the reliability and scalability required to keep ahead of competitors.
Softline Enterprise products are supported through a network of accredited partners, which bring together the individual product and service components to deliver a complete and tailored solution.
Softline Enterprise products include:
Sage 1000 - a new, single business management software application designed to span operations across mid-sized businesses, integrating front office CRM and back office ERP systems. By sharing information between functional areas, businesses can enjoy greater efficiency, experience fewer errors from re-keying of data, and increase service levels by making it easier to give accurate, timely information from across the business to customers.
Sage Line 500 - offering all the advantages of a traditional ERP solution, Sage Line 500 provides tight financial control with full visibility of costs and powerful reporting tools. In addition, it includes an evaluation of market trends to assist customers to make informed strategic decisions. The product also manages cash flow through close budget control and efficient purchase requisitioning and supports international business with multi-language, multi-currency, multi-company features. It includes vertical solutions such as manufacturing, construction and retail.
Sage SalesLogix - an affordable, fully-scaleable and powerful CRM solution that is easily customised for medium-sized and divisions of large corporate businesses. Sage SalesLogix is designed to integrate seamlessly with other business software and back-office applications, providing businesses with a holistic view of each customer.
Softline
Softline is a leading provider of accounting, payroll and CRM software solutions to small, medium and large-sized companies. Founded in 1988 by Ivan Epstein, Alan Osrin and Steven Cohen, Softline was established during the formative years of the software industry and listed on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa in February 1997. Softline expanded to establish a strong position within its area of focus in South Africa and Australia.
Focused on the development of accounting, payroll and CRM software solutions, Softline has a 17-year track-record as a market leader. The group has a broad range of products, offering users a variety of software solutions to run its businesses efficiently. Softline's leading brands include Softline Accpac, Softline Enterprise, Softline Pastel (accounting and payroll) and Softline VIP. The combination of the group's product offerings, provide Softline customers with comprehensive, well-branded accounting, payroll and CRM software solutions.
In November 2003, Softline was acquired by Sage Group, a FTSE 100 company. The software group includes market-leading businesses throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia, supplying business software to the small, medium and large-sized business community.
Softline has a solid track-record of profitability and cash generation. The group delivers quality accounting, payroll and CRM software solutions that improve the efficiencies of businesses around the world.
Sage
The Sage Group is a leading supplier of accounting and business management software solutions and services to 5.2 million small and medium-sized clients worldwide. With over 13 000 employees, the Sage Group comprises market-leading businesses throughout Europe, United Kingdom, North America, South Africa and Australia. Its products and services are sold through a global network of 23 000 reseller partners, 40 000 accountants as well as directly to clients from Sage companies throughout the world. For the financial year ending 30 September 2006, the group's revenue grew by 22% to lb935.6 million and the operating profit rose by 18% to lb235.8 million.
Jera Consulting
Jera Consulting provides leading-edge worldwide business system solutions to its customers and achieves value-added results for its stakeholders, while providing a challenging work environment and maintaining the necessary skill levels. It is a service-orientated provider of value-added business systems and solutions.
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