SAP Customers Should Be Using SAP ICC Certified Partners Here's Why:
As many of you know, finding the right integrated solution to accompany your SAP system can be one of the most daunting and challenging experiences you will face as a business owner or project manager. There are countless aspects to consider when making this decision, such as costs, features, functionality, company history, trust, implementation success rate etc. However, one of the most critical aspects to consider when purchasing a solution add-on is INTEGRATION. In this month’s blog, we will go over why selecting an SAP partner that has gone through the SAP Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC) can reduce project risk, save on total costs, and increase implementation speed.
SAP has partnered with over 15,000 companies globally to provide our customers the opportunity to find a personalized fit for their business needs. So why is selecting an SAP partner that has gone through the SAP ICC certification process so important? To put it simply, all partners with a certified solution have had their solution integration or interface tested by one of our dedicated SAP ICC technical consultants. The testing requirements vary depending on the integration scenario and in most cases, all certified partners have had their integrations tested on the latest SAP solution release. During any certification test, the SAP consultant monitors and logs the test results, while the partners engineers drive the actual testing, including the integration set-up and data exchange. The partners software remains under their control at all times. Once the testing is concluded successfully, they will receive a detailed and confidential test report, a certificate, and the appropriate certification logo Additionally, all certified partners must follow a set of integration best practices created by SAP ICC experts; such as appropriate integration methods and tools, security, performance, documentation, and much more. Let’s breakdown how selecting partners who’ve gone through an SAP ICC integration test can help your business.
When selecting any software solution, you immediately tend to look at the risks involved in the project from start to finish. From a technical and business perspective, you want to reduce those risks to virtually zero before making that final purchasing decision. Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate this concept is through a fabricated example. The CEO of Lexcorp is looking to purchase an add-on solution that will need to integrate with their SAP S/4 HANA system. During the meeting with a sales executive from a potential solutions provider, the CEO asks a simple question, “can your solution integrate into SAP S/4 HANA?”. Confidently, the sales executive responds with “yes, we’ve integrated our solution into S/4 HANA numerous times. It’s a no brainer!”. After other related questions, the Lexcorp CEO decides to go with the solution provider who reassured him they can integrate with SAP S/4 HANA no problem. Two months into the implementation, Lexcorp quickly realizes the solution provider’s inability to integrate with their existing S/4 HANA system. This is costing them time, enormous amounts of money, lost customers, and operational disarray. If Lexcorp had chosen an SAP ICC certified partner instead, they would have eliminated the risk of choosing a solution that didn’t adapt to their integration codes to comply with the S/4HANA data structure and scope.
As you may have already concluded, each day that goes over the project deadline affects your entire business in numerous ways. Customers can save on total cost overall (TCO) and reduce integration costs by taking advantage of pre-tested integrations with SAP solutions. Gaining an SAP ICC certification demonstrates the partner’s technology offerings integrate smoothly with SAP solutions and will make you feel confident in your investment decision. SAP ICC certified partners should be perceived as solution providers doing all they can to help customers save on TCO.
In today’s fast moving software industry, implementation speed is everything. The speed of an implementation can distinguish solution providers in numerous ways. Take caution, ineffectively integrating a solution add-on in the name of speed can be damaging to your company’s operational capabilities. This may include loss of data, security risks, inaccurate mapping of tables, performance speed, etc. By choosing an SAP ICC Certified partner, you will avoid all the potential unknown integration factors but still obtain the implementation speed desired.
While numerous software solution providers declare that they have expertise in delivering complex and sophisticated integrations, the truth is you have no reassurance these providers have the necessary experience or capabilities to do so. A successful integration requires not only a broad and comprehensive understanding of software infrastructure and compatibility, but also a deep understanding of the existing SAP solution you currently have in place. You need assurance a company can reduce the project risk, save on total costs, and increase implementation speed. You need a company who can confidently bring visibility into your overall business operations. You need a solutions provider who’s gone through SAP Integration and Certification Center and have had their integrations previously tested by SAP ICC experts.
Thank you for reading. Please find a link to the SAP ICC Certified Solutions Directory here: www.sap.com/sapcertifiedsolutions. For a quick recap of this month’s blog, please view the interactive Prezi here:https://prezi.com/view/lzg3rUQXuE3xs1UluXep/
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