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Consultant News from Sapphire
Welcome to
the latest edition of our newsletter for the consultant community.
Ian Caswell - Managing Director
In this edition we are delighted to introduce the all new and
improved SunSystems 5.4 – recently released by Infor. In fact we are
running an educational seminar for Management Consultants, on
22nd October 2009 at our London offices, in order to showcase some
of the key developments within this leading software solution –
click here
to reserve your place.
I am also very pleased to announce that Sapphire is to supply and
implement the PROACTIS Spend Control solution to the RSPCA. We are
honoured to add such a prestigious charitable organisation to
Sapphire’s growing PROACTIS customer portfolio and look forward to
working with them in the future – read the full story on why the RSPCA
chose Sapphire later in this newsletter.
Finally, I would like to share with you the news that,
despite the current economic crisis, Sapphire has been awarded the 2009 SAP
Pinnacle accolade in the Small – Mid Size Enterprise category. To be
acknowledged as the No. 1 SAP Business One reseller in EMEA is a
great achievement for us and we look forward to working closely with
SAP in driving our SAP Business One venture forward into the
international market, supported by the opening of our US offices.
As always, I welcome your comments on any of the features and articles
within our Newsletter; if you have any comments and suggestions for
future newsletters please feel free to forward these to
info@sapphiresystems.com
To find out more about the benefits of working with Sapphire,
you can
download our full fact sheet here.
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Product
Feature: Infor FMS SunSystems v5.4
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Infor
has announced the release of the long awaited - SunSystems 5.4 |
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Infor FMS SunSystems 5.4
delivers a large number of significant, customer-driven enhancements
and is equipped with open SOA technology, event-driven
service-oriented architecture framework, to provide a
standards-based approach for integration of both Infor and non-Infor
systems and data sources.
Through Infor Open SOA,
Infor customers can rapidly and economically add software
applications and future component-based enhancements without the
need to "rip-and-replace" software or interrupt other systems during
operations, a key benefit to Infor's SOA technology.
"The reality for companies today is that they are operating many
diverse software applications, and aggregating all that data to make
real-time business decisions, which is a significant challenge and
nearly impossible to do effectively," said Andy Birch, senior
director, financial solution management, Infor. "To address this
issue and deliver results to our customers while reducing IT costs,
Infor has SOA enabled solutions, like FMS SunSystems, to integrate
and share data throughout the enterprise not only with other Infor
systems, but also with third party or in-house solutions that
customers use. This ability means that Infor customers can
facilitate interoperability between applications without incurring
large consulting fees-it's built in connectivity."
"Infor has included many valuable enhancements in the latest release
of FMS SunSystems that make the software easier to deploy to new
sites and even simpler to upgrade," adds Ray Wahlen, director,
accounting software, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
"We look forward to adopting future Infor applications and
components, such as Advanced General Ledger, and benefiting from new
reporting and analytical capabilities without disrupting our
operations through Infor Open SOA."
In addition to SOA integration, SunSystems 5.4 delivers nine new
language capability: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German,
Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese - Simplified and
Traditional, as well as compatibility with the latest technology
platforms - Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008 as well as Oracle 10g
and 11g platforms. The new User Interface on SunSystems 5.4,
provides a fresh new experience for users and enhancements around
security in order to help users to meet the increasing requirements
around control and corporate governance.
For more information on SunSystems 5.4 please call our
product advisory team on 020 7648 2000.
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RSPCA
Selects PROACTIS from Sapphire
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Sapphire to supply and implement the Proactis Spend Control solution
at RSCPA |
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Sapphire Systems is happy
to announce that it is to supply and implement the PROACTIS Spend
Control solution at RSPCA a Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals.
The RSPCA (The Society) is the oldest and best-known animal welfare
charity in the world, and is in the top 10 in the UK in terms of its
income. The RSPCA is not, as is commonly thought, one entity,
instead, the national society (for England and Wales) is formed of
the RSPCA headquarters, 5 regional headquarters and 35 associated
animal welfare sites. It also supports and assists 172 independent
volunteer-run charities (individual branches) that use the RSPCA
brand.
Head of Procurement at the RSPCA, Vickie Malyon, attended a Not for
Profit sector Procurement Special Interest Group at Sapphire in
December 2008. Vickie commented “I attended the Sapphire event as
the RSPCA had recently established a new Procurement team tasked
with controlling spend and saving money; we were keen to find out
more about what other charities were doing and how the process could
be automated and centralised.”
Following a formal evaluation process the RSPCA shortlisted PROACTIS
and 3 other solutions. Vickie explained “Our brief was to find a
web-based procurement system for use by The Society to place orders
on suppliers with flexible workflow to deal with our authorisation
processes and integrate with our SAGE 500 accounts system. The
system will be deployed across a wide range of users so ease of use
is essential, it also needs to scale for the future both in size and
functionality. We would eventually like to deploy additional modules
such as supplier management, contract management and PO flipping.
The fact that PROACTIS is used in many Not for Profit organisations
gave us great comfort, we also felt that Sapphire with their wide
ranging charity expertise stood out from the other potential
suppliers. Sapphire’s team was especially thorough during the pre
sales period and impressed the RSPCA not only with their knowledge
of PROACTIS but their experience in managing the change that comes
with a new business system”.
The new PROACTIS system
will start rolling out across the organisation towards the end of
March next year. The RSPCA expects the system to yield a number of
benefits including risk management; by introducing efficient and
effective ordering and invoice processing procedures, greater
visibility and control of the RSPCA society’s procurement activity
and ultimately, savings. The balance of power will be shifted away
from suppliers back into the hands of The Society. Automation of
paper based systems will also eliminate time wasted by staff whose
primary focus is the welfare of animals.
Vickie continues “We look forward to PROACTIS being able to provide
a simple clearly defined procurement process for all parts of The
Society and a one stop shop for all our purchasing needs.”
Clare Howard, Business Development Manager at Sapphire, concluded
“We are delighted to be welcoming the RSPCA to Sapphire’s growing
PROACTIS customer community. PROACTIS will provide the RSPCA with
the visibility it needs and will empower it to make relevant
business decisions at the outset of the procurement process. The
system will provide ease of use for all sections of The Society from
HQ, regions and branches to the inspectorate, animal centres and
hospitals allowing any savings to be redirected to the important
work of animal welfare.”
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News: Sapphire win
SAP Pinnacle Award
Sapphire named No.1
partner for SAP Business One in the EMEA region
London – May 2009.
Sapphire Systems today announced that it has been awarded a 2009
SAP® Pinnacle Award in the Small and Mid-size Enterprise category.
Sapphire Systems is named as the number one partner for SAP focused
on SAP Business One in the EMEA region - delivering impressive SAP
license revenue. The London-based company with regional operations
in the United Kingdom, and in the United States, overachieved on
targets for 2008 and supports over 150 SAP Business One customers.
SAP Pinnacle Awards were granted to leading SAP partners that have
excelled in enhancing the customer experience, addressing critical
issues such as accelerating co-innovation and improving return on
investment. Winners were selected based on over 300 nominations,
twice the amount in 2008, received from partners and SAP employees.
“SAP is committed to working with partners of all sizes to be as
successful as possible in partnering with SAP,” said Patricia Hume,
senior vice president, Global SME Indirect Channel, SAP, “Partners
like this year's Pinnacle award recipients exemplify excellence in
action. They are very successful companies and are devoted to
helping midsized companies meet their specific business needs. We
thank Sapphire Systems for their dedication and passion to
partnering with SAP to help redefine the customer experience in the
midmarket.”
Ian Caswell, Sapphire Systems’ managing director, received the award
at a special awards ceremony held on the eve of SAPPHIRE® 2009,
SAP’s international customer conference held in Orlando, USA earlier
this month.
On collecting the award Ian said “We are absolutely thrilled to have
been awarded this accolade by SAP and it means a great deal to us to
be acknowledged as the leading SAP Business One partner in the EMEA
region. We always try to go the extra mile when it comes to looking
after our customers and will continue to look for new ways to even
better support them.”
“We are delighted that Sapphire has been recognized by the SAP
Pinnacle Awards,” added Ben Crow, Channel Development Manager for
SAP Business One at SAP. “The team at Sapphire work hard to offer
their customers an outstanding service and the award is well
deserved.”
- ENDS -
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Management Consultant Seminar
–
Sapphire Update –
Working With You
Need to keep your finger on
the pulse of the business systems marketplace?
 I
hope you are well and enjoying the summer, at Sapphire we have been
thinking about you and the dilemmas you face every day when you are
asked by your clients to help them find the most appropriate and
beneficial business system that fulfils their needs within their
given budget, and depending on how generous that budget is, finding
the right supplier, the choice can be difficult, particularly when
you have to put your name to it! During these tough times we are all
expected to provide the same high level of service and at the same
time get squeezed on fees, getting more from less is the order of
the day, at Sapphire we are confident we can work with you by adding
value to what you do and with that in mind I’d like to invite you to
a Sapphire Update Session being held at our offices, on 22nd
October, I do hope you will be able to attend and I look forward to
meeting you.
David Singh
- Sales and Marketing Director
Free Market
Update for Business Systems Advisors:
Date: Thursday
22nd October 2009
Time:
09:00 - 12:00
Venue:
Sapphire HQ, City of London
Enrol:
Click here
Sapphire's up-date session for Management Consultants
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AGENDA |
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09.00 |
REGISTRATION – Tea & Coffee on the River View Terrace |
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09.30 |
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION - An overview of Sapphire from
David Singh, Sales & Marketing Director, Sapphire |
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09.45 |
SAPPHIRE &
YOU – A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PARTNERSHIP
With over 20 years experience implementing leading
financial and business management solutions and with
over 600 customers in our portfolio, Sapphire has the
breadth and depth of skills and expertise that you and
your clients can count on. During this session we will
share with you the Sapphire success story and more
importantly what this means for you. We will explore
areas where you can add value, for example business
transformation, business analysis, change management and
project management, to the benefit of our mutual
clients. David Singh Sapphire
David Singh, Sapphire |
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10.00 |
SOLUTIONS FROM SAPPHIRE
Sapphire’s strategy is to supply ‘best in class’
business solutions to organisations in the UK and
globally – solutions that are both proven and recognised
in today’s market place as leaders in their space. In
this session we will give you an overview of SAP’s
leading application for mid-size – growing companies:
SAP Business One as well as the NEW release from Infor
FMS – SunSystems 5.4.
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10.20 |
PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS
In this session Sapphire’s Application Consultants will
present both SAP Business One and Infor FMS SunSystems
5.4, giving you the opportunity to see the software in
action and understand the main features and benefits of
these market leading solutions.
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11.30 |
CASE STUDY
In this session we will take you through a real life
case study from the search and selection process right
the way through to implementation and sign off.
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11.20 |
PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS
In this session Sapphire’s Application Consultants will
present both SAP Business One and Infor FMS SunSystems
5.4, giving you the opportunity to see the software in
action and understand the main features and benefits of
these market leading solutions.
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12.15 |
QUESTION & ANSWER
An opportunity for you to quiz our panel of experts and
for any questions you have to be answered before we
close for a buffet lunch on our River view terrace.
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12.30 |
SUMMARY &
CLOSE - LUNCH |
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Microsites from Sapphire
Sapphire has built
3 dedicated product microsites to provider users with information on the core features and deliverable benefits of
the products we offer. In addition to brochures, users can also have
access to client case studies and view customer videos, product demos
and much more.
Watch out for
our SunSystems microsite - coming soon
Click below to view our
microsite
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Case study: Mears
 Mears
Group is a leading social housing repairs and maintenance provider
in the UK, with a growing presence in the domiciliary care market.
It also has a subsidiary mechanical and electrical division. Mears
is an ambitious company with a powerful vision, operating in a
growing market with an excellent financial base; strong, pro-active
management; great people and an impressive client portfolio.
In 1999, Mears inherited an Infor FMS SunSystems solution as part of
the acquisition of another company. On reviewing SunSystems Ben
Westran, Group Financial Controller, and the finance team at Mears
concluded it was more suited to the needs of the business than their
existing solution, Summit 2000. The team were particularly impressed
with the strong analysis functionality of SunSystems. They were also
keen to benefit from the strong reporting capabilities of the Vision
application, which would additionally facilitate the ease of data
import into SunSystems. On migrating the group to SunSystems, Mears
took the opportunity upgrade from SunSystems Version 4 to 5.
Mears was introduced to Sapphire as the incumbent SunSystems partner
of the company that had been acquired - and the team were not
disappointed. Ben observed “It was the support desk that really sold
Sapphire to Mears – no one got upset by the amount of questions that
we asked. Sapphire is a good service provider; very reliable and
helpful in resolving any issues.”
To read
the full case study -
click here
For more information on Sapphire please call us on 020 7648 2000 or
visit our website at:
www.sapphiresystems.com
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Sapphire expertise: Seamless Integration of SAP Business One and
the SAP Business Suite
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Extend your SAP Business Suite with SAP Business One
To gain maximum value from
your existing SAP investment your entire enterprise -- including
subsidiaries, corporate subdivisions, and business partners -- needs
to share data and integrate its processes.
To help you achieve this, SAP now offers a seamless integration
strategy between the SAP Business Suite and their solution for small
and mid-size enterprises: SAP Business One.
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The SAP integration
program, delivered by Sapphire, can help extend your corporate SAP
solution across your entire enterprise to link people, processes,
and information. And by delivering solutions that integrate across
your entire business ecosystem, Sapphire can offer you the
flexibility, business agility and responsiveness necessary to run a
successful extended business.
Studies show that a
variety of benefits are achieved by integrating all areas of your
business including:
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More efficient
business processes through company-wide standardisation.
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A single deployment
scenario, using one customisable template
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Faster data processing
times
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Elimination of
redundant systems
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Global sharing and
reporting of information
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Lower development and
maintenance costs
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Reduced operational
risk
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Lower operating costs
Find out more about SAP Business One
Seamless Integration of SAP Business One and SAP Business Suite
Seamlessly extend the
capabilities of your SAP Business Suite, to integrate all of your
divisions, subsidiaries and partners with SAP Business One.
Using state-of-the-art
technology, SAP Business One easily integrates with SAP R/3, and all
new SAP ERP applications, at headquarters. Simple and quick to
implement, SAP Business One integrates the entire IT landscape with
a single global SAP solution. The result is lower IT maintenance
costs, increased control and visibility, and improved productivity.
Find out more about
seamless integration of SAP Business One - Download
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News:
Sapphire assists SAP with system testing
London –31 March 2009.
Sapphire’s SAP Business One Support Manager, Samantha Rowland-Jones,
joins the SAP testing team with the product testing phase in the
development of SAP Business One version 8.8.
At the beginning of March development of SAP Business One 8.8 had
reached its testing phase as planned. One of the most important
milestones within this phase is the functional Acceptance Test;
feedback at this stage is essential to the success of v8.8 market
acceptance. Ms Rowland-Jones was invited by SAP to participate in
and represent the United Kingdom for Acceptance Testing of this
important new release of SAP Business One.
The Acceptance Test took place in Bratislava, Slovakia over a two
week period. A testing team from around the world joined forces to
assess new features, compliance for market requirements and quality
standards.
Tony Martin, Client Service Director at Sapphire, commented: “The
fact that Sapphire is involved with SAP Business One at the
development phase, representing the UK, is great for our clients, as
it means we can really look after their requirements at a high
level. We are focused on providing the best possible service for our
customers and as the leading SAP Business One partner in the UK we
are able to work with SAP on initiatives such as this and ensure
that their requirements are taken directly into consideration by
SAP.”
- END –
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