Published on the 07/03/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
SAP last week made two significant customer announcements on the same day – both reflecting broader trends in customer requirements…
Kiwibank last week announced that it has chosen the SAP for Banking set of solutions to support its long-term strategic plan. On the same day the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) announced it has successfully implemented SAP Work Manager, the first of its kind in the country, to help it manage its 72,000 assets scattered throughout the country.
Following the announcements iStart caught up with the managing director of SAP NZ, Graeme Riley, to talk about SAP’s local progress. Riley said that the recent news is indicative of broader trends that he is seeing amongst its customers in New Zealand where SAP is continuing to grow and win new customers.
“I guess the excitement for us is that these are two quite different stories which play to what we think is driving our growth in the business. One is around the innovation that we are bringing to market with mobility, in-memory databases and big data, which is exemplified by the DOC story […] and just reinforces for us that we’ve got a great strategy around mobility.”
DOC is using SAP Work Manager as its infield data collection tool to provide its employees with a mobile asset management solution that works seamlessly both in and out of wireless coverage. Mike Edginton, manager partnerships, historic and visitor management at DOC said: “Not only are we able to more efficiently deploy our resources, the solution also helps make my job easier. I am now able to gain a 360 degree view of our operations to help me provide strategic advice and ensure we have accurate information when we need to report to Parliament.”
Riley says the Kiwibank announcement is an example of how SAP’s focus on innovation in industry verticals such as retail, public services and banking is paying off. He admitted that he is “incredibly excited” by the Kiwibank deal because it is the largest, most significant and visible New-Zealand owned bank. He believes that the proven, low-risk SAP solution and its features around big data, mobility and real-time product offerings, will “really put them in a different space”.
Paul Brock, Kiwibank chief executive, said of the choice, “We are looking to the future growth of the bank and to make sure we have the right back-office systems and infrastructure to support our strategic plan. The core system upgrade project will take place progressively to avoid any disruption to existing services, but ensure the bank has the capability to manage growth and increasingly-complex technological advances in the banking industry.”
SAP is not only helping other businesses to ready themselves to the future – it is also changing its product set to meet the demand for cloud. Last July it announced that, for the first time, its entire set of cloud solutions would be accessible to New Zealand businesses of all sizes.
Today Riley said that “cloud has become our religion – we are cloud first”. Cloud is also starting to dominate the customer conversation, at the instigation of the customer, with customers either wanting a cloud solution or at the least to be cloud-ready, he said.
“The interest and the driver is all towards cloud, so we are seeing a shift. New procurement is predominantly cloud while existing customers remain predominantly on-premise,”
In 2013 SAP grew its cloud business (cloud software revenue) more than 100 percent in Australia and New Zealand and says that today the majority of its new customers sign on for cloud solutions. Riley said he has no doubt that in the future everything will head to the cloud.
