Johannesburg, 08 Apr 2021
Long before some coined the phrase 'digital transformation', tier one applications carried its banner into the centre of organisations. Chief among them is the enterprise resource planning (ERP), a technology behemoth that commands even more respect and appreciation today than when it surfaced over 30 years ago. Since then, the ERP has evolved considerably, but it remains a monolithic force where size sometimes outpaces value.
For companies, this is a tough balance: systems such as ERPs are critical, yet also very expensive, elaborate and need regular attention to stay in step with the business' requirements. In terms of better customer experiences and improved efficiency, the ERP can be a tremendous catalyst, if it can be aligned with the needs of its users. This is the focus of one of Dimension Data's go-to-markets – Intelligent Business Applications.
Leading IT services provider, Dimension Data, completed its transition to operate as one entity, bringing all its subsidiaries together under a single Dimension Data brand. The powerful combination of people, technology and service delivery has expedited the growth and relevance for cross go-to-market strategies. By bringing together the former brands of Internet Solutions, Britehouse and ContinuitySA, Dimension Data is delivering on its client-centric strategy. The objective is to provide clients with an end-to-end solution to help transform how organisations operate, sell and remain relevant.
Dimension Data’s end-to-end go-to-market positioning begins with Intelligent Infrastructure (II), which is the foundation of the modern enterprise and enables greater agility and flexibility in today’s rapidly changing market. The company provides clients with improved productivity through its Intelligent Workplace (IW) solutions helping connect people, processes, platforms and products. Dimension Data’s Intelligent Business Applications (IBA) accelerates operational efficiency and enables clients to innovate for the future, while its Intelligent Customer Experience (ICX) go-to-market strives to offer meaningful digital client experiences for their clients' customers. Integral to all solutions is Dimension Data’s Intelligent Security (ISec) go-to-market, which helps businesses achieve true organisational resilience.
Ed Gassner, Executive: Intelligent Business Applications, explains: "Everything that our clients do is focused around making their customer experience better. So, everything we do and the applications that we bring to our clients seek to digitise the world, but with one very focused outcome: to improve the customer experience through the systems of record that we deploy and the data that resides within it."
Dimension Data’s Intelligent Business Applications go-to-market brings this crucial element to clients, focusing on improving substantial ERP investments or helping clients adopt such crucial systems. Building on the extensive experience from its former Britehouse subsidiary, Dimension Data Intelligent Business Applications supports and enhances applications from top ERP vendors such as SAP, Oracle, Workday and Microsoft. But they provide much more than just delivering systems.
Beyond deployment
"Clients are heavily invested in such systems, which pretty much do what they set out to do. We take that investment and really start getting a return on it so that the client's customer experience is improved."
Customer experiences are continually evolving, and as such, companies keep improving their processes to meet those expectations. Yet, often the ERP is left out of that conversation or treated as a delicate bystander. No ERP is entirely off the shelf, each carefully calibrated to match business needs. But this creates fragility and technical debt. As such, companies are wary of tampering with these expensive systems in fear of breaking something.
Yet, instead of ignoring the elephant in the room, there can't be a significant improvement around business practices if the ERP is not brought along for the digital journey. This juncture is where the Dimension Data Intelligent Business Applications go-to-market ethos steps in.
Apart from deploying ERPs, Dimension Data’s Intelligent Business Applications go-to-market focuses on improving ERP environments through a combination of business understanding, vertical knowledge and pinpoint development improvements. Dimension Data applies a broad family of business and technical disciplines to deliver precisely the type of enhancements a client requires. It is an important differentiator, as ERP projects are often elaborate and all-consuming.
The same applies to existing ERP estates. Dimension Data helps push improvements to cut costs, create automated processes and tweak specific areas through bespoke development. Their differentiator is that they don't only deploy vendor applications, but also enhance them through their own IP.
Building solutions
"ERP deployments were long cycles with lots of extensive change and slow return on investment, and you had to manage them very tightly. We bring quick returns to our customers. If there's an immediate problem or desired outcome, let us help you fix it. We'll build solutions around whatever you've already got, or we'll move what you've got into the cloud so that we can grab whatever functionality is there for you and modernise in the process."
The traditional approach is to deploy an ERP and then make revenue from services around it. Dimension Data Intelligent Business Applications supports this approach, managed services contribute more than half of its revenues, but it expands managed services to a greater ethos. Dimension Data enhances the ERP through a combination of vertical industry knowledge, process knowledge, turnkey service catalogues, internal IP and co-development.
The right team
Dimension Data’s go-to-market isn't only about deployment, but continual improvement, build solutions that fix business problems directly, co-create enhancements that lead to true digital modernisation, and support these ongoing efforts through robust managed services. Accomplishing all this needs the best people, and Dimension Data has a team of dedicated experts to drive these enhancements through their knowledge. It’s a team effort, able to realise the possibilities in ERP investments towards better customer experiences, lower costs and innovation.
Collaborating with the other intelligent go-to-markets in the Dimension Data stable, we create a strong value proposition that I believe stands us ahead of the rest, says Gassner: "If you're seeking to remove cost and improve the return on investment that you've already made in our business applications, or if you're planning to make new investments in that space, talk to us. We understand different industries, their laws and requirements. And we have products and offerings which can enhance your core business applications. We don't want you to be grappling with big capex investments. We'll operate it as a service and you'll see the continual improvement that takes your business into the future."
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