Across the world, United VARs members are seeing a big increase in both small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) who want to move more of their business processes to the cloud. We interviewed Ctac, the United VARs member for The Netherlands and Belgium, about this growing trend of moving to the Cloud.
Real-time, data-driven insights
Tobias Pauwels, Sales Manager at Ctac Belgium: Over the last 18 months, we have had companies contact us mostly about data management, governance, security and especially analytics. Growing companies are very interested in how to get real-time insights so they can better understand their organisation’s performance. The Covid crisis has accelerated this need because organisations have been looking for ways to adapt and to improve but this is difficult when they don’t yet have an accurate view of their business.
Niek Verhaar, Business Development Manager Cloud Services at Ctac Belgium: At the start of the pandemic, organisations still using on-premise software were restricted in how much they could adapt. They didn’t have the agility in their technology landscape which really held back their business from being able to adapt and change quickly. This prompted more companies to approach us to see how they could move to the cloud, or to a hybrid model, and adapt their business processes to be more agile and to get the data-driven insights they need to move their business forward.
SAP Cloud ERP for the Intelligent Enterprise
Tobias Pauwels: We like to take our customers further by applying augmented and predictive analytics to understand trends hidden in their data lakes and to get deeper insights into how they can improve their processes. Unlocking the information in their data can empower them to create new business models and to see new opportunities that were hidden from them previously.
Unifying data from a variety of sources into one system and applying advanced analytics and other intelligent technologies enables companies to evolve into Intelligent Enterprises: resilient and responsive to changes in the market and in customer demands and expectations.
Niek Verhaar: This kind of advanced functionality is both affordable and relatively fast to implement in the Cloud. All SAP Cloud ERP solutions have intelligent technologies built-in, such as machine learning and AI, but these are difficult to access for the midmarket companies who only want to run on-premise solutions. Larger organisations can afford the upfront fee for these advanced technologies, but the cost is usually prohibitive for smaller businesses.
Delivering Cloud solutions in a multi-tenant environment shares the cost across a set of small and midsized customers. The software-as-a-service model then spreads that already-reduced cost across a series of monthly or yearly payments which makes it far more accessible for smaller budgets.
Business transformation as a service with SAP RISE
Niek Verhaar: We offer SAP RISE which turns business transformation into a service and enables organisations to move to SAP S/4HANA without the traditional upfront costs and lengthier implementation times. They can choose which elements they need under a single ‘pay per use’ contract and add on functionality as they grow and their needs develop. This makes it far easier for midsize businesses to accelerate their digital transformation.”
Tobias Pauwels: Cloud, or hybrid models which include Cloud applications, is far more scalable than on-premise models. It truly speeds up an organisation’s transformation of their processes. For example, during Covid restrictions we worked remotely to get a well-known Belgium retailer onto SAP S/4HANA within seven months. That’s incredibly quick for a Greenfield SAP implementation.
But of course, transformation isn’t just about the technology. People are at the heart of any organisation and at Ctac we recognise the importance of being user-centric with any business transformation.
We enable end-users to perform at their best by adopting new technologies and get them actively involved right at the beginning of the implementation project. We can quickly get them to be familiar with these new SAP Cloud technologies, but also help them optimise their workflows and automate repetitive processes for greater accuracy and to save a lot of time.
About Ctac
Ctac is the United VARs member for The Netherlands and Belgium. The company helps organisations to realise their ambitions, reduce costs, increase margins, streamline processes and optimally serve their customers. Ctac offers a variety of technology solutions services around SAP’s digital core, such as Customer Engagement, Digital Transformation, Supply Chain, Financial Services and Business Productivity.
About United VARs
United VARs is certified with the highest SAP status as Platinum Partner. It is an alliance of leading IT solution providers in approximately 100 countries to guarantee the best service and support for your international SAP implementations, ERP optimisation projects, and cross-border nearshoring. Are you planning a global SAP rollout? Watch the United VARs video
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