Date: 26 Jul 2010
Evolution Systems grabbed the opportunity to be a part of SAP's Extended Business Member (EBM) Program signing with Master Value Added Reseller (VAR) Extend Technologies today.
“The EBM program offered us the opportunity to diversify, grow our business, and support our customers in a greater capacity utilising SAP. As an IBM Business Partner we see many clients forced to look at alternatives for their much loved System i platform, and this doesn't have to be the case with SAP as it runs on System i beautifully,” said Mr Geoff Boreland, Managing Director, Evolution Systems.
“A key issue in the market today is users of legacy applications, like Infor System 21, run on operating systems that are being withdrawn from support. This forces them to either; 1) upgrade their ERP with their existing vendor (which in most cases can be as expensive as a new solution), 2) go to market for a new ERP, or 3) remain unsupported,” said Boreland.
Helen Masters, General Manager, Growth Markets, SAP ANZ said, “SAP's recently launched EBM Program with Extend Technologies as its first Master VAR was a formal structure put in place to enable growing businesses like Evolution Systems to benefit from being a SAP partner without the large upfront investment. This partnership means Evolution Systems can grow its business over time and continue to focus on its specialised areas, while working with an authorised re-seller of SAP solutions.”
“We are thrilled to have Evolution Systems onboard and be our first partner in the EBM program,” said Mr Andrew Powell, General Manager Commercial, Extend Technologies. “By building an SAP practice, they are changing their core ERP/BI solution offering to keep pace with market trends. It's a strategic change in direction that 'future proofs' their business. I see many companies and people entering the SAP ecosystem and very few choosing to leave it.”
Extend Technologies is currently running an AS400 Legacy ERP Safe Passage Program in conjunction with IBM‟s business partners. A perfect first step for Evolution Systems to announce their new SAP capability to their network and offer immediate value.
“IBM Power servers have proven to be the first choice for innovative clients around the world when moving to SAP from alternative ERP environments,” said Andre Liem, Power Platform Executive, IBM Australia. “The latest release of the Power server range, containing POWER7 processing cores, further extends IBM's leadership in providing business value to clients who need robust, reliable and scalable infrastructure to run an SAP environment."
Participation in the SAP EBM Program is voluntary, free of charge and open to companies with a desire to build SAP capability in industry verticals or specific geographies. The commercial cooperation between program members and Extend Technologies is at their discretion, and the commercial relationship between Extend Technologies and their customers remains unchanged by the new program.