The document discusses the integration of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems with blockchain technology, highlighting how companies like SAP and Oracle are enhancing operational efficiency and data security. It emphasizes the benefits of implementing effective ERP solutions for businesses of all sizes and showcases several top SAP solution providers recognized for their expertise. Additionally, it touches on the influence of social media on marketing strategies and the importance of adapting ERP systems to meet changing market dynamics.

1. Technology CEOs Business FeaturesLeadership CIOs
U.S. Issue May 2019
Thomas Herbst
MD & Founder
www.thesiliconreview.com
Fastest Growing
SR 201910 SAPSolution Providers
Blockchain and ERP: The Vendors’ Effort to Mix Them / Pg No - 08
The Right
Path to
Transformation
apsolut
The Right
Path to
Transformation
apsolut

3. 3May - 2019

4. Best,
Vishnu Vardhan Kulkarni
Managing Editor, The Silicon Review
editor@thesiliconreview.com
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Editor’s Note Rohit Baruah
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Anirudh Prasad
Anusha
ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) = PRE (Power of
Resource Efficiency)
How do you improve your business efficiency
while simplifying your business operation?
How do you extract maximum benefits out of
a business? The answer is ‘by implementing
the right ERP system.’ Every company from
the smallest shop to the largest multinational
corporation needs technological resources to
stay organized and ERP business solutions have
been helping in this arena since ever.
SAP, known as one of the most reliable ERP
solutions provider, is in the effort since more
than 4 decades to supply organizations with the
ERP tools they need. Implementing SAP systems
seems to be highly advantageous for companies
irrespective of their shapes and sizes. It offers
solutions that are quite useful for the businesses
which are in their initial stages or at their prime.
To widen the reach of and help companies gain
more benefit of SAP services, many reputable
companies have partnered with SAP and are
helping other companies to implement right
ERP systems and maximize their business
performance like never before.
The Silicon Review “10 Fastest Growing SAP
Solution Providers 2019.” These companies
are not only the exceptional solution finders, but
are helping other companies to better manage
their data, information, and operations through
business automation. The companies that are
enlisted are the trusted partners of SAP and are
known for their simplest yet flawless solutions
for resource planning complexities.
Success recognized to the fullest!

6. A dedicated SAP Consultancy providing Excellent Customers Service: Absoft
Ian Mechie, Managing Director 10
34
14
38
18
42
22
46
50
54
Guiding Businesses to a Guaranteed Successful ERP System: Boyum IT
Mikael Boyum, CEO & President
Experts in tackling the Toughest IT Challenges: Symmetry
Pete Stevenson, Chairman & CEO
A well-renowned SAP Revenue Recognition Services Partner: Bramasol
Dave Fellers, CEO
Helping Clients Optimize Their Business Processes and Adjust Their SAP
Software: abat
Gyde Wortmann, Co-founder & Management Board Member
IT Professional Services Consultancy Specialized in Solving Customer Business
Challenges: Vision33
Tony Whalen, President
Greenlight Technologies: Governance Automated
TM
Anand Adya, Founder & CEO
Committed To Innovation and Giving Back To the Society: Applexus Technologies
Sam Mathew, Founder & CEO
A Reliable IT Partner Known for Solving Business Challenges: Invenio
Arun Bala, CEO
Driving Better Business through Actionable Intelligence: Column5
David Den Boer, Chairman & Founder
C o n t e n t sC o n t e n t s
Vol - 1.3 | ISSUE - 1 | May 2019 (U.S. Issue)

7. 26
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24
12
32
16
36
20
40
44
48
52
56
Blockchain and ERP: The Vendors’ Effort to Mix Them
Social Selling: The ERP Transformation
An Overview of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) Systems
SAP CEO Bill McDermott at 30th Annual SAPPHIRE NOW Conference: ‘We Want
Everyone to Remember their Xs and Os’
The Advantages of Moving To a Cloud-Based ERP
SAP IoT Leonardo Is Powering the Intelligent Enterprise of Tomorrow
Collaborating with Ecosystem: SAP Announces New Project ‘Embrace’
SAP S/4HANA Cloud ERP Goes Live at Kāpura in 28 days
Strategic Enterprise Management
How Incorporating AI and Machine Learning In ERP Systems Lead to Enhanced
Productivity
Why ERP Software Is an Essential Platform for Business Development
Enterprise Software to Influence Global IT Expenditure Hike
TheRight
Pathto
Transformation
apsolut
C O V E R S T O R Y
Thomas Herbst| MD | Founder
F e a t u r e A r t i c l e sF e a t u r e A r t i c l e s

8. M
any narrowly targeted
ERP players along with
the giants in the industry
are on the path of exploring the
mixture of ERP and blockchain.
Their platforms are said to
combine with blockchain to
bring in new levels of trust and
efficiency to extend supply chain
interactions. Major players such
as Oracle and SAP are working
on integrating support for
blockchain into their core ERP
platforms, while also announcing
specific sets of blockchain
services as part of their broader
cloud initiatives. Taking this to
a whole new level is what these
companies want to do.
Blockchain and SAP
Offering blockchain as a service
is what SAP does. Mainly
constructed as a low-risk
way for businesses that is to
initiate experimenting with the
technology and integrate it into
their SAP environments. The
one thing that stands out here
is HANA blockchain service that
will deliver analytics capabilities
for working with blockchain
data. SAP is ever expanding and
now it is working to integrate
blockchain tools into its core
enterprise platforms, including
ERP, to support specific use
cases. That being said there can
be major power-ups for the firm.
SAP has made this available
in the industry as specific
track-and-trace capabilities to
support the counterfeiting and
illicit trade requirements of
the pharmaceutical industry.
Furthermore, it also aids for
co-innovation pilots for track
and trace of goods across the
supply chain. Not to mention
the fact that it helps in achieving
real-time visibility into global
and domestic transportation and
logistics management.
Many experts say that the two
important building blocks for
blockchain and ERP are a system
of record and trust, and putting
those together is an important
combination. When you have
multiple entities that don’t trust
each other, blockchain came in
into the picture. It has helped in
maintaining both security and
trust between these entities. So
far it has brought success, but we
still need to see how things turn
out in the future.
Blockchain
Capabilities
Explored by IFS
IFS has been offering
ERP system that is mainly
focusing on companies that
are centered on complex
products or assets. The
combination of blockchain
and ERP is an interesting way
to deliver a single version of
an asset’s maintenance history
to various stakeholders, which
means it becomes clear and
easy for these stakeholders to
understand the whole scenario.
Mainly focusing on transparency,
this firm is said to move to
the next phone just by the
collaboration of both.
Applications of Oracle
Blockchain
Oracle did come up with a suite
of case-specific blockchain
applications developed with the
company’s Blockchain Cloud
Service. It is further linked to
the cloud-based supply chain
management, including the
ERP platforms. The app has
Intelligent Track and Trace
that is mainly focusing on
end-to-end traceability of
goods. Furthermore, it helps
in a supply chain; Lot Lineage
and Provenance, regulatory
compliance, targeted recalls
and counterfeiting prevention.
Intelligent Cold Chain is in it, in
order to ensure the quality and
safety of refrigerated goods as
they proceed through the supply
chain. Warranty and Usage
Tracking for replacing paper-
based processes with automated
usage tracking on high-value
assets is also presented by
Oracle.
This is how these companies have
been focusing on the market.
With the growth happening
we will be seeing some new
and fascinating changes in the
market. The ERP market needs
to be collaborating with others
in order to develop the best path
so that others can follow. Already
giants like the above-mentioned
companies are creating a path
and with that in mind, other
companies and leaders will
understand its value to soon
see a high potential for the
mixture of blockchain and ERP.
Blockchain and ERP: The
SR
8 May - 2019

9. Vendors’ Effort to Mix Them
9May - 2019

10. A dedicated SAP Consultancy providing
Excellent Customers Service: Absoft
E
stablished in 1991, Absoft is
an expert SAP consultancy,
preconfigured templates,
solutions, and accelerators. It
delivers the best business and
technical solutions for clients’
individual needs to the highest
standards of quality, quickly. Absoft
consistently provides excellent
customer service, which is achieved
through committed, trained, and
competent employees.
If businesses are working with SAP,
then Absoft can save their time
and money, leading to increased
revenue and bottom line impact. It
works with clients within a variety
of industry sectors, including
manufacturing, local authority,
pharmaceuticals, transport,
wholesale, distribution, and energy.
Absoft’s Mission and
Vision
Absoft is driving operational
excellence and enhanced business
performance through SAP best
practice. Absoft’s success as an
SAP consultancy for over 25 years
has been based on combining
its in-depth understanding of
clients’ business processes with its
technical expertise in SAP. It helpsits
customers put in place the most
effective processes for enhanced
business performance. Its solutions
are tailored for each customer and
it is proud to stand by them for the
long term.
• Absoft is a strategic business
process advisor and SAP
partner of choice
• Absoft’s dedicated staffs provide
outstanding quality, service, and
value
• Absoft invests in its people,
providing them with the
best possible opportunities
for personal growth and
development
Its vision is to deliver lasting and
enduring value for its business, and
for its customers.
SAP Implementations
SAP Finance
Implementations: Absoft’s SAP
finance and control consultants
can help clients implement the best
practice finance and accounting
solution for clients’ business. With
clearer visibility and control, they
can not only improve internal
reporting and attainment of their
KPI targets but they can also
demonstrate that they meet external
statutory requirements with less
time and stress involved. Many of
its clients work with production
sharing agreements, which
introduces the added complexity of
rechargeable costs and reporting.
Absoft offers unique expertise with
SAP’s Joint Venture Accounting
application. It provides a real-time
view of expenditure throughout
the entire project lifecycle. With
“Absoft is
dedicated to
providing
excellent
customer
service
delivered by
outstanding
people.”
Ian Mechie, Managing Director

11. 11May - 2019
full integration into SAP’s plant
maintenance and materials
management software, this solution
can accurately track, allocate, and
recover costs for any operations.
SAP Operational
Implementations: It enables
clients to holistically manage their
maintenance and operations in
order to achieve the best possible
performance standards. Its
implementation expertise covers:
• Plant Maintenance
• Materials Management
• Extended Warehouse
Management
• Supplier Relationship
Management
• Remote Logistics Management
• Production Planning
• Fixed Assets Management
• Quality Management
• Project System
SAP S/4HANA: Absoft can assist
its clients in understanding the
power of S/4HANA and help them
to prepare the supporting business
case and gain the business buy-in
that is critical in getting the green
light to progress their S/4HANA
future. S/4HANA implementations
typically assume one of two variants:
• Conversion: The conversion
variant is characterized
by basing the S/4HANA
implementation on an existing
SAP ECC system. Absoft’s mix
of functional and technical
expertise helps clients plan
and execute the upgrade and
conversion process minimizing
disruption to the business and
maximizing the value they
derive from S/4HANA
• New System: The other variant
is based on the implementation
of the S/4HANA system from
scratch. This variant is selected
not only by new SAP customers
but also by some existing SAP
customers who want to take
the opportunity to re-baseline
and ensure they achieve digital
transformation and not be
influenced by the previous
system
Cloud Services and ERP
Solutions
Absoft ADIMA: Specifically
built to meet the needs of UK
Small & Medium Enterprise
manufacturers, Absoft ADIMA is
a pre-configured, affordable ERP
solution, covering the key functions
of a manufacturing business. Truly
a single-system solution, Absoft
ADIMA provides real-time insight
into the performance and financial
health of businesses across mobile,
tablet, laptop, and desktop devices
and can be up and running in clients’
organization in as little as twelve
weeks.
Cloud Readiness Assessment
(Evaluate): Cloud Readiness
Assessment (Evaluate) should
be the very first step of clients’
cloud considerations. They can’t
turn around without someone
mentioning the ‘cloud’ today but
finding what works for clients and
provides them economies of scale
and a return on the investment of
moving is an important factor.
CloudReady Landscape
(Prepare): If businesses are
preparing to get the most from
moving SAP to the cloud, Absoft can
help them with rationalizing their
SAP landscape, archiving data, or
upgrading the system in preparation
for the move to the cloud.
Cloud Migration: As SAP is
fully supported on multiple public
IaaS cloud services, Absoft offers
a vendor-agnostic service to help
clients build and run their SAP
systems in the cloud. Its service
covers all they need to move SAP
into the cloud, from optimal system
sizing and virtual machine layout
to backup and disaster recovery
planning.
Meet the Leader
Ian Mechie, Managing Director: Ian Co-founded Absoft in 1991 and has played a key role in driving the
company’s development and shaping the organization. He has worked in the IT industry for more than 30 years,
mainly as a consultant helping customers to implement SAP, having become involved in the SAP arena when R/3
was initially released in 1992.
Ian is now focused full time on his role as Managing Director of Absoft whilst remaining abreast of new
developments as SAP expands its product portfolio. Away from work, he is a loyal foot soldier in the Tartan Army,
enjoys playing golf, and has eclectic tastes in music.
SR

12. S
ocial media has completely
changed the game. It has
brought in more and more
ways to market one’s product
and services. Customers can be
reached even better either by
paid services or even for free. The
user count is increasing day by
day; maybe by 2020, we might see
around 3 billion users in social
media. The search engines in
social media have also improved,
where companies are using
certain algorithms to track users
based on their search interest.
Customers will only see what they
are interested in and what they
are looking for in the future. This
is how businesses now see the
future for marketing. Gone are
those days where you hand over
a flyer or call people to a certain
location in order to promote your
products. In the present time,
even the B2B industry uses social
media to execute their marketing
plans.
One of the famous platforms in
the current market is Facebook
since it has the highest user count
in various regions. Followed
by Instagram and Twitter and
although YouTube does play its
part, the way Facebook does
it is completely different. Now
Facebook has even changed its
algorithm in order to take away
any false marketing and it is not
certain what the other reasons
are.
But in the end, it comes to the
strategy which companies apply
to make their mark and how
they reach out to customers.
This is where the enterprise
management system comes in
to picture. It has evolved over
the years to keep up with the
digitization and changing market
dynamics. It is important that
every vertical has some changes
in them, including ERP. Further,
this has become the reason for
the traction ERP has gained. Many
changes have taken place and
seeing the ERP change is not a
shock. Today all businesses have
access to a diverse range of ERP
systems including cloud-based
(SaaS), modular, mobile, etc.
Now there are ERP solutions that
support seamless integration
with social media channels, which
opened new doors to the world
of what we refer to it as ‘social
selling’ today.
The Social Media
Bubble and its Inflation
Businesses clearly have a vantage
point when it comes to getting
close and understanding their
customers because of the fact that
every five out of ten individuals
are active on some of the other
social media platforms across
the globe. That is why the wagon
of social media marketing is
gradually increasing. Brand
identity is certainly improved and
through ERP system improvement
it is even taken to another level.
ERP systems are even important
because it is helping businesses
drive the streamlining of the
internal communications and
interacting of customers. This
also includes vendors and
partners.
Businesses can keep track of
social media history, online
behaviours, profiles and much
more through ERP solutions by
allowing seamless integration
with leading social media
platforms. The data here is like
gold to marketers and sales
professionals. It is because of the
fact that it comes to providing the
best customer experience to their
customers across all the key touch
points. In order to stay on the
same page, it is essential to have
the interactive discussion threads
that will aid in the marketing
channels’ development. That is
how the small social media bubble
is inflating and soon in the future
we might see marketing taking
place only in social media.
The Importance of
Social Selling and
Personalization of
Customer Experience
In order to provide the best
customer services, it is essential
to have a personalized plan. In the
current era, it is seen that dealing
with the most intelligent, smart
breed and connected customers
can be a difficult task. But if you
can tap into the right wavelength,
gaining a hold on these customers
becomes easy and they will surely
remain loyal to you. Thus, having
a personalized central hub that is
mainly focusing on ERP software
is the right way to go since
you will have a better business
process, track projects and even
have better customer
engagement.
Social Selling: The ERP
Transformation
SR

13. 13May - 2019

14. 14 May - 2019
Guiding
Businesses
to a
Guaranteed
Successful
ERP
System
Boyum IT
I
n today’s crowded ERP
landscape, industry specialization
is a key to differentiate oneself
from other vendors. While
customers and partners are looking
for industry-specific solutions to
reduce implementation timescales,
costs, and total cost of ownership,
Boyum IT positions itself as
industry experts of industry-focused
products and solutions for discrete
and process industries.
The journey began in 1997 when
Mikael Boyum founded MBJ
Electronics focused on hardware.
Slowly the company focused more
and more on web-solutions. And
in 2001, that resulted in MBJ
Electronics changing its name to
Boyum IT.
Solution Offerings
The Boyum Pack: The
Boyum Pack is a suite of add-
ons which make SAP Business
One an even more usable and
intuitive environment to work in.
Whether clients want to add to
the functionality of SAP Business
One, or simply streamline the user
experience, the Boyum Pack is an
award-winning and obvious place
to start.
Manufacturing: Listening to
the pulse of manufacturing to
maximize throughput enables
manufacturers to respond
proactively to problems and
reduce downtime in the plant.
With an increasing bill of material
complexity and multi-constraint
production resources such as
machines, tooling and labor skills,
businesses’ ability to provide
accurate customer delivery dates
is getting to be a complex task. In
some cases, the production staffs
are recording data on the paper
creating a lack of production
visibility, especially when trying
to manually plan multiple
resource types simultaneously.
These resources need to be
optimized to maximize production
output, reduce change over and
setups while meeting customer
demand. With Beas Manufacturing
capacity planning, initial delivery
dates can be calculated via finite
backward scheduling. Combining
with Beas Manufacturing APS, both
material availability and capacity
can be scheduled together to
calculate the capability to promise
delivery date while allows clients
to effectively plan large numbers of
short-run production orders.
Beas modules: Beas
Manufacturing concentrates on a
number of additional modules for
manufacturing industries in order
to map their business processes.
Beas Manufacturing basis functions
are included in the Beas standard
version. All other functions are add-
on modules, which can be added
individually.
Warehouse Management
Solutions: Logistics management
is a key element of a company’s
business and operations
management. The logistics function
plans, implements, and controls
the efficient, effective forward, and
Mikael Boyum
CEO & President

15. 15May - 2019
reverse flow and storage of goods,
services, and related information
between the point of origin and the
point of consumption in order to
meet customers’ requirements.
In order to ensure optimal logistics
management, it is necessary to
align the administrative processes
in the office environment with
the operational processes in the
warehouse.
CRM for Outlook: Successful
companies excel at establishing
meaningful relationships with their
business partners, whether they’re
leads, customers and suppliers.
Even companies with irresistible
products and services can fail if
they don’t make and maintain the
right connections. After all, deals
are closed by people interacting
with each other and forging trusted
working relationships.
One-time customers won’t make
companies grow. Leading a business
to success relies on gathering a base
of loyal and satisfied customers and
building solid relationships with
suppliers is equally as important.
CRM for Outlook is the ultimate
solution for developing great
relationships inside and outside
the business, delivering the key
benefits which will drive companies
to achieve outstanding results.
SAP Solution Provider-
SAP Business One
The SAP Business One application
offers an affordable way to
manage a client’s entire business
from accounting and financials,
purchasing, inventory, sales, and
customer relationships and project
management to operations and
human resources. SAP Business
One helps client’s to streamline
processes, gain a greater insight
into their business.
SAP HANA: Speed and agility
are vital to outmaneuvering
larger competitors with greater
resources. Businesses need to
understand the implications of
every decision and action without
losing momentum or losing sight
of vision. That’s why over 55,000
enterprises worldwide trust the
SAP Business One application
to manage their finances, sales,
customers, purchasing, inventory,
and production planning.
SAP Business One mobile
applications: Companies can
give their entire team the power
to accomplish business tasks from
their iOS or Android devices with
mobile access to SAP Business
One, software that enables small
businesses to manage their key
processes. The SAP Business One
Sales mobile app for Android and
Apple iOS lets clients effectively
handle clients’ sales activities
anywhere, anytime. The mobile
app connects to the SAP Business
One application, giving sales and
service people access to the most
relevant business information
and processes, for efficient
and successful management of
customers and sales.
“As a certified SAP Gold Partner and multi-award-
winning company, we are passionate about helping
partners and customers reach new levels of success.”
SR

16. 16 May - 2019
An Overview of
(ERP) Systems
E
very organization performs
certain basic function i.e.
managing people, buying or
selling something (products or
services), and accounting. While
each firm varies in the way it deals
with these functions, it is important
to have an integrated software
platform to handle these processes.
That’s where enterprise resource
planning (ERP) systems come in
play.
ERP system is used to streamline,
standardize, and integrate different
business processes across finance,
procurement, human resources,
and other core functionalities.
It comes under the category of
business management software. It
is used to track business resources
like capital, raw materials, etc. and
manage business commitments
like purchase orders, payroll,
etc.
ERPs were initially limited
to manufacturing companies.
The term ERP first came into
existence in the 1990s. As ERP
systems’ scope was seen beyond
manufacturing, Gartner created
the abbreviation to extend upon
the capabilities of Material
Requirements Planning (MRP), and
the later Manufacturing Resource
Planning (MRP II). ERP systems
rapidly expanded in the 90s
because of disruption in the legacy
systems. Many companies took
the opportunity to replace their
old systems with ERP. It originally
focused on back-office functions
that did not affect customers
directly. Front office functions like
customer relationship management
(CRM) or supplier relationship
management (SRM) were integrated
later in ERP II which was coined by
Gartner in 2000. It was a web-based
platform that provided real-time
access to ERP systems to
employees and partners.
Today, ERPs are extended to
service-related companies
including sectors like healthcare,
higher education, hospitality,
financial services, government,
etc. ERP systems typically operate
on an integrated software platform
using a single database and
common data definitions.
Although ERP systems can be
differentiated on the basis of scale,
scope, and functionalities, most
of them have similar features.
Following are some of the key
features of ERP systems:
• Enterprise-wide Integration:
Business processes are
integrated end-to-end across
various departments and
business units. For example,

17. Enterprise Resources Planning
the order and shipment
process of companies selling
a product is the same: a new
order automatically initiates a
credit check, queries product
availability, and updates the
distribution schedule. Once the
order is shipped, the invoice
is sent. The same process is
repeated for every order
• Real-time (or near real-time)
Operations: The problems in
an ERP system are identified
quickly, as all the processes
are linked to a single software,
which gives companies more
time to rectify the problem
• A common database: Of all
the advantages ERPs offer,
having a common database is
one of the most important ones.
It allows data to be defined
once for the enterprise with
every department using the
same definition. This has led to
compliance by all departments
to the same approved data
standards. While some
organizations believe that
having a single database to rely
on is better, others have split the
physical database to improve
performance
• Consistent look and feel: ERP
software with a consistent user
interface reduces training costs
and appears more professional.
Most ERP vendors try to restore
the consistent user interface for
better performance
ERP improves business performance
in several ways. Following are the
points that explain the benefits of
Enterprise Resource Planning:
• Internal efficiency: ERP
systems increase business
efficiency as they enable
enterprises to reduce the time
required to complete virtually
every business process
• Better decision-making: ERPs
promote better decision-making
as it functions around common
data definitions. Shared data
eliminates wastage of time
and it permits departments
to spend their time analyzing
data, drawing conclusions, and
making better decisions
• Increased agility:
Standardization and
simplification
provided by
ERP systems
create a
more agile
enterprise that
can adapt quickly
while increasing the
potential for collaboration
• Enhanced security: While it
is a difficult task to centralize
database with enterprise data,
it is easier to secure data. It
provides enhanced security
compared to data scattered over
hundreds of servers in closets
or under desks
Basically, ERP systems improve
enterprise efficiency and
effectiveness by integrating financial
information and orders, providing
insights from customer information,
and standardizing and speeding
manufacturing, HRM, procurement,
etc.
SR

18. 18 May - 2019
Experts in
tackling the
Toughest IT
Challenges
Symmetry
F
ounded more than 20 years
ago, Symmetry has built a
base of expertise unmatched
by any other independent SAP
service provider. It provides one of
the industries’ most advanced SAP
hosting platforms, and its service
portfolio includes expert application
management across all deployment
environments: on-premise; hosted;
and private, public and hybrid cloud.
It also provides award-winning
governance, risk, and compliance
(GRC) solution, ControlPanelGRC
®
,
for comprehensive compliance
automation of SAP environments.
Symmetry™ manages complex SAP®
implementations on a global scale
for more than 200 of the world’s
leading enterprises in challenging
and heavily-regulated industries
such as healthcare, financial
services, retail, manufacturing,
automotive and beyond.
The Symmetry Way
Achieving that mission requires
focus and excellence in five distinct
areas that have evolved into a
proprietary client-centric business
model the company calls The
Symmetry Way. More than just a
methodology or set of beliefs, The
Symmetry Way encompasses the
priorities that drive and differentiate
the company and that govern the
way Symmetry operates, invests, and
engages. The principles behind the
symmetry way include:
Clients first: Symmetry is
relentlessly focused on its clients
and readily adapt to their changing
requirements – even if it’s “off
contract.” Its ability to deliver world-
class service is highly dependent
on its ability to think and act like a
partner to its clients and not “just a
vendor.” This is why The Symmetry
Way demands that it does what it
takes to address client needs as they
happen, with the goal of building
long-term, mutually profitable
relationships.
Hire the best: The company
only hires the very best, most
experienced SAP experts, and that’s
the level of expertise its clients can
expect – they never have to worry
about being assigned a “B” team.
It also invests in the training and
enablement of its internal teams
so they are constantly refreshing
their skills and are well-versed
in the latest and greatest SAP
technologies and capabilities, as well
as public, private, and hybrid cloud
infrastructures.
Agility is king: Symmetry’s
clients’ business and technology
needs are always changing by the
week, by the day, even by the hour.
Slow response is not an option, so it
moves fast and always delivers. The
Symmetry Way means that every
aspect of the client engagement,
from the team to the processes
to the infrastructure, is designed
for immediate response to client
challenges.
Lead the market: Symmetry
is always identifying, exploring
and analyzing new trends, even
Pete Stevenson
Chairman & CEO

19. 19May - 2019
before they happen. When its
clients need new capabilities or
just have questions about how
potential trends might impact
their organization, it is ready with
the answers and solutions, and
already has the required experts
on staff and infrastructure in place.
That’s because The Symmetry Way
demands a constant eye toward
innovation and how it can benefit its
clients.
Global Scope, Local Service:
The company can support its clients
and their SAP implementations on
a global scale, but it always delivers
local-caliber service. This element of
The Symmetry Way is what makes
the company a true extension of
its multi-national client teams
and ensures a consistent, high-
quality, and true world-class client
experience.
Its commitment to these five areas is
what distinguishes Symmetry from
the competition. It’s what drives
each decision it makes as an
organization. And it’s what
motivates every single client
interaction and engagement.
It’s The Symmetry Way.
IT Solutions
Enterprise Cloud Services:
The cloud is changing everything.
It offers flexibility, scalability,
and easy access to new hardware
and software advances without
huge expenditures. It’s no wonder
businesses everywhere are taking
advantage of what the cloud offers.
SAP Managed Services:
The company has been an
SAP-certified partner since
2005 and are certified in SAP
Hosting, Cloud and SAP HANA
Operations. Its customer
satisfaction approval rating for
SAP Basis projects is 96% (the
highest in the industry).
IT Managed Services: No matter
which enterprise applications clients
are using, or where they are located,
Symmetry can design a managed
services offering just for them. It will
take care of all the details, freeing
up its staff’s time to concentrate on
running clients’ business.
Security and Compliance:
The data in companies’ SAP®
and
other systems is growing more
valuable every year but also more
vulnerable. Everyone is counting
on businesses to provide the
confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of this information.
Regulators demand that they keep
it safe; meanwhile, cyber criminals
are devising ever more effective ways
to compromise peoples’ systems.
With so many new regulations and
an almost continuous stream of
cyber threats, it’s challenging to stay
on top of the latest developments.
Unless, of course, businesses rely
on the helpful experts at Symmetry.
Meet the Leader
Pete Stevenson, Chairman, and CEO: Pete is Symmetry’s Chairman and CEO with over 30 years of
experience in the international communications and IT outsourcing industry, having been at the helm in both
public company and private company environments for over 15 years. Pete’s visionary, yet rational business
approach has led to positive developments throughout his career where he encourages and drives an environment
of collaboration while setting high standards for sales growth, customer service, teamwork, and operational
performance within the organization and for clients.
“We’re dedicated to helping you do what you do best.
So let us focus on enabling your IT strategy while you
go out-execute your competition.”
SR

20. 20 May - 2019
SAP CEO Bill
McDermott at
30th Annual
SAPPHIRE NOW
Conference: ‘We
Want Everyone
to Remember
their Xs and Os’
“Experience Management is the new frontier for the world’s best-run businesses. I have never seen SAP more fired up to help
our customers be a driving force for growth, innovation and optimism.”
Bill McDermott, CEO

21. S
AP SE recently introduced a
new era in the way consumers
and enterprises interact with
each other. Just three months
after completing its acquisition
of Qualtrics, the company has
rolled out 10 new offerings that
combine experience data (X-data)
with operational data (O-data)
to measure and improve the four
core experiences of business —
product, customer, employee, and
brand. The launch of this system
sets a new standard in enterprise
software.
The combination enables
organizations to continuously
listen to the emotions, beliefs, and
intentions of employees, customers,
partners, suppliers, and other
stakeholders. These new offerings
— four for customer experience
(CX), three for employee
experience and three in market
research — embed X-data directly
into an enterprise’s applications,
such as its CRM, ERP or HCM
systems, to drive continuous action
and improvement.
“We want everyone to remember
their Xs and Os,” said SAP CEO Bill
McDermott at the company’s 30th
annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference.
“Experience Management is the new
frontier for the world’s best-run
businesses. I have never seen SAP
more fired up to help our customers
be a driving force for growth,
innovation and optimism.”
Ryan Smith, Co-founder and
CEO of Qualtrics, said: “We
live in the experience economy
where organizations are either
intentionally racing to the top
or unknowingly racing to the
bottom. The difference between
the companies that will win is
they understand how X-data and
O-data work together to tell the
story of what is happening in an
organization, why it’s happening
and how to act in real time to deliver
breakthrough business results.”
These new SAP offerings provide
organizations with an end-to-end
XM platform that uses X-data and
O-data. As a result, organizations
can:
• Centralize X-data from
employees, customers or any
other stakeholder at every
meaningful touch point on a
single, enterprise-wide system.
This makes it simple for
organizations to listen
• Connect X-data to the
operations and processes of
their business to understand
why things are happening,
spot hidden trends and
then automatically make
recommendations to help
correct what doesn’t work and
magnify what does
• Act, which leads to customers
who stay longer, buy more
and share with friends; and
employees who deliver more,
build a positive culture and
advocate for their brand
For customer experience,
the company has introduced
Experience Management to the SAP
C/4HANA suite, creating powerful
cloud solutions for marketing,
sales, commerce, and service
experience management. This
provides an end-to-end customer
experience platform in the industry,
allowing organizations to listen,
understand and act on insights that
will drive purchasing decisions and
customer loyalty.
For employee experience, SAP
has introduced three Experience
Management solutions that
transform existing HR platforms
into enterprise-wide systems of
action. Built directly into existing
HR systems, the solutions gather
experience data from employees
throughout the employee lifecycle
and empower HR leaders and
managers to listen, understand
and act on insights that will attract,
engage and retain a world-class
workforce.
Interesting Facts about
SAP
As the Experience Company
powered by the Intelligent
Enterprise, SAP is the market
leader in enterprise application
software, helping companies of all
sizes and in all industries run at
their best: 77 percent of the world’s
transaction revenue touches an
SAP system. Its Internet of Things
(IoT), machine learning, and
advanced analytics technologies
help turn customers’ businesses
into intelligent enterprises. The
company helps give people and
organizations deep business
insight and fosters collaboration
that helps them stay ahead of
their competition. SAP simplifies
technology for companies so they
can consume its software the way
they want – without disruption. Its
end-to-end suite of applications
and services enables more than
437,000 business and public
customers to operate profitably,
adapt continuously, and make a
difference. With a global network
of customers, partners, employees,
and thought leaders, the company
helps the world run better and
improve people’s lives.
About SAPPHIRE NOW
SAP SAPPHIRE NOW is the
most innovative cloud and
business technology conference
which features game-changing
technologies that enable the
attendees to meet their future
and be a part of it and chart
their company’s destiny.
SR
21May - 2019

22. A well-renowned SAP Revenue
Recognition Services Partner: Bramasol
B
ramasol is the Revenue
Recognition leader and a
recognized SAP Revenue
Recognition services partner for
companies seeking to comply with
and benefit from the new Rev Rec
standards. Its SAP-certified experts,
partnering with SAP, assisted
in the majority of SAP Revenue
Accounting and Reporting Ramp-
Up projects. Driving successful
workshops, Proofs of Concept, and
implementation projects throughout
the U.S., Bramasol is the go-to
partner with the experience and
expertise for companies wanting to
leverage SAP Revenue Accounting
and Reporting to comply with ASC
606 and IFRS 15 and the newly
announced IFRS 16 for leasing.
The company is deeply rooted with
SAP, ever since becoming their first
partner in 1996, and continue to
invest in the latest SAP technologies
and drive innovation on the SAP
platform.
Solutions
Revenue Recognition:
Bramasol is the Revenue
Accounting and Recognition leader
and a recognized SAP Revenue
Recognition services partner for
companies seeking to implement the
ASC 606 and IFRS 15 standards. Its
SAP-certified experts participated
in the majority of early product
Ramp-ups and have worked on
more SAP RevRec projects than
any other company. It has the
experience, expertise, and tools to
help companies get ready for the
new standards in 2018.
Bramasol is the first SAP Rev
Rec expert to develop a proven
methodology, RADARR, based
on dozens of projects and is the
leader in providing innovations
and solutions for complex RevRec
challenges. It is the first to offer
a suite of tools and reports that
will gather all the key data for the
disclosure reporting into one place
and has pre-built management
reports to help companies deliver
insights that drive action.
Treasury: As the office of the CFO
moves from recording the past and
documenting the present, to driving
innovation and strategy, Treasury
plays a key role in the management
of cash, risk and driving innovation.
Bramasol is a leader in SAP finance
solution delivery. Key areas it
focuses on for Treasury include:
• Cash and Cash Management
• Virtual and In-House Banking
• Banking Platform
• Analytics and disclosures for
IFRS 9
• Data Mastery including
governance, migration, etc.
Leasing: Bramasol and SAP
leasing solutions make leasing
possible with deep expertise in lease
accounting; it is not only product
experts, but solution experts who
help clients select the right solution
to meet clients’ needs. Using its
“Our experienced
consulting
and support
team has the
depth, strength,
and industry
expertise to
deliver the
high-quality,
cost-effective
solutions you
need.”
Dave Fellers, CEO

23. 23May - 2019
LASER methodology, it delivers
a solution that not only complies
with ASC 842 and IFRS 16, but is
natively integrated with clients’
SAP finance system (or any other)
and is secure, scalable, and flexible.
Financial Transformation:
Corporate finance professionals
face many challenges. They need
to reduce the amount of time
spent on inefficient month-end/
year-end closing processes,
improve their ability to extract
timely and accurate financial
information and streamline overall
operational end-to-end business
processes. On the regulatory
front, CFOs also must deal with,
Revenue Recognition Changes
(ASC 606 and IFRS 15), Lease
Accounting Changes (ASC 842 &
IFRS 16), Financial Instruments
Impairments & Disclosures (IFRS
9) as well as on-going changes in
the global regulatory environment.
Product Offerings
SAP Revenue Accounting
and Reporting (RAR): SAP
revenue accounting software
is designed specifically to help
businesses comply with new
statutory regulations for revenue
recognition and also has the
flexibility to support existing
requirements.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud:
Bramasol is a co-innovation leader
in the implementation of the SAP
S/4HANA Cloud, which provides
a high-performance, in-memory,
and extensible Digital Core for
implementing the above initiatives
and integrating a wide range of
best-of-breed functionality.
SAP S/4HANA is a real-time ERP
suite for digital business that
provides a high-performance
and highly flexible platform
for addressing the full range of
business requirements. It is built
on the advanced in-memory
platform, SAP HANA, and offers
a personalized, consumer-grade
user experience with SAP Fiori.
Deployable in the cloud or on-
premise, SAP S/4HANA can drive
instant value across all lines of
business – no matter the industry
or business size.
S/4HANA Cloud consists of a
modular set of best-of-breed
Editions, which provide a flexible,
extensible ERP platform that can
scale and expand to meet changing
business needs. New capabilities
and users can be added as clients
need them, quickly and easily.
Meet the Leader
Dave Fellers, CEO: Dave first joined Bramasol in 2007 to re-launch its professional services business. Since
becoming CEO in May 2011, he has guided Bramasol to its strongest growth in years, highlighted by a major
acquisition that doubled the size of the company and gave it a global reach.
Before joining Bramasol, David spent nine years at Deloitte, where he held a variety of leadership roles including
leading major SAP implementations within the U.S. and around the world. While at Deloitte, he helped build one of
the early versions of the High Tech Pre-Configured solution with SAP and spent over a year in London and Germany
serving a large global multi-national firm. Dave began his career at Price Waterhouse.
As Bramasol’s CEO, Dave leads the company’s global drive to be the premier SAP value-added reseller and
professional services firm. Under his leadership, Bramasol remains a leading reseller for the SME market in
the western U.S. and continues to expand the industry solutions and functions it offers. Bramasol also provides
industry expertise in some of the fastest-growing markets in the U.S., including high tech software, manufacturing,
professional services, sports and venue management, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Accounting Information Systems from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).
SR

24. The Advantages of Moving To
a Cloud-Based ERP
T
here has been a considerable
rise in the use of Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP)
software applications among
businesses during the past decade.
According to certain sources, cloud-
based ERP software was able to grab
a significant two-third part of the
total market share in the year 2017.
As ERP adoption and usage finds
more prominence in mainstream
business, the associated technology
emerges to further advance. To
benefit the bottom line, firms are
targeting their focus on completely
extract the time and money saving
feature of this software.
Usually, an ERP software is installed
at a company’s premises on its own
servers. But using an on premise
ERP can seem like a daunting task
because maintaining the software
calls for hardware updates, constant
upgrades and an IT team thus
increasing the operating costs.
However, ERP has evolved to
exist on the cloud too. Therefore,
adopting cloud ERP will be feasible
for both small and large businesses.
Let’s take a look at the reasons that
could take enterprises to new levels
in today’s dynamic world.
Easy and Affordable To
Implement
As compared to the traditional
ERP systems that are hosted on the
company’s servers, cloud-based ERP
systems have a better advantage as
it costs less to implement. As there’s
no involvement of hardware setup,
the cloud ERP program can be live
and running without the business
experiencing system down time.
Here, there is no requirement of
server maintenance which relieves
the IT department of any hassles.
Addition and up-gradation of
software too becomes easy thereby
saving lot of work hours.
Other noteworthy thing with cloud
based ERP system is the zero initial
balloon investment due to the lack
of setup. Moreover, cloud ERPs are
usually available for immediate
use on a flat-rate monthly fee.
Now, firms don’t have to weigh
their ROIs in order to get the most
technologically advanced software
without the hardware. Each and
every investment that goes to
system upgrades can be eliminated
with a cloud ERP.
Access to Data Whenever
You Need
Cloud based ERP platforms enable
employees to access information
anywhere and anytime from remote
locations as easily as on-site staff
can do. For example, if an employee
is not physically present at the site
due to a meeting or training day, he
can still access the required data
and send quarterly reports to the
boss. The staff can also benefit from
having access to apps and updates
as soon as they connect. There
is no VPN or slow remote portal
technologies to slow them down.
These platforms also offer mobile
functionality and user interfaces
that are designed to work on
smartphone and mobile devices.
So employees no more have carry
heavy corporate laptops in order
to complete the task at hand on
weekends. Cloud ERP completely
eliminates the restriction by
proprietary machines. This also
means that there will be no more
investment in special equipment or
limitations in assigning users to the
system due to budget. Employees
can now quite conveniently access
the cloud ERP from their personal
devices or from shared company
devices.
Improved Business
Performance with
Business Intelligence
Capabilities
Cloud-based ERPs can be
incorporated with many other
operations quite innovatively to
ensure smooth running of the
business. BI or Business Intelligence
programs can facilitate the simple
extraction of data by connecting
with the organized data storage
and user activity records available
through an ERP. Cloud-based ERPs
have built in analytics features too.
Administrators and board members
can search for information that
could help in critical decisions.
They can also bring up real-time
graphics and reports during a board
meeting. All information is provided
in real time without needing to
wait on periodic system updates. BI
capabilities are transparent because
the level of data access is higher
and therefore cloud-based ERPs are
24 May - 2019

25. more accurate as compared to
traditional programs.
Higher Degree of
Information Security
Wrapping things ups, cloud-
based ERPs are ground breaking
when it comes to security.
Cyber security measures are
centralized and adaptable for
stratified permission controls.
The cloud offers secure
gateways for remote access and
document management systems
that also control the access and
download of classified data.
It also prevents the on-site
archival of sensitive data to
save it from getting captured by
unauthorized personnel.
Cloud ERPs usually come
integrated with document
retention features so that
enterprises can be sure that
they follow every compliance
procedure standards set by the
government. They also offer
firms the freedom to allocate
authorization permissions to file
managers so that appropriate
security measures are employed
to eliminate data loss and
ensure proper authentication of
user access to the system.
As enterprises go on towards
reaching their goals through
their business management
systems, cloud ERP systems
can deliver the capabilities
that could help move toward
stratospheric levels of success.
SR

26. The Right Path to Transformation:
psolut was the first IT
service provider in Germany
to specialize entirely in
the implementation of
SAP Supplier Relationship
Management (SAP SRM and SAP SLC) and
SAP Ariba procurement solutions. It was
the first IT provider in Germany to specialize
in the use of the SAP procurement solution.
apsolut was established in 2005 by ERP experts,
Thomas Herbst and Tim Kollmeier, and has
grown to a company of more than 120 employees
within 10 years and operates from offices
around the world in addition to its headquarters
in Germany. Both founders brought with them
extensive SAP SRM experience to the new company
from their long careers as consultants for reputable IT
providers.
More than 200 internationally renowned customers have
already reaped the benefits of the support provided when
optimizing their operative and strategic procurement
processes with SAP SRM and the accompanying APPsolut
Solution Add-ons. Due to its wealth of specialist skills and
knowledge and the successful completion of countless joint
aThomas Herbst, Managing Director & Founder
26 May - 2019

27. apsolut
customer projects, apsolut was included in the SAP
SRM Special Expertise Programme (SEP) as a certified
partner in 2010. SAP recognizes the exceptional
experience and quality of partners for defined business
areas with the SEP. apsolut was one of the first SAP
Ariba Global Strategic Service Partners in Germany since
2013. Close partnerships have also been developed with
Ernst & Young GmbH, informatica Corporation and Poet
AG, amongst others.
Customer Management
apsolut contributes its cross-departmental and
cross-module best practice know-how to provide
its customers with answers to company-specific
requirements. Whether you want to connect your
on-premise processes with the SAP Cloud or the Ariba
Network or integrate third-party systems - apsolut will
find a solution. The company supports you within the
scope of an international 24/7 service in all phases of
the lifecycle - from conception and implementation to
productive implementation and rollout.
• Requirements management/ analysis-
It carries out feasibility studies, process and
performance analyses at eye level with its
customers. It controls design-thinking processes, in
which it incorporates its best practice experiences,
and at the end of which it develops prototypes that
meet individual company requirements
• Technology decision- Which technology best
meets your requirements? How should your system
landscape be structured in the future? Would
you like to choose a cloud, on-premise or hybrid
solution? What about the usability of your system?
How can you use Fiori apps? Which integrations, in
the form of web services, APIs or cloud connections,
eliminate media breaks in your process chains? Do
you need printable or interactive forms? apsolut
will be happy to advise you!
• Solution design- Every apsolut customer
receives an individual solution. The core of this is
a project-specific application and system design
in which it contributes it best practice knowledge,
user-friendly layouts and possible integration
scenarios. This includes the integration of apsolut
Solution Add-ons and Fiori apps. apsolut analyzes
how innovations can be optimally integrated into
an existing solution as part of system screening and
comprehensive infrastructure consulting. At the end
of this phase, a detailed concept is drawn up as a
blueprint for implementation
• Implementation- The international apsolut
development team carries out implementations
worldwide - at the customer’s site or remotely.
You are kept up-to-date in every phase of the
implementation. In this way, problems are identified
and solved at an early stage. If you have your own
development team in your company, apsolut will
gladly support you with its expert knowledge.
As part of its coaching approach, the company
examines all individual tasks with your colleagues
and creates comprehensive application knowledge
• Quality assurance- apsolut also supports
you with roll-outs and checks country-specific
adaptations. The firm also offers performance
analyses and screenings of entire systems for
existing implementations. In this way, potentials
are often uncovered that are particularly important
for user satisfaction. In addition to the coaching
approach during the implementation phase, there
is the possibility of additional training. In these
trainings, apsolut imparts the necessary know-how
to your employees to take over the further system
administration independently
Cover StoryCover Story
27May - 2019

28. Support
IT Service Management – this means professional IT
service management that apsolut offers to meet the
customers’ requirements using a suitable combination of
people, processes and information technology.
ITIL-certified & maximum flexibility - this applies to
apsolut’s whole support team, internationally. For
its customers, this means: proved and established
procedures, solid project management and, above all, the
best possible service. ITIL is a process-oriented collection
of best practices that helps to optimize the efficiency and
quality of its services.
• Transparency & time-based maintenance-
Every support agreement includes a transparently
defined set of base services. Its customers can rely
on the apsolut Help Desk and short response times.
All incidents will be handled according to a defined
Incident Management Process to ensure service
levels are met. apsolut provides ongoing incident
analysis to identify recurring root causes. Through a
defined change management process, the resolution
of potential issues will be addressed
• Shift resources from operations to
innovation- Within its Solution Operation &
Monitoring service, apsolut provides application
administration, system health checks and
monitoring. Required changes will be addressed
through a defined change management process
• A Single Point of Contact to ensure
services meets expectations- apsolut’s
Technical Account Management is your direct
contact regarding governance, planning & resource
coordination. It is your first point of contact for the
monthly operational reporting and also in case of
escalations
Solution Management Services
At apsolut, service always means thinking a step ahead.
That’s why it offers value-adding services. These
flexible service blocks can be arranged according to the
company’s needs.
• Evolve solution to meet the business
needs- The aim of Release Management is to
consult its customers for new system features and
ready-to-use functionalities. Besides, apsolut will
provide support during regular solution updates, as
well as minor and major system updates
• Increase adoption, accelerate Time-to-
Value- The company offers competency coaching on
features & functions on process and technical levels.
Furthermore, its training team offers enablement and
Openness, cohesion, cooperation
and mutual understanding - these
values have been valid since
the foundation and are still in
existence, today.
““
””
28 May - 2019

29. system-training for new and existing users
• Supplier Enablement- There is more than one
way to how suppliers are on boarded. apsolut’s
support team takes care of the whole supplier
enablement and on-boarding process to make sure
that the customer’s ecosystem is ready to match the
business needs
• Catalog Enablement & Maintenance-
apsolut takes care of catalog enablement and
regular catalog maintenance for your company to
ensure that you always work with the latest catalog
versions and current negotiated prices
Innovation
apsolut has specialists not only in the familiar ABAP
environment, but also for SAP PI/PO, SAP Ariba CIG
and SAP CPI. The company dares to make one assertion:
“we know solutions that you haven’t even thought about
yet. For example, the use of Adobe Interactive Forms or
the interaction between the SAP Ariba Cloud and your
SAP ERP system through the use of web services and
APIs.”
• SAP Fiori- apsolut offers you the implementation
and development of cloud and on-premise Fiori
applications. In addition, it offers prototyping
and a connection to the SAP Cloud Platform
• SAP UI5- Modern SAP UI5 interfaces can be
used independently of the end device. Even
inexperienced users quickly get used to the
user-friendly system. In addition to the significantly
improved usability of the individually customized
interfaces, apsolut customers benefit in particular
from our many years of experience in the
development and performance optimization
of UI5 applications
• IoT- The Internet of Things is a very important
trend topic without a doubt. apsolut develops
solutions that create real added value in the
procurement & ERP area, such as the apsolut
Speed Shop Button
• Integration- Its integration solutions ensure
seamless processes in complex, often hybrid system
landscapes
• SAP S/4HANA Technologies- An SAP
S/4HANA system expands the spectrum of
possibilities with numerous programming models,
tools and new technologies, such as SAP Core Data
Services or IoT. It implements individual customer
requirements optimally and tailor-made with
methods such as Design Thinking or SAP Build
• Next Step Technologies- Do you need a
technological solution beyond our basic portfolio?
apsolut is happy to advise you in areas such as SAP
Leonardo, Machine Learning, Blockchain or CoPilot.
• Form design- apsolut offers support in working
with SAPscript, SAP Smart Forms or interactively
usable SAP Adobe Forms
• Expert Coaching- apsolut offers a coaching
approach in which your development staff work
directly on smaller tasks and get to know the new
technologies from the ground up. In this way, your
development department always remains at eye
level with digital change
• System Screening- apsolut helps you with
performance problems or disruptive failures. It can
take a close look at your systems and help you find
the right solution
Testimonials of success
“Matthias Schneider’s SLC project team supported us
extraordinarily well both in the pre-project phase and
in the implementation phase and helped to create this
success!” - Andreas Klusacek, Global Process Head
Source-to-Pay, Rehau AG & Co. KG
“Even though SAP Ariba Snap was new territory for
everyone involved, I always had the feeling that the
apsolut team would bring us safely into the cloud.” -
Marcus Abel, Global Purchasing Manager NPM,
Carcoustics Shared Services GmbH
29May - 2019

30. “Thanks to apsolut’s expertise, the SAP SRM upgrade and
the UI5 implementation were completed on time and on
budget. We are very satisfied with the cooperation with
apsolut and with the flawless progress of the project.” -
AnnabellTraub, Project Manager, ZOLLERN GmbH &
Co. KG
“With the help of SAP SLC, we can now manage our
suppliers more efficiently and in a more targeted manner,
and information can be viewed more easily
in the central supplier portfolio. apsolut, as an
experienced consulting partner, was always at our
side and was able to best implement our requirements.” -
Bernd Schnittker, Internal Project Manager
in purchasing, August Storck KG
“After an intensive selection of suppliers, it became
clear during the course of the project and in the
aftercare that we found the right partner in the team of
apsolut GmbH. A high level of expertise and a very good
understanding of processes as well as a pleasant working
atmosphere made this project implementation by
apsolut a real success.” - Thomas Menzel, Purchasing
Manager, Kraftverkehr Nagel GmbH & Co. KG
Knowing the Leader behind the Success
Thomas Herbst, Managing Director &
Founder
Thomas founded apsolut GmbH in spring 2005 together
with Tim Kollmeier. Both knew each other from a
previous employer and initially focused the company
on the topic of eProcurement, based on SAP Supplier
Relationship Management. With the expansion of
the company and the opening of further national
companies, the apsolut portfolio has expanded and
since 2012 also includes cloud solutions from SAP
subsidiary SAP Ariba and since 2017 the SAP S/4HANA
Enterprise Management division.
Thomas holds a degree in industrial engineering
and studied at the Esslingen University of Applied
Sciences. During his early career he concentrated as
a consultant at Hewlett-Packard on the optimization
of SAP-based procurement processes and later took
over responsibility for the entire SAP SRM consulting
division of Heiler Software AG.
Cover StoryCover Story
SR

32. T
he Internet of Things
(IoT) is one of the hottest
buzzwords in technology
today. It is without a doubt one
of the technologies that would
define the future and transform
businesses and subsequently,
people’s lives. In layman’s terms,
IoT is a network of various types of
devices that are embedded with the
ability to gather and transfer data
over a network without the need
for human interaction. The same
technology could be implemented
in a number of industrial
applications to bolster productivity
and help organizations get a better
perspective of their business data.
In response to changing
technological trends and customer
expectations coupled with the rise
of the popularity of the cloud, SAP,
a market leader in ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning) software has
committed to investing enormous
amounts of capital into furthering
and integrating IoT into its suite
of offerings. In light of this, SAP
had unveiled the SAP Leonardo,
a combination of intelligent
technologies, services, and industry
expertise that can help businesses
optimize their processes and
resources – and ignite innovation
in any area of business. Leonardo is
able to embed artificial intelligence,
automation, machine learning as
well as IoT into operations to drive
growth and increase market share.
As more and more people get an
internet connection and more
startups spring up to cater to a
number of industries, the data
generated is enormous and
corporations that provide internet
services are in need of a way to
have a comprehensive overview
of their business information
in order to be able to make
informed decisions and formulate
favorable corporate policies. SAP
Leonardo is designed to leverage
a number of latest technologies
to provide organizations with
a holistic approach in driving
business innovation. The name
for the groundbreaking suite
of ERP tools comes from none
other than Leonardo Da Vinci,
the Renaissance era painter,
sculptor, engineer, architect and
philosopher. Just like the abilities
of the master polymath, SAP
Leonardo is intended to give clients
a pioneering edge over all aspects
of operations and development.
As more and more companies
from every sector continue to
adopt advanced technologies, it is
becoming clearer with each passing
year that large corporations need
to view big data, AI, ML, etc. in
combination, and not as separate
entities. SAP Leonardo allows
customers to do just that. Its users
would be enabled to develop
and harness progressive policy
decisions that could go on to
establish a framework for powering
market wining breakthroughs
in customer service and product
innovation. Additional packages
coupled with the Leonardo can
even be customized to suit core
functions of specific industries.
When dealing with large amounts
of data, usually in the range of
hundreds of tera bytes, data-driven
models of business and services
SAPIoTLeonardoIsPowering the

33. are what would capture the
market and promote customer
retention. However, the datasets
in question would be enormous
and handling it would require a
broader perspective, one that is
difficult to acquire if experts are
unsure of which kind of tool to use
and where to start. It is precisely
for such circumstances that SAP
Leonardo accelerator packages
can help organizations develop
a rounded vision on how to go
about supporting their business
objectives. What’s interesting
about these accelerators is that
they are applicable to a number
of industries such as media &
entertainment, manufacturing,
transportation, travel, etc.
Through the SAP Leonardo
accelerator packages, customers
can get tailor made packages that
comprise of design techniques,
necessary cloud licenses, and
development services right off
the bat, all the way through
to having the final solution. In
other words, this brilliant piece
of enterprise resource planning
software package kind of ushers
in the digital transformation for
enterprises.
Digitalization is the way forward.
With so many companies, both
small and large, offering a plethora
of services, digitalization projects
and collaborative innovation are
important for overall holistic
growth. Sap Leonardo Centers
form a worldwide network of
interconnected nodes to serve as
points of contact for established
firms as well as startups who want
to be onboard the digitalization
revolution. These centres are
already up and running in New
York as well as Paris. Two more
are on their way in Brazil and
India.
Data is well on its way to
becoming the most important
currency in which corporations
as well as governments would
deal with. It is only logical that the
next generation of data analytics
methodologies be adopted to pave
the way for the future.
IntelligentEnterpriseofTomorrow
SR

34. Helping Clients Optimize Their Business
Processes and Adjust Their SAP Software: abat
bat is an international SAP
service provider and product
supplier, which provides
business process optimization and
enhances it with its own solutions.
The company’s focus is on the
automotive and discrete production
industries, logistics, sustainability
management, and information
security.
abat was founded in 1998 as Act
GmbH and is today represented
throughout Germany with locations
in Bremen, Munich, Oldenburg,
St. Ingbert, Walldorf and Wolfsburg.
It offers better on-site support
with offices in the US, Mexico and
Belarus. Currently, it has around
600 employees who work on a wide
variety of customer projects - from
the orientation of IT to business
processes, development and the
implementation and maintenance of
standard solutions. In addition, abat
is the development partner of SAP
SE in the SAP partnerEdge Program
for Application Development.
In the automotive sector, abat
works for major manufacturers
such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, MAN,
Porsche, Volkswagen and Qoros.
Developers at abat programmed
PLUS software based on SAP to
control production processes in
production. For logistics companies
and logistics service providers, abat
offers solutions for optimizing the
supply chain, e.g. in intralogistics
and transport management. In
these areas, it works for Brose,
Bosch, Daimler, DHL, ThyssenKrupp
and VS HEIBO Logistics, among
others. Currently, we are the only
launch partner of SAP SE for the
sports software SAP Sports One.
In sustainability management,
abat offers holistic consulting - in
sustainability reporting through
its software solution ID-Report, in
material flow management and in
preparing for certification. Lastly,
abat offers consulting services in the
area of information security on the
topics ISO 27001 and TISAX®
and
thus helps to protect the values of its
customers and their customers.
Simplifying the Digital
Transformation
The cost savings of using an ERP
solution from the cloud can be
very evident. Not only are capital
commitments for expensive
software licenses reduced, but also
the costs for the company owning
and maintaining IT infrastructure
such as servers, data centers
and security architectures are at
least partially eliminated. A cloud
solution is scalable to cover not
only your current but also future
needs, making it right for today
and ready for tomorrow. Many of
the functional possibilities offered
by the SAP S/4HANA Cloud help
your company to further develop
innovative processes. Additionally
regular, automated patches and
upgrades are carried out by SAP,
freeing up your internal staff. At the
same time, you benefit from a secure
and controlled system, SAP best
practices, standardized processes
and fast rollouts.
abat advises you and implements
your desired standardized
processes in the cloud. With its
expert knowledge, the company
can provide you with early
ROI by quickly introducing or
developing your Cloud ERP solution
with reduced implementation
and maintenance costs by
standardizing your processes. The
agile development of your SAP
cloud solution also supports the
innovation capabilities of your
company. Benefit from an abat-
based, uncomplicated migration
of your existing solution to the
cloud, the integration of other
SAP solutions or the effortless
connection to your private cloud,
e.g. to the parent company.
SAP ERP for Internal
and External Business
Processes
ERP systems are the heart of
modern companies. They control the
a
“We know the market, we
know the technological
possibilities, and we can
provide our customers
with optimum advice
taking into account
the best and most
advanced solution as
well as development
opportunities.”
34 May - 2019

35. 35May - 2019
processes along the value chain, plan
resources and serve the purpose of
information provision for important
business solutions. The ever
increasing and changing demands
of customers and suppliers lead
to higher and higher standards for
the data quality and functionalities.
The processes are being adapted
and further developed and, where
necessary, newly defined.
The ERP system should be constantly
at eye level, as well as it is supposed
to process and evaluate company
data flexibly, quickly and user-
friendly. As SAP Service Partner
and Special Expertise Partner for
Automotive and Logistics, abat
will help you to comply with all
major requirements in these fields.
More than 400 consulting and
development experts around the
world are on hand to serve our well-
known customers in the automotive
and logistics sectors as well as in the
manufacturing industry.
S/4HANA Enterprise
Management
The digital transformation forces the
changes in more and more segments
of the companies. Adjustments of
the processes and systems need
to be as agile as possible, without
jeopardizing the integration of
processes within the consolidated
system landscape. To meet these
requirements, SAP, together with
S/4HANA Enterprise Management,
has launched the migration of R/3
to a new integrated solution. Classic
ERP modules and processes in the
areas of finances and logistics have
been modernized and developed into
new corporate center departments.
Entry is possible both with SAP
Business Suite powered by SAP
HANA and with the classic ERP
system. The prerequisite for the
use of all future functionalities in
SAP is an HANA data base. Due to
new architecture and data modules,
S/4HANA Enterprise Management
offers a considerable simplification
of the data structures allowing the
access of all relevant company data
in real time. SAP HANA data base
is needed for the use of S/4HANA
Enterprise Management.
More Success with
World Championship
Technology
World Championship Technology for
professionals as well as for amateur
teams: With SAP Sports One your
club is also able to develop successful
long term strategies in order to
speed up every step and to specify
every pass.
As abat is the only implementation
partner for SAP Sports One, it will
support you in a variety of services
ranging from the introduction of SAP
Sports One to integration into the IT
landscape of your organization, to
the optimization and maintenance
of the cloud-based solution.
Meet the Leader behind the Success
Gyde Wortmann, Co-founder and
Management Board Member
Gyde Wortmann is responsible for the Finances of
the company, besides customer projects. Up to the
foundation of the company, this Business IT Specialist
held various executive positions at VW gedas GmbH.
She headed international SAP projects with the
focus on accounting. She was mainly responsible for
the development and rollout of “Standardization of
Accounting of Subsidiaries of Volkswagen AG” (START).
Before that, she worked as Business Analyst at LSI Logic
Products GmbH up to 1992.
Gyde Wortmann, Co-founder &
Management Board Member
SR

36. Collaborating with Ecosystem: SAP
Announces New Project ‘Embrace’
“Working together with the hyperscalers and global strategic service partners, we’re in a unique position to shape our
customers’ journeys to becoming intelligent enterprises.” – Jennifer Morgan
S
AP SE recently announced
project ‘Embrace’, a
collaboration program with
Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web
Services (AWS) and Google Cloud
as well as global strategic service
partners (GSSPs).
“Embrace” puts the customer’s
move to SAP S/4HANA in
the cloud in the language
and context of their primary
industry, by recommending the
platform, software, services and
infrastructure from SAP as well as
their preferred hyperscaler and
preferred service partner.
The move to SAP S/4HANA in the
cloud is planned to come in the
form of market-approved journeys,
reference architectures and
easy access to the underpinning
technology services required to
help customers achieve the best
business outcomes. By partnering
with hyperscalers and GSSPs to
deliver this program, SAP aims
to provide its customers with a
single blueprint to support their
transition and journey toward an
intelligent enterprise.
“Our customers are very clear about
the business outcomes they expect to
achieve when migrating to the cloud
— and that includes operational
excellence and innovation,” said
Jennifer Morgan, president of
Cloud Business Group and member
of the Executive Board of SAP
SE. “Working together with the
hyperscalers and global strategic
service partners, we’re in a unique
position to shape our customers’
journeys to becoming intelligent
enterprises.”
Planned customer benefits include
shorter negotiations, streamlined
teaming and faster, risk-managed
implementations.
‘Embrace’ aims to include the
following components:
Solution: A set of foundational
services running on SAP Cloud
Platform to enable the integration,
orchestration and extension of
SAP systems and third-party
applications running in the cloud
or on premise
Reference architecture: A jointly
developed technical blueprint that
incorporates the required SAP and
hyperscaler components to run the
customer’s applications
Market-approved journeys:
A jointly created and market-
approved road map to SAP
S/4HANA by industry – created
with hyperscalers and global
strategic service partners
New SAP MaxAttention
services and SAP Active
Attention services: A newly
launched set of services designed
to support customers running a
cloud or hybrid infrastructure
on a hyperscaler
Some more interesting facts
about ‘Embrace’ in Stefan
Hoechbauer’s own words:
I am thrilled to share details on
a new initiative we just launched
at SAPPHIRE NOW, called project
‘Embrace’.
We launched this exciting and
impactful initiative to help our
customers accelerate their journey
to an intelligent enterprise by
leveraging the power of the cloud.
After sitting down and spending
a lot of time with customers and
analysts, several common themes
began to emerge:
Our customers no longer want to
own and operate data centers.
Enterprises are moving to the cloud
at a record and accelerating pace.
Customers are finding it difficult to
navigate their journey, and those
that do achieve lower business
results than expected from the
move to the cloud.
When I asked our customers why
they were migrating to the cloud
and shuttering their data centers
in favor of a hyperscaler, they
said they were hoping to achieve
the following business outcomes:
36 May - 2019

37. cost reductions, improved system
performance, and access to
innovation.
As they strive to reach their
goals, they were encountering
many challenges along the way,
including:
Widely differing opinions from the
systems integrators, hyperscalers,
and SAP on how and what to
transition to the cloud
No mutually agreed blueprint
for their journey or a supported
reference architecture
Ability to safeguard success across
their landscapes
Once SAP gained an understanding
of the desired business outcomes
and the challenges, we brought
together the hyperscalers with our
global strategic service partners
to develop the project “Embrace,”
which consists of the following:
Market Approved Journeys:
A jointly created roadmap to
S/4 by industry created by SAP,
the GSSP, and the hyperscaler.
Reference Architecture: Jointly
developed a technical blueprint
that incorporates the required
SAP and hyperscaler components
to run the customer’s applications.
Solution: Set of fundamental
services running on SAP Cloud
Platform to enable the integration,
orchestration, and extraction
of SAP systems and third-party
applications running in cloud or
on-premise.
New Max Services: SAP’s newly
launched New Max Services
designed to support customers
running a cloud or hybrid
infrastructure on a hyperscaler.
Every successful journey starts
with a road map because if you
don’t know where you’re heading,
no way is right. Our road map
comes in the form of a market-
approved journey, which aligns the
desired business outcomes with
the steps required to achieve them.
As our customers move their
environments to the hyperscaler
cloud, they will be asked to make
both investment and technical
decisions to address their business
requirements. To assist in this
process, we worked together to
create a reference architecture
representing the required
technology to support the
journey.
Additionally, we offer New SAP
MaxAttention services specifically
designed for the migration to a
hyperscaler. These services range
from discovery workshops to
accelerated support, from design
through go live.
When migrating SAP landscapes
to a hyperscaler cloud, SAP is in a
unique position to offer a portfolio
of differentiating services to
positively impact our customer’s
move to the experience economy.
Above all, SAP’s choice of on-
premise, cloud, and hybrid
scenarios is quite unique. While
it’s undebatable that the future
is in the cloud, customers want
to choose their own pace. I am
confident that giving customers
this choice is the foundation
for a trusted, long-term partner
relationship.
Along with our partners, we are
excited to be on this cloud journey
with our customers.
Mr. Hoechbauer is global president
of Digital Core and Global Customer
Organization at SAP.
(This story has been published
from news.sap.com without
modifications to the text.)
SR
37May - 2019

38. IT Professional Services Consultancy
Specialized in Solving Customer Business
Challenges: Vision33
V
ision33 Inc. is a global
IT professional services
consultancy that solves
customer business challenges
through the promise of technology
and the value it delivers. It
partners with growing and large
organizations in both the public
and private sectors to understand
their vision and help them attain
it with the right blend of strategy,
consulting, and technology.
Vision33 has unmatched experience
delivering solutions to support every
core business function. Its work
spans all major industries. Vision33
employs over 400 results-driven
people globally to provide world-
class experience through its office
locations across North America and
Europe. Its global services team
has a depth of experience working
within both the public and private
sectors (with focus on many sub-
industries) worldwide.
Vision33 was founded with a clear
vision of how technology solutions
and professional services can
transform growing organizations.
The company’s growth and success
owe to a successful SAP Solutions,
eGovernment practice, and IT
professional services in the private
and public sector. Vision33 offers
an end-to-end partnership that
provides access to world-class
resources at a local level throughout
North America and Europe. Vision33
is consistently recognized by the
industry for its notable growth and
dedication to helping customers
achieve success.
Why Vision33
Vision33 provides customers with
highly skilled consultants available
anytime, anywhere for clients’ SAP
Solutions projects, eGovernment
projects or for IT professional
services. Its team is unique in
its ability to leverage technology
solutions as a foundation for
organizations as well as extending
the system to meet specific
customer needs through custom
development.
Vision33 has exceptionally high
training standards for employees;
with regular Vision33 training
boot camps, methodology, and
knowledge-sharing committees,
its consultants all over share best
practices and work together to
deliver a consistent customer
experience.
Equally, Vision33 is committed to
customer success. Vision33 has
offers a renowned customer support
program. Vision33 provides the
right balance of software, world-
class consulting, and support
services to help its customers better
manage their organization.
In addition to its SAP Solutions,
eGovernment and IT Professional
Services, Vision33 also is the owner
of Atlantic DataSystems, an Atlantic
Canadian ERP partner for growing
businesses.
SAP Solutions
SAP Business One: Vision33’s
customers glowingly describe
Vision33 as ‘business process
implementers’ that help
“We believe in providing real value to
our customers and making sure they have
the right solution to meet their specific
business goals.”
Tony Whalen, President
38 May - 2019

39. them connect every process
from inventory to accounting
to control costs and scale
efficiently. It also has the deep
industry experience to make
recommendations where the
company sees processes
could be realigned to save
clients time, money, and
headaches.
Vision33 lives and breathes
SAP Business One. It is the
only solution that Vision33
provides to its customers
and the solution it has used
internally to grow its own
global organization. It believes
that this is the single software
solution clients need to gain
customers, grow revenue,
improve productivity, and stay
competitive.
SAP Analytics Cloud: SAP
Analytics Cloud incorporates
machine learning technology
and embedded artificial
intelligence help clients discover
deep insights, simplify access
to critical information, and
empower informed decision
making for all.
By creating stories/scenarios
specific to business or industry,
clients can unlock the answers
and options to solve issues and
grow clients’ business.
Industry Solutions: Since
starting in the 1970s, SAP has
developed deep experience
across a range of industries; it
makes sense that the company’s
goal with SAP Business One is to
provide the best solution for as
many business types as possible.
But no software developer can
create the depth of product
that works well for every type
of business, so SAP’s large
enterprise products are designed
for customization. SAP Business
One has deep functionality
ideal for vertically enhanced
integration with software from
partnered Software Solution
Providers (SSPs). SAP Business
One is both adaptable and easy
to integrate with.
SAP released the initial Software
Development Kit (SDK) for
SAP Business One in 2004
and expands the integration
points with every new product
release while also making the
integration tools easier to use.
Meet the Leader
Tony Whalen, President: Tony is the President and Founder of Vision33.
The company is a leading global IT professional services consultancy with offices
throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Tony brings more than 25 years of technology
industry leadership, software, and executive management expertise. His laser focus
on customers, technology innovation, global team building, and delivery has led to
exceptional and consistent company growth worldwide. As CEO, he has successfully
built an international IT organization over the last 25 years that consistently delivers
value and results by aligning technology with business goals and objectives.
SR
39May - 2019

40. Enterprise Software to
Influence Global IT Expenditure
Hike
D
igital transformation is at
the forefront of businesses
today and organizations
all over the world have already
shifted or are shifting towards
digitalization. Enterprise software
expenditure, especially cloud
services, is expected to have a
major increase compared to any
other category of IT. IT is not
just a platform that enables the
organization to run their business
on, it is becoming the backbone
of organization and companies
are increasingly depending on
technological transformation and IT
infrastructure.
According to a report from market
research and consultancy firm
Gartner, spending on Enterprise
software is anticipated to have
a 3.2% rise to $3.77 trillion in
worldwide spending on IT, that
is 8.5% increase from last year.
Enterprise software includes Supply
Chain Management, Customer
Relationship Management,
Enterprise Resource Planning, etc.
“The most important thing we’re
noticing is the shift from bricks
and mortar business to digital
business,” said Gartner Analyst John
Lovelock. “It’s the main driver of
the uptick in spending.” However,
cost optimization is not the only
reason for moving to cloud services
and applications as informed by
Lovelock. The prime motive is to
achieve agility, which allows getting
the feature functionality at the
desired speed. As digital business
moves at a faster speed than bricks
and mortar business, it requires
hyperscale data centers to support
its speed.
The cost of expenditure on IT
services and data centers will
also add up significantly to global
IT spending, which includes
spending on the server, storage, and
networking tech. This will fuel the
overall spending on technology.
Business executives are concerned
about macro-economics and most
of them believe that 2019 might
witness a heavy recession. Despite
recession rumors, Gartner predicts
that IT spending in 2019 is only
likely to grow. Spending is shifting
from saturated segments like on-
premise data centers, PCs to more
expensive IoT devices and cloud
services. “There are several things
happening at the fundamental level
about why people are buying IT
and what they intend to do with it,
that’s changed dramatically and the
way we make money is changing,”
Lovelock said.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is
experiencing growth in almost all
software segments. Especially, when
it comes to enterprise management
software, the expenditure is
increasing as ERP is no longer a
luxury but a need for any company
to manage their business. This is
the era of digital transformation
and that is the basic driver that is
leading to a global IT expenditure
hike.
SR
40 May - 2019

41. 41May - 2019

42. F
ounded in 2004, Greenlight
Technologies empowers
businesses to proactively
monitor enterprise risks and
opportunities by simplifying and
streamlining the way risk and
performance are assessed and
controlled. Its SaaS and on-premises
solutions provide real-time user
governance and analytics across
all critical business applications.
Businesses see risk exposure
and opportunities across the
enterprise as they happen, know
their financial impact and can act
quickly to control risks or improve
performance.
Greenlight’s unique ability to
integrate with and correlate
data across multiple business
applications, coupled with powerful
analytics on user activities, delivers
enterprise visibility of risk exposure
and regulatory compliance from
a single platform while providing
the finance team with actionable
information to boost the bottom
line. The company is headquartered
at Flemington, New Jersey and has
offices in Pune, India and
Walldorf, Germany.
Greenlight’s Risk
and Compliance
Monitoring and
Management
Solutions
Access Violation
Management (AVM):
A certain level of access
risk is unavoidable,
however, granting too
much access increases
the risk of fraud or loss
of revenue and granting
too little access prevents
people from doing their
jobs and slows business
momentum. But for many
companies, assessing and
understanding their true
access risk exposure is
challenging. The controls
they put in place are
manually driven, time-
consuming, and costly
to enforce. Finding exceptions that
are actual violations can be like
searching for a needle in a haystack.
AVM automates the identification
and review of materialized access
risks and enables exception-based
monitoring of transactions across
all critical business applications
to identify actual Segregation-of-
Duties (SoD) violations. With AVM,
business owners get a single view of
exceptions across the enterprise and
see their financial exposure from
unresolved access risk. They can
then follow-up and communicate
the financial risks to their
organization so they protect their
assets and drive business value.
Regulation Management:
Staying current with regulatory
changes and ensuring organizational
compliance is anything but simple
in today’s complex global economy.
Regulation Management enables
businesses to take a proactive
approach to compliance by
automatically monitoring, assessing,
and responding to regulatory
changes. The application centralizes
regulatory change management
processes, accelerates compliance
with new mandates, and extends
the automation of access and
business controls across all
critical systems enterprise-wide.
Collaborative workflow and
decision-making functionality allow
clients to establish accountability
among stakeholders and involve the
right people at the right time when
reviewing source documents and
regulatory mandates. Regulation
Management enables them to
align regulatory requirements
As the only solution
provider who can monitor
100% of transactions across
all enterprise applications
and show the financial impact
of risk, we offer unique
capabilities to control against
insider threats.
”
“
Anand Adya, Founder & CEO
Greenlight Technologies: Governance AutomatedTM
Greenlight Technologies: Governance AutomatedTM

43. 43May - 2019
with internal control activities and
operational execution to accelerate
compliance with new and changing
mandates.
Security Risk Analytics: As
the intensity and complexity of
the threat landscape increases,
businesses must be able to rapidly
discover when their assets are
vulnerable or compromised.
Cybersecurity and response teams
are often inundated with noisy, low
impact security alerts, and spend
exhaustive efforts chasing down
events which have nominal business
impact. Greenlight’s Security Risk
Analytics solution works with
existing security solutions to
correlate business risk to security
events and enables real-time
detection of unusual access and
authorization changes, user role
assignments, critical transaction
executions, system configuration
changes, and anomalous user
behavior across enterprise business
systems. The platform leverages
data from multiple sources and
analyzes asset, network, business
function, and risk intelligence
in conjunction with security,
compliance, and incident data.
Security risks are automatically
identified and reviewed, enabling
exception-based monitoring of
transactions across all critical
business applications to significantly
reduce false positives. Security
risk owners are notified only when
actual security violations occur,
providing streamlined, effective
management of threats and
improving cybersecurity strength.
See risk exposures in context as they
happen, know their financial impact
and act quickly to control them,
ensuring a defensible and resilient
cyber posture.
Privileged Access
Management: Sometimes
employees or contractors need
temporary privileged access
to business applications to
troubleshoot a problem or respond
quickly to a business issue.
Greenlight’s Privileged Access
Management solution for business
applications such as SuccessFactors,
PeopleSoft, Workday, Ariba, Coupa,
and iProcurement assures access
that is:
• Automatically provisioned
upon approval by someone
responsible for the business
function
• Limited to the period necessary
to resolve the business issue
• Fully documented with a
complete audit trail
Business users have complete
control over the process, allowing
IT resources to focus on technology
rather than user administration.
The solution also provides real-
time monitoring of user sessions,
events, activities, and master data
changes so insider risk is proactively
identified and mitigated.
Setting the Benchmark
for Success
Today, the world’s most respected
global companies rely on Greenlight
to protect their assets from
financial, operational, regulatory
and security threats, ensure
corporate compliance, and improve
performance. Its customers have
saved millions in labor costs,
audit fees, and loss prevention.
Greenlight’s continuous control
monitoring platform tracks user
activities and business events across
over one hundred applications and
provides the flexibility to work with
many GRC solutions on the market.
What can be a better testimony
of Greenlight Technologies than
the fact that SAP relies on the
Greenlight platform to extend SAP
GRC control monitoring capabilities
to all business applications,
including non-SAP applications?
SAP being a Greenlight Technologies
reseller speaks volumes about the
company’s success. Not only SAP, but
other Global 1000 companies also
rely on Greenlight Technologies to
efficiently enable sustainable access
compliance and transaction-control
monitoring across enterprise
applications and business processes.
Meet the Founder and CEO
Anand Adya founded Greenlight Technologies in 2004 and has led the company from its inception into
the market leading provider of governance, risk, and regulatory compliance solutions. Anand has more than
15 years of experience leading technology teams as well as having worked in the management consulting
field and for the information technology advisory practice at PwC. As a serial entrepreneur, Anand has been
a founding member of two successful technology start-up organizations prior to Greenlight Technologies.
As CEO of Greenlight Technologies, Anand is responsible for driving the organization’s strategic agenda,
technology vision, and business operations. He is considered to be an industry thought-leader on the topic
of governance, risk and compliance management, and is a frequent speaker at major conferences on this
domain. Anand received his MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
and his undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Management.
SR

44. Strategic Enterprise Management
A
n organization is built by
various departments which
are their pillars of strength
as they work together to achieve
the goals set the owners of the
business. Different departments
perform different functions. For
example, the payroll department
is responsible for managing the
payment structure of employees,
the sales department handles the
sales and distribution process,
the HR department is in charge
of hiring professionals and
defining their roles, the finance
department manages financial
matters of the company, the
production department looks
after the inputs and outputs of
a production, etc. Also, there
is a marketing team that keeps
the company in the forefront
by formulating its promotional
and marketing activities. Most
of the organizations have the IT
department as their backbone
to handle the system, network,
or security-related organization.
Last but no less, there is the
development team that takes the
taxing task of developing software
or website and the content team
that generates the content for the
company.
It is said that a company is as
good as its team. Based on the
industry, few of the departments
can be eliminated. However, most
of these diverse departments that
run an organization are extremely
important for business success.
Overall management of every
department, so that it works in
sync, is extremely crucial but
difficult. As the organization size
increases, the complexities also
increase. Organizations require
systematic software to manage
diverse departmental data and
work processes. This is why
enterprise management solutions
emerged.
There are many market experts
providing enterprise management
solutions, however, SAP is one of
the most trusted names when it
comes to enterprise management.
SAP offers Strategic Enterprise
Management solutions across
different industries for various
processes. Earlier, only bigger
companies focused on such
software, today, almost every
organization depends on them
for its work management needs
irrespective of its size.
So, what is Strategic Enterprise
Management? SAP Strategic
Enterprise Management developed
by SAP is an integrated system to
manage diverse processes within a
firm. It focuses on recording every
move a department takes through
planning, organizing, executing,
and controlling processes. In order
to support different departmental
goals, varied category of enterprise
management solutions have been
formulated including Human
Capital Management, Fixed Asset
Configuration, and so on.
Strategic Enterprise Management
aims to extend primary enterprise
management systems based on
in-depth work processes such
as performance monitoring,
strategy planning, communications
management, risk management,
etc. SAP Strategic Enterprise
44 May - 2019

45. 45May - 2019
Management aims to deliver the
quick implementation of fresh
solutions. Following are some of
the components of SAP Strategic
Enterprise Management (SEM):
Business Planning and
Simulation: The main goal
of the Strategic Enterprise
Management solution is to
measure and improve the
performance level of an
organization. The simulation tools
provided by SAP help to track
business performance and allow
businesses to take an informed
decision and plan future goals well.
Business Information
Collection: SEM allows a
department to collect detailed
business information. Even the
tiniest details cannot escape in
such a system where each process
can be tracked and recorded in a
unified system. It helps in better
work management and allows
future references.
Corporate Performance
Monitor: As the term suggests,
it is the performance metrics
of corporate solutions. It seeks
feedback from business execution
systems to monitor corporate
performance.
Stakeholder Relationship
Management: Strong and
clear interaction between all the
stakeholders is important for
organizations’ success. The SAP
SEM provides a unified interacting
system where every stakeholder
groups are aware of movements
within organizations.
SAP Strategic Enterprise
Management is a collection of
metrics, management techniques,
and related tools that use
different methods to measure the
performance of a business based
on which the future business plan
is strategically built. It focuses
on improving the position of the
company, evaluating customers
and projects in terms of their
total cost and benefit to the
organization, and measuring
“intellectual capital” so that the
company can stay ahead of its
competition.
SR
45May - 2019

46. Committed To Innovation and Giving Back To
the Society: Applexus Technologies
A
pplexus Technologies is a
global business solutions and
technology services company
that offers software development,
technology deployment and
implementation services for ERP,
omnichannel commerce, business
intelligence, IoT and other emerging
technologies. At its core, Applexus is
a results-driven systems integrator
and much more than that. Applexus
is organized into four business units:
• Applexus Consulting - provides
world class end-to-end
implementation, development
and technology deployment
services through a proprietary
methodology which combines
a blended delivery model with
unique accelerators
• Applexus Staffing - offers
onsite, near shore and offshore
role-specific personnel to
augment IT staff at the lowest
price in the industry without
sacrificing quality
• Applexus Labs - is a boutique
consultancy built around
‘Innovation as a Service,’ taking
on projects normally considered
too niche, too risky or too
specialized. Specific services
include proof of concept, rapid
prototyping and solution
development
• Applexus Cloud Solutions -
sells and supports the latest SAP
SaaS solutions - S/4HANA public
and private cloud - our own add-
on solutions, infrastructure as a
service and complete Application
Management Services (AMS)
Since 2005, Applexus has built long-
term relationships with a diverse
set of customers in North America,
the United Kingdom, the Middle East
and India. Its portfolio of services
includes ERP, Digital Commerce, User
Experience, Business Intelligence &
Analytics, IoT, BIG DATA and Cloud.
Consulting services
• Business Transformation
- Business leaderships need
to select the most appropriate
technology partner for their
transformation process.
Applexus guides enterprises
through all aspects of process
and technology realignment
while engaging stakeholders
across all levels. Its end-to-end
transformation services enable
business transformation service
provider, to leverage current
technological innovations to
revamp business and operating
models to deliver improved ROI
and realize maximum value
amidst disruption
• Digital Transformation
- The Applexus team has
domain expertise across
major industry verticals and
follows a comprehensive and
agile digital transformation
methodology. Our digital
business transformation
services and solutions will help
in streamlining and integrating
the development process for
all of the departments involved
including customer engagement,
sales and marketing or
performance optimization
• Enterprise Process -
Implementing a process change
is easier said than done. This
is because all too often, change
initiatives miss the point or fail
to deliver value to stakeholders.
With years of experience in the
making, Applexus helps you
identify the core areas that need
transformation within your
organization and drive effective
change management processes
that meet the intended outcomes
Move To Cloud With
Applexus’Cloud Services
With numerous cloud computing
delivery models to choose from,
businesses are struggling to settle
on the best option that addresses
their existing challenges with their
on-premise systems. Applexus helps
you judge the benefits of different
cloud deployment options, select the
best course of action and realize its
“We still have a long way to go, but I believe our
authenticity, honesty and trust of our customers
will help us achieve many more dreams.”

47. 47May - 2019
benefits in the long run. Whether you
have a lean IT staff and need to build
a cloud infrastructure that promotes
the growth of your business or have
an on-premise infrastructure that you
are not getting the value from, our
team of advisors can help chart your
path.
Its holistic cloud approach helps in
scaling up to the evolving business
needs and solving issues that cloud
deployments may bring along. This
ensures that the cloud infrastructure
implementation is smooth, seamless
and harmonious.
SAP: Streamlining Your
Enterprises Processes
SAP software products are highly
configurable and functionally rich. It
is the most widely used ERP system
and can be customized to meet the
demands of most horizontal and
vertical lines of businesses. With a
decade of successful implementations
and deep expertise, Applexus
provides SAP services that enable
businesses to stay ahead of the
demands, trends and developments
in the marketplace. It offers SAP
consultation, implementation,
upgrades, global rollout, migration,
and support services that
help enterprises enhance SAP
functionalities to achieve maximum
ROI.
The Applexus SAP services portfolio
ranges from core ERP (based on
line-of-business and industry) to
innovative technologies such as
Analytics, eCommerce and Cloud
solutions including HANA, Hybris,
and Fiori. It has helped retail, fashion,
manufacturing, consumer products,
wholesale distribution and life
sciences enterprises optimize their
investment in SAP. Its consultants
have the technical skills, proficiency
and industry knowledge to make
sure businesses can utilize the
functionalities provided by SAP
solutions to the maximum. Its
end-to-end SAP services will
help enterprises through
the implementation process up
to testing and delivery to
ensure project success.
Analytics Services
As the volume and availability of data
skyrocket, it becomes increasingly
challenging to transform data into
improved business opportunities.
That said, it is essential to have the
right information at the right time
to get a single view of business
operations and quicken the pace
of data analysis and visualization.
This will help organizations to
identify factors that affect business
performance and drive fundamental
change in business operations.
Applexus’ Data Science and
predictive analytics service enables
organizations to develop customized
statistical and machine learning
models to leverage advanced
customer, operational and stream
analytics in real time. With its
solutions, you can provide the right
information to everyone in your
enterprise - including in-depth
analysis and reporting capabilities
that are required to understand
business, make the right decisions,
gain the competitive edge and
increase profitability.
SR
Knowing the Leader
Sam Mathew, Founder and CEO
Sam is the Founder and CEO of Applexus Technologies. With a track record of customer centricity and
passion for excellence, he has proven himself to be a transformational leader in building and scaling the
company’s business success. Sam’s diverse IT experience in a variety of operating roles was instrumental in
the formulation of Applexus. He enables an ongoing environment that attracts dedicated and talented people.
Sam is as focused on his commitment to the society as he is to business. With a vision of serving the needy,
his passion for contributing to the betterment of the society has paved the way for Applexus to generate
sustained revenue to help the marginalized in society. Sam holds a mechanical engineering degree and is
based out of Seattle, WA, USA.
Sam Mathew, Founder & CEO

48. 48 May - 2019
T
he world is not new
to the potential
of machine
learning and artificial
intelligence to transform
and reshape companies
and developmental
processes. There has
been an exponential
headway in these areas
that could result in a world
completely different from
the one we are currently
living in. One of the
noteworthy impacts that
AI and machine learning
have brought is in the ERP
software field. Mentioned
in the following are a few of
the ways in which any firm
can improve ERP with AI
and machine learning.
Fixing Problems
at Their Budding
Stage
Whenever there is an
instance of a system break
down, valuable business
resources, productivity,
time and money are
compromised. Machine
learning can not only help
in detecting the problem
in its early stages, but also
makes it possible to predict
and prevent the problem
before it occurs. Machine
learning creates this sort
of advance preparation for
ERP. With the advancement
of technology, it will be
easier to eliminate the
wastage of resources
and prevent system shut
downs.
Game - Changing
Advanced
Analytics
Machine learning has
the potential to let one
categorize which metrics
are important and help
pull out customized data
that can provide detailed
insights and analytics
about those metrics. As
a result, this could also
help in obtaining an in-
depth understanding of
the buying behaviors of
customers from a certain
region so that you can
customize your offerings
for better conversions. The
metrics can also detect
the length of time that
a customer spent on a
particular product page,
in case you run an online
store.
Therefore, with machine
learning technology, the
information obtained can
be put to use to create a
tripwire at checkout as
well as send an email to
remind customers of their
How Incorporating AI and Machine
to Enhanced Productivity
48 May - 2019

49. 49May - 2019
interested products. Advanced
analytics can actually load you
with the power to drive your
business.
Predicting Future
Order Quantities
There’s another major role that
analytics and algorithms play in
ERP, i.e. forecasting abilities. AI
integrations can search through
the gathered data and then make
predictions based on that data
to improve the ability to forecast
for upcoming periods. This offers
the ability to detect seasonality
in business as well so that firms
always have a recommendation
regarding the increase or
decrease of production.
With AI, it will be easier to
look through customer history
and identify buying behavior
patterns thereby enabling to
predict future order quantities.
And as businesses cut down
on manufacturing the extra
products for the inventory, they
can eliminate under and over
production. This translates to
zero or less inventory storage
issues, cheaper small-scale
productions and higher revenue
all driven by AI in ERP.
Planned Marketing
Efforts
Identification of new
opportunities for sales and
marketing is a very important
thing to consider in regards to
having an ERP with machine
learning capabilities. The
utilization of AI and machine
learning in business not only
helps in identifying the patterns
in buying behavior, but also
tells who is buying what. They
may find that there is a suitable
target market that has been
left in branding and marketing
schemes. This market group can
be identified so that marketing
efforts can be directed towards
them in order to achieve a larger
market share and cause a positive
impact on the business revenue.
Improving
Interdepartmental
Processes
Setting up an ERP system in
place that minimizes the gap
between inventory, accounting
and sales can seem like an
overwhelming assignment.
Moreover, discovering one that
can connect all the various parts
of a business without any defects
is almost impossible. AI and
machine learning help to simplify
these processes and thus develop
a unified and streamlined
platform for customer
relationship management,
product lifecycle, reporting, and
sales. Technologies like AI and
ML ensure that a business runs
efficiently with less reconciliation
between the different aspects of
the business.
Virtual Agents and Apt
Customer Service
With proper integration of AI
and machine learning, tools like
virtual agents can be developed
which can be used to train
employees and guide them
through complex processes
and provide customer services
as well. When AI is bundled
with ERP systems, firms can
provide an added focus on
customer service as they have
the advantage of knowing
the customers’ wants and
needs beforehand in real time.
Moreover, it’s better to have
a virtual agent answer all the
relevant questions instead of a
customer service representative
dealing with a list of disgruntled
customers. With this customers
can also ask questions regarding
their order and have their
queries resolved by the AI upon
request.
Finally, the point if AI and
machine learning have all the
capabilities to reshape a business
and make it progressively
productive and profitable.
Speaking of this modern era, the
question isn’t if a firm can afford
to incorporate AI and ML in their
ERP, but if they can manage the
cost of not to.
Learning In ERP Systems Lead
SR
49May - 2019

50. A Reliable IT Partner Known for
Solving Business Challenges: Invenio
I
nvenio is recognized as a global
leader in solving business
challenges with IT solutions. It
has created strategic relationships
with some of the world’s leading
organizations, from Universal
Music Group and News UK to the
governments of Mauritius and
the Maldives. The company has
successfully maintained its values
and client focus through significant
growth.
Industries
Media and Entertainment
• Invenio Content Financials:
Built on SAP, Invenio’s solution
gives customers tight control
and financial transparency
throughout the immense
creation and acquisition of
content. The Invenio Content
Financials Solution enables
media companies to get a
tighter control on spend and
manage the whole lifecycle of
their content
• Procure-to-Pay Solution: The
Invenio P2P Solution for media,
entertainment, and technology
companies dramatically
reduces the cost of purchasing
by at least 50%. The company
does this by empowering its
clients’ suppliers to manage
their relationship with them-
whether it is master data,
quotations, proposals, work
orders, and invoices. They
spend less time administrating
and more time focusing on
generating revenue with no
need to integrate with SAP
Financials
• Invenio Broadcast
Management Solution: The
Invenio Broadcast Management
Solution is built on SAP. It
integrates and streamlines the
whole broadcasting process,
from programming, scheduling,
airtime sales, and traffic to
reconciliation and billing. The
result is improved productivity
and proven efficiencies
Manufacturing
To be a market leader in today’s
manufacturing industry, innovation
and rapid response to customer
demands are vital. SAP is helping
manufacturers tackle these
challenges with reliable solutions,
created specifically for the industry.
With S/4HANA, manufacturers
are able to react faster to variable
market demands, predict
operational issues and streamline
manufacturing performance overall
with one single source of live
information.
Public Sector-Tax and
Revenue Management
Invenio understands Tax and
Revenue Management better
than anyone. It is the largest SAP
Tax and Revenue Management
practice across the world. It has
helped governments around the
world improve revenue collection
and modernize their systems. Its
in-depth knowledge of Tax and
Revenue Management, allied with
SAP, can benefit clients.
Logistics
From warehouse management
to the office of the CEO, logistics
businesses face a unique set of
challenges. Margins are tight,
deliveries need to be made on time
and budgets need to be respected.
These processes require efficient
integration of systems, data
sources, and master data to ensure
performance is optimal. Invenio
has extensive experience helping
organizations to maximize their
SAP investment for the logistics
industry. Its knowledge means it can
proactively attack clients’ challenges
head-on.
SAP Solutions
SAP HANA: SAP HANA is a
platform that brings together
the databases, data processing,
and application platforms with
predictive and business analytics.
Invenio’s significant experience
across media and technology,
manufacturing and public sector
means that customers partner
with a business that understands
the challenges inherent in their
industry, and implements SAP
HANA in a manner that will be
50 May - 2019

51. focused around their processes and
objectives.
SAP S/4HANA: S/4HANA is
SAP’s next-generation business
suite built on the advanced in-
memory platform SAP HANA. The
company can help clients deploy
in the cloud, On-premises or as
a hybrid model, connecting their
processes with live information and
instant insights.
SAP Tax and Revenue
Management: SAP Tax and
Revenue Management is used
worldwide to increase collections
and maximize taxpayer compliance.
The solution helps administrators
deliver tax collection and revenue
management solutions, with a
single taxpayer view that supports
multiple revenue types.
SAP Supply Chain Execution
Platform: The SAP Supply
Chain Execution (SCE) Platform
is a holistic vision of end-to-end
visibility, control, and optimization
for warehouse, distribution, and
transport management. Clients
can connect and integrate every
aspect of supply chain logistics,
from processing to operations to
strategy, into a single, best-in-class
management platform.
SAP Revenue Accounting
and Reporting: SAP RAR is
a comprehensive solution that
automates and simplifies clients’
revenue recognition and accounting
process, providing the flexibility
to decouple revenue recognition
rules from order entry and billing
systems. They can comply with new
statutory regulations for revenue
recognition, such as IFRS 15 while
supporting existing requirements
with SAP Revenue Accounting and
Reporting.
Meet the Leader
Arun Bala, Chief Executive Officer: Arun manages Invenio’s business globally. He joined Invenio in 2013
with over 25 years of experience. Since then, Invenio has grown from 200 to over 450 people. The company puts
in place processes, systems, and structures that ensure it keeps to its core values of customer focus, transparency,
value delivery, and expertise while maintaining flexibility and agility.
His focus has been on delivering success for its customers while driving transparency, accountability, and value
delivery through all its engagements.
“We believe that fairness, honesty,
and integrity are keys to sustainable
business success and long term colleague
engagement.”
Arun Bala, CEO
51May - 2019
SR

52. Why ERP Software Is an Essential
Development
E
RP software implementations
are famous all over the
world for their technological
complexities as well as the cost and
implementation challenges that it
brings. Experts frequently speak
of the advantages of ERP system
over the amount of efforts and costs
associated with the implementation
of and ERP system. ERP might have
a few odds against it, but because
of the plethora of benefits it offers,
ERP is worth a try for large, small
and medium size enterprises. In the
following paragraphs, the challenges
and advantages that ERP software
addresses are explored.
Addressing the
Challenges of Business
Expansion
Businesses, for quite a long time
after their establishment, had
depended on the usual paper
based management systems like
registers or books, and Microsoft
spreadsheets in some cases.
Though they cost extremely less
as compared to the cost of ERP
software, ERP still can be the most
effective investment that a business
can make, whether it’s a small or
newly established business, to take
care of the management needs.
In addition to that, a business
will grow up and expand to new
locations and subsidiaries with time,
and having a cheaper alternative
like spreadsheets and registers
definitely won’t troubleshoot the
new problems of information
management that go up with the
economies of scale.
Businesses have to go through a
lot of struggles on a daily basis
which is majorly centered on
the management of the huge
volumes of ever-growing data, be
it data from financial transactions,
production, inventory, employee
database, vendor and emails. It is
very important that this data is
appropriately managed otherwise
it can result in serious business
implications such as incorrect
invoices leading to payment delays,
taxation problems, improper
inventory levels leading to issues
at production bays, wasted man-
hours from faulty production
schedules, and delayed productions
and deliveries. All of these issues
can promptly degrade customer
satisfaction levels thereby bringing
down the customer trust and
position of the company in the
market.
Another major challenge that arises
is from the integrated huge volume
of data from man, material and
machine from scaled up businesses.
As these functions are inter-
dependent on each other and on the
support and information from other
functions, working on generating
apt invoice becomes quite hard and
strenuous. That’s too much of a
hassle. Companies tried to address
this challenge arising out of business
expansion by increasing their
manpower but it wasn’t long when
they had to deal with burgeoning
costs, while also increasing the
problems to a dangerous level.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Software can prove extremely
beneficial in this scenario.
The Significance of ERP
Software
An ERP software can effectively
solve the two main problems with
expansion. The first one is managing
too much and too complicated data
and the other is integrating the
fragmented pieces of information
in order to build a significant and
manageable mass, which becomes
the foundation for strategic analysis
and decision making. According
to studies conducted on many
firms, it was found that ERP system
enabled automation expedited
tasks like preparation of account
reconciliations, customer quotations
and multi-tax invoices, etc. saw
improvement in short period of time

53. Platform for Business
that minimized the collection of
debts and benefited the operational
cash flows. As a result, firms can
develop a reduced need for high
interest business overdrafts and
loans.
This shows that ERP software
is capable of ensuring the
acceleration of business process
and transparency in the business
transactions, which are the most
critical benefits that an ERP system
can provide. An ERP system can
prove helpful even in catching
errors on time and alerting before
it causes severe damage to the
business continuity.
Though ERP system can be a costly
affair to the company sometimes,
but with the recent advancements
and developments, ERP systems
have now evolved to offer more
configuration options, robust
technology for effective support
and open source components
so that the license fee could be
reduced for clients. With these
factors, vendors are now able to
reduce a significant amount of the
base cost of ERP software. The
cost can be further minimized with
customization.
Different businesses have different
needs. As vendors can now offer
customizations in the software,
firms can ask for features that can
match their exact business process.
However, this doesn’t always ensure
that it’s the best practice for cost
reduction. Sometimes, customizing
too much can magnify the ERP
cost to large extent and can also
increase the implementation time,
causing delay and frustrations.
Instead of that, firms can just invest
in training their employees to adapt
to the business process that their
ERP software offers.
ERP Software: A Crucial
Driver for Business
Growth
As modern day businesses conduct
lots of transactions as a daily
routine, ERP software holds utmost
importance in any business. Firms
can’t stay in the market without
effective enterprise software.
Businesses that don’t depend on
ERP often tend to invest more in
multiple software applications
dedicated for a single function.
Now customers have never-ending
demands regarding the pricing of
products, customer service levels,
delivery times and brand value
of the company. In a scenario like
this, ERP systems are the only
integrated business solutions that
can take care of this and provide
the necessary competitive edge to
expanding businesses.SR
53May - 2019

54. 54 May - 2019
Driving Better Business through
Actionable Intelligence: Column5
E
nterprise Performance
Management (EPM) has
become a must-have for
competitive organizations that
seek to outperform their peers
in the global marketplace. The
evidence is clear in every industry
sector; the agility, transparency,
and efficiency derived from an EPM
strategy simply can’t be realized by
cobbling together legacy systems
and protocols, or without an
experienced partner who specializes
in implementing EPM technology
aimed at delivering an exclusive
competitive advantage.
Every company with initiatives
designed to advance the maturity
of their performance management
capabilities will want to ensure
all potential value is realized from
those investments. Enter Column5,
the world’s elite consulting firm
dedicated to providing leading-
edge solutions leveraging the
SAP Enterprise Performance
Management Suite. The company
was founded in 2005, by key
players from the team that made
OutlookSoft an international
success, with the sole goal of
creating a team uniquely equipped
with broad capabilities to properly
deliver high-value solutions to an
elite list of prominent clients.
In subsequent years, the Column5
team has partnered with SAP
to create tailored solutions that
address performance management
needs across a wide range of
industries and client types. In
addition to its prepackaged
solutions, Column5 has developed
a team, knowledge base, and level
of thought leadership that are
unparalleled to deliver creative and
high-value solutions for any size
client in any industry.
The Column5 Difference
The ultimate goal in any competitive
pursuit is to achieve peak
performance—and in the enterprise
performance management world,
that means reaching “column
five” in the EPM Maturity Model.
Column5 is that elite stage in which
the EPM process marries strategic,
operational and financial plans
to enable company leadership to
execute strategic goals, immediately
address changes in the market,
and strengthen the organization.
It’s when business insights are
updated in near real-time for
rapid and frequent analysis and
on-the-go decision making. Most
important, it’s the point when EPM
effectiveness transforms into an
elite competitive advantage that
maximizes the value returned
to clients’ business and its
shareholders. Of course, Column5
recognizes that organizational
change is challenging – it is the
company’s job to provide the vision,
talent, and tools that make the
journey as painless as possible.
In transitioning the organization
from where it is today to achieving
“column five”, it starts with a
comprehensive understanding of an
organization’s culture, management
style and appetite for change.
Throughout the process, it ensures
that organizations get the most from
its EPM investment by transforming
process, technology and team’s
capabilities into an integrated
solution that delivers outstanding
enterprise performance, while
positioning companies to achieve:
• Prompt return on investment
• The lowest possible total cost of
ownership
• Long-term independence
Services
Consulting &
Implementation: By making
better, more timely decisions based
“We pride
ourselves on an
approachable,
friendly style,
and unwavering
commitment
to sharing our
deep expertise in
business process
design and
execution.”

55. 55May - 2019
on trusted data, organizations can
improve every element of their
operations whether reducing costs,
identifying opportunities, taking
the right products more quickly
to market, weathering economic
turmoil, procuring better, or
improving customer service.
Column5 Training: A
successful implementation of
SAP Enterprise Performance
Management (EPM) solutions,
including BPC, depends on relevant,
timely training for a client’s project
team, administrators and users.
Column5’s EPM Academy sets the
industry standard in the quality
curriculum, with award-winning
course content developed by top
field experts.
Technical Services: Column5’s
Technical Services ensure that
companies achieve a premium
level of performance that returns
the highest value of clients’
investment in the SAP EPM product
suite. Its unmatched experience,
expertise, and dedication secure
success in technical integration,
enhances performance, limits
risk and improves user adoption
and satisfaction – during their
implementation and beyond.
Program Management: The
Program Management team at
Column5 is dedicating to making
sure clients’ projects are delivered
as efficiently as possible within
the budget. To help make the right
decision for their project, it is
important to look at what project
management is, what benefits it
provides, and how it fits in the
overall project.
The Column5 implementation
methodology for SAP BPC EPM
projects has evolved based
on the hundreds of successful
EPM projects it has managed.
The methodology includes an
integrated plan incorporating
the people-side of the change,
leadership and sponsorship, and
traditional project management.
Meet the Leader
David Den Boer, Chairman,
and Founder: David founded
Column5 Consulting in 2005. A
dedicated professional services
practitioner and entrepreneur, he
has applied his significant technical
delivery experience and broad
experience providing solutions
across a wide variety of industries
and raising the standards for what
success means within EPM. As a
founding principal with the launch
of Column5, David sought to extend
the focus of EPM beyond just
implementing technology, assembling
a team of business process
visionaries and senior product talent
with unmatched ability to deliver
world-class EPM solutions.
Under David´s leadership, Column5
has evolved beyond its reputation
for technically superior solutions
to be an influential global provider
of high—value EPM solutions. His
prior experience includes consulting
experience as Director of Services at
OutlookSoft from 2000 to 2005.
David Den Boer, Chairman & Founder
SR

56. SAP S/4HANA Cloud ERP Goes Live
at Kāpura in 28 days
T
he Wellington-based
hospitality group
called Kāpura has been
implementing SAP S/4HANA
Cloud ERP. It has gone live on
the Cloud ERP in just 28 days of
implementation. That itself is a
huge achievement and many say
it is a new record. SAP also did
mention that Kāpura was the
fastest to implement SAP S/4HANA
Cloud globally. For now, Kāpura is
aiming to become a $500 million
company within the next five
years. This project of the company
that is implemented by SAP and
Deloitte is said to improve the
operational efficiency including the
productivity of all the employees.
This is how Kāpura turned real-
time data insights into actions and
further consolidating different
entities that are within the Kāpura
group.
Kāpura’s Growth
Kāpura is a really fast-growing
firm that was formerly part of the
Wellington Hospitality Group. It
now has an employee count of over
800 people listed in 35 different
venues. The area of operation is
in New Zealand, which includes
Taranaki St Wharf’s Mac’s Brewbar,
Miramar’s Gasworks, Wellington
Brew’d bars and many like these. In
order to grow and move to the next
level, Kāpura had to implement SAP
S/4HANA Cloud ERP. The market
it wants to expand is clear and
the time frame is calculated to be
around five years. But with the pace
it is going, we might see Kāpura
achieving its $500 million before its
five years’ time frame.
Kāpura is not only running its
system but it is also focusing on its
business through the help of SAP
S/4HANA Cloud. This particular
ERP was chosen just because of
the accelerated implementation
of time-frame disruption in the
business. Also, the SaaS was
considered by Kāpura. The CFO
of Kāpura, Cormac Denton did
say that the company holds
strong ambitions and that is why
implementing this ERP will be very
useful for its fast growth.
Why SAP S/4HANA
Cloud ERP?
The company chose SAP because
of its seamless integration with
its existing operational systems.
SAP is said to further provide a
platform for future innovations.
The firm is also focusing on techs
such as artificial intelligence and
machine learning in order to
deliver various types of experiences
for its customers including insights
to employees. This unique system
is said to reduce operational
processes including the fact that it
will provide employees with real-
time data on business performance
that further improves efficiency
within administrative tasks and
management. The platform is said
to more innovative approaches
like personalized customer
experiences through the use of
big data, machine learning and
artificial intelligence. The platform
also paves the way for future
integration. Those integrative
systems are Concur and Success
Factors of SAP.
A partner at Deloitte New Zealand,
Darren Wood, said that the team
they worked in partnership to
ensure a successful outcome
by setting an “audacious” goal.
The growth of New Zealand’s
hospitality industry was immense
and the sales went high last year.
Phil Cameroon who now is
the managing director of SAP
New Zealand said that in this era
of change, it’s critical for small to
medium-sized businesses to get
their digital framework right so
that their business has the flexible
and agile foundations to seize the
opportunity for growth. Keeping
that in mind Kāpura surely made a
huge change in the market and is
doing the same.
It is essential to have a growth path
that leads to success and Kāpura
has proven that by choosing the
right platform it can do wonders.
SAP has always been a saviour and
those tagging with it have seen
success. Kāpura is one of those
companies that is proving this
statement right.
SR
56 May - 2019

58. 10 Fastest Growing SAP Solution Providers 201910 Fastest Growing SAP Solution Providers 2019
Company
Ian Mechie
Managing Director
Gyde Wortmann
Co-founder &
Management
Board Member
Pete Stevenson
Chairman & CEO
Anand Adya
Founder & CEO
Mikael Boyum
CEO & President
Tony Whalen, President
Dave Fellers, CEO
Sam Mathew
Founder & CEO
Arun Bala, CEO
David Den Boer
Chairman & Founder
Management
Absoft, SAP Partner and SAP Value-Added Re-Seller (VAR), has been
specialising in SAP® since 1991, uniquely combining business process and SAP
expertise to deliver best practice solutions in implementation, development and
support of SAP solutions.
The abat Group is an international provider of SAP consultancy and
development and the software PLUS, a manufacturing execution system (MES);
it specializes in the automotive and logistics sectors and the discrete industry.
Symmetry™ is a leading applications management and hybrid cloud hosting
solution provider with deep expertise in SAP application management. An
SAP partner since 2005, Symmetry is certified in SAP Hosting, Cloud and
SAP HANA Operations.
Greenlight Technologies is the pioneering leader of integrated risk management
for the enterprise, providing financial, operational and security solutions.
Boyum IT Solutions is a global award-winning SAP Business One
implementation, consultancy and development house with more than 5,000
customers worldwide.
Vision33 partners with growing and large organizations in both the public and
private sectors to understand their vision and help them reach it with the right
blend of strategy, consulting, and technology.
Bramasol is a recognized expert in finance compliance solutions addressing two
of the most comprehensive and complicated accounting and business changes
in over 50 years: revenue recognition and leasing.
Applexus Technologies is a global Business Consulting and Services Company
offering industry-leading solutions to retail, fashion, consumer manufacturing
industries.
For over a decade, Invenio Business Solutions has been recognised as one of the
leading global consultancies focused on solving complex business challenges
with innovative IT solutions.
Column5 is a global consultancy that provides advanced Enterprise
Performance Management (EPM) solutions, services, support and training to
hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of BPC users around the world.
Description
SR
Absoft
www.absoft.co.uk
abat
www.abat.de
Symmetry
www.symmetrycorp.com
Greenlight Technologies
www.greenlightcorp.com
Boyum IT
www.boyum-solutions.com
Vision33
www.vision33.com
Bramasol
www.bramasol.com
Applexus Technologies
www.applexus.com
Invenio
www.invenio-solutions.com
Column5
www.column5.com
®