Successful Change with SAP Business Intelligence

Deliveting Business Transformation

The pace of change, specially due to the rapid deployment of new technology is growing at an incredible pace. For businesses to remain competitive, they need to keep up with these changes almost constantly, it can come from an expansion, restructuring, merger and acquisition, regulatory compliance and more.SAP Business Intelligence Solutions unveils key concepts and processes that are vital to the planning and execution of successful change strategies.  Being aware of happens in your business can optimize organizational change and smooth and speed the transition periods.

Take the example of Doha Bank, when they had to adapt to a new mandate from the Central Bank of Qatar to report key balance-sheet figures on a monthly basis. The timeline was tight and the requirements complex, with the pressure of punitive fines for the non-compliant.

The internal financial reporting was previously done manually, and data required for the monthly reports was spread across several sources. After an intensive process of data cleansing and consolidation, the Bank went for a SAP Business Intelligence solution called Web Intelligence, which allowed for the reports to be produced automatically, in a timely and error-free manner.

Although we used the example of a big organization, these solutions can also be adopted by the SME. SMEs use their speed of action as competitive advantage to remain in the game with the big players, and they have to constantly adapt to change, be it in the market, in their organization or in their business model.

Find out how your SAP Business Intelligence Solutions can deliver business transformation. Contact us on info@clariba.com, o leave a comment below.

Cloud computing - the SME favorite at SAPPHIRE NOW

Responding quickly to change is not just a competitive advantage anymore, its a survival requirement. A very common assumption is that small businesses are often more agile than large enterprises. However, small companies can find themselves stuck in the middle of long, resource-consuming IT projects when they try to put new solution s in place to support their growth. When you don´t have a vast specialized IT team for implementation or unlimited hardware and software budgets, every purchase has to be carefully considered. Although Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) can be benefiting to companies of all sizes, the advantages for the small business is particularly appealing. It comes as no surprise that cloud computing adoption among SMEs is booming. SaaS is available on a subscription basis, and it allows enterprise-level applications to be deployed quickly and without  the need for hardware capital or on-premise licenses, and because of the concept of the Cloud, you can tap into economies of scale. The best part is that you can scale up or down to tend to your needs and upgrades and patches don't have to be done by your IT staff, which can now focus on vital IT business strategy. SAP’s OnDemand applications can be delivered in as little as 48 hours, so you can have it up and running in weeks.

At SAPPHIRE NOW’s Cloud Campus you can discover SAP’s cloud solutions, no matter what aspect of your business you are looking to attend to. SAP’s cloud solutions enable you to be competitive even when it comes to bigger corporations, as you will have access to the same technologies they do, and will get the insight you need to make fast, information-based decisions to take you to the head of the game.

At Clariba we understand the need that companies have for rapid solutions to their business problems, and we have been working with pre-packaged solutions as well as on demand, as this makes top notch BI solutions easily accessible, no matter the size of your cpmpany. If you cannot come to SAPPHIRE NOW Madrid this year, contact us at info@clariba.com for more information on how we can help your company become more competitive. You can also check the SAPPHIRE NOW Cloud Blog for news and updates on this topic. You can also follow the Industry blog and the Services blog for more specific news.

SMEs Run SAP – Myth 4: SAP is not Agile Enough

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The 4th and last post on our SAP Myth busting series, this article intends to show how SMEs can meet their need for speed with SAP.A bigger business is a better business. It’s a common assumption, but it’s not strictly true. Small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have a number of advantages over their larger counterparts. Their size is often their strength – it makes them agile. In fact, most SMEs we speak to pride themselves on this. They can respond faster to changes in the market and take advantage of new insight and opportunities faster than larger organizations.

To capitalize on their agility, SMEs need systems that play to this strength. Unfortunately, some SMEs get bogged down by manual processes. They rely on off-the-shelf software that doesn’t quite meet their needs and depend on spreadsheets for their business intelligence. All these things slow their businesses down and mean they’re more likely to miss opportunities. In this environment, executives often resort to making important decisions on a gut feeling rather than the latest data.

That’s why it’s always a surprise to hear an SME wondering if SAP software will slow them down. Maybe the perception is that SAP software is only for enterprise organizations, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s another business myth. Rather than slow these businesses down, SAP helps them become more agile and able to capitalize on opportunities faster.

Clariba has helped companies streamline their internal reporting processes, arriving in a particular case to an 80% reduction in the time it took to produce monthly internal reports. We also allow organizations reduce reliance on manual data, improving reporting accuracy, reducing errors and promoting decisions based on solid information rather than just gut feeling.

More importantly, we have the expertise to speed up the implementation process, so that your company can start enjoying the benefits of an SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence solutions in a short time frame. Furthermore, if you are worried about the impact the change will have over your employees, Clariba has best-in-class trainers, with years of experience, ready to help your employees make the transition from a spreadsheet based organization to the innovative and integrated information hub they will soon benefit from.

Contact us to discover how much SAP and Clariba can deliver to your company.

SMEs Run SAP – Myth 3: SAP is Too Complicated for Us

Blog number 3 on our SAP Myth Busting Series. It intends to show how SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligece (BI)can take you on a simple route to real business benefits. We know that implementing new IT systems can be a daunting prospect for some businesses. They worry that it’ll interrupt their everyday activities, take time to deploy and that staff will need time to get used to it. Similarly, when we talk to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about SAP software, they’re often under the false impression that SAP software is too complex for a business of their size. While they agree it could help them, they’ve always assumed it’s built for large enterprises.

The complexity of SAP is yet another myth that vanishes when you start looking at hard facts. We often speak to SMEs and they’re looking for software that’s easy to run, install and use, and they want to see real-life examples to prove it. They want to see organisations like theirs that have been there and done it. Thankfully, for us, SAP has 88,000 SMEs that have been there and done it. You can see what some of them have achieved by clicking here, they’ve got the figures to prove that it doesn’t take long to deploy the software and see a return on investment.

In the last few years, the number of SMEs implementing SAP software has tripled. That’s partly down to the fact that it’s easy to use and install, but also because it delivers all the benefits that SMEs are led to believe are just for the big boys. It’s not usually very long before they’ve automated previously manual processes, gained greater insight into their business and generated significant cost savings.

Clariba can help you unleash the potential of your SME, with the right business intelligence solution for your company, no matter how you are running it now. Our solutions based on SAP BusinessObjects technology and the expertise of our consultants will help you implement faster so you can enjoy the benefits quicker. We are also experts in end user training, to make sure that your employees will make the best of their new BI tool.

Still think SAP might be too complicated for you? watch this SAP Video and think again!

If you are an SME and want to know more about Clariba and SAP BusinessObjects Solutions, get in contact with us.

SMEs Run SAP – Myth 2: SAP is Too Expensive for Us

Continuing on our series of blogs on Myths that surround SAP, this second one intends to show how spending can be the best way to save.

Invest to Save

A popular piece of received wisdom is that you have to speculate to accumulate, or, in simple terms, you've got to spend money to make money. Most businesses know that you can’t just throw money at a problem. However, they also recognise that carefully planned purchases can pay dividends.

Clariba works with many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and we know how important every financial decision is to them. That’s why it’s important that we can demonstrate the value of what we do. Most of the businesses we talk to know SAP software can help them reduce costs. However, some of them have been under the impression that the software is only available to enterprise organisations with big budgets. These businesses risk missing out.

We get to break the good news that SAP is an affordable option for SMEs. In fact, SAP has around 88,000 SME customers to prove it. These businesses are not only reducing costs with SAP, they’re also boosting profitability. In most cases, that translates into a quick return on investment. As a result, we find that most of the SMEs we talk to conclude that they can’t afford not to deploy SAP software.

Whats more, Clariba´s solutions based on SAP BusinessObjects have helped small and medium sized business to:

• automate distribution process of reports to users

• improve management performance with reporting, query & analysis, and data integration

• optimize customer support resources

• improve campaign effectiveness

• enhance data quality and compliance

We also have available our range of pre-packaged solutions called FastTrack. They are accessible and quick to deploy, which means your company can start enjoying the benefits of a top technology tool in a short time frame.

Here is what one of our SME clients has to say about one of our FastTrack solutions: “With Clariba’ FastTrack for Siebel CRM solution we are now able to better analyze data, segment customers, measure the ROI of our marketing initiatives and provide a rolled-up sales forecast. This capability allows us to be more competitive, offer better service to customers and provide a faster response to changing market conditions.”

Is your company an SME?  Contact us to  know more about how to benefit from SAP Solutions

SMEs Run SAP - Myth 1: You Have to be Big to Work with SAP

Myths and misnomers litter the business world. All small businesses are agile, all enterprises are big corporate entities, sales figures are the most important, customers will always buy the best product. As we all know, these don’t stand up to scrutiny. Some large businesses are agile, some small businesses aren’t, cash flow is more important than sales and the best product isn’t always the most popular. Business people can’t afford to make assumptions and to blindly follow these misconceptions. That’s why we do our research and base decisions on facts. We started a series of blog post about myths that surround SAP, the platform that Clariba chose to bring Business Intelligence (BI) to our customers. This first one intends to explain why you DON´T have to be an enterprise to work with SAP and SAP BusinessObjects.

SMEs can run SAP

SAP actually works with a client base composed by a  majority of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SAP software combined with Clariba´s implementation expertise allows them to automate processes and gain valuable insight into their businesses. By doing this, these businesses take assumptions out of the equation – it means that instead of relying on anecdotal evidence, they work with the facts. The result is they find it easier to spot opportunities and identify areas to improve.

However, before these businesses start dealing with the facts, they often need to challenge another set of preconceptions. One Clariba comes across frequently is that SAP only works with enterprise organizations. But this isn’t the case. More than 77% of SAP’s customers are SMEs. That’s about 88,000 businesses! What’s more, SAP has been working with SMEs for nearly 40 years. As a result, the company understands the unique challenges they face and the tools they need to grow.

Clariba´s work is to translate that to the customers, helping them match their requirements to the best SAP tool available. Our audits help SME´s to get an idea of where they are in terms  of their BI environment and the benefits they could enjoy with Clariba and SAP:

• our accessible pre-packaged solutions allows for rapid deployment

• streamline processes by automating reporting tasks

• improve data quality, reducing misleading information that leads to poor decision making

• uncover hidden  facts and make insights available to take the best course of action

• help small companies improve management of different departments

If you are an SME and want to know more about SAP Solutions, contact us.