MTN Business has signed a strategic partnership with SAP business partner Britehouse to offer SAP’s Business One ERP system as a cloud computing service, specifically for SME customers.
The cloud solution is easy to set up and cost-effective, says Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, chief enterprise business office at MTN Business.
It is available in South Africa today, but will roll out across Africa in the future.
Putting the announcement in context, Lambotharan says MTN has built significant infrastructure over the years.
“This allows us to provide MPLS and Internet access, so we can be an end-to-end provider, offering cloud services.”
The new offering, BusinessOne on Demand, complements the other cloud solutions that MTN already hosts, and Lambotharan says the company will start to look at more bundled solutions.
Cloud solutions work for SMEs, he adds, because these companies typically don’t have the capex required to set up the infrastructure needed to set up an on-premise ERP system. The traditional way of doing ERP, says Lambotharan, was expensive, inflexible, took time to implement, and had significant support issues.
“The new option, hosted by us, is a lot more stable, we provide the infrastructure and the user pays for the service as they use it. It’s a lot easier to deploy and it happens a lot quicker than if you were to do it yourself.
“You can expand as you grow, or downscale as you downsize.”
In addition, customisation is possible with the cloud-based system, Lambotharan says.
“The key benefits are cost optimisation, risk optimisation and strategic agility. For customers, ERP is important to run their business, and now the investment is easier to plan for, and it’s a lot easier to deploy.”
SAP’s Simon Carpenter says the new cloud offering lets SMEs benefit from SAP’s E4-billion of annual R&D investment.
He explains the SAP has spent a number of years building its cloud portfolio and today 15-million subscribers use its HR application, while 1-million companies use its supply chain management solution.
“This relationship is new, but the cloud is not new to either SAP or MTN,” Carpenter says.
The solution will be branded MTN Business ERP and is the first product offering within the MTN Business ERP portfolio, with more solutions to be added in the future.
MTN Business ERP is a cloud based, integrated business management solution designed for small businesses or subsidiaries of large enterprises. It is a full end-to-end solution, available for purchase from MTN
Business, that integrates all core business functions across a company, including financials, sales, customer relationship management, inventory and operations.
Unlike many other small business solutions on the market, this solution offers businesses a single application to manage critical business processes, eliminating the need for separate installations and complex integration of multiple modules.
MTN Business is currently the only service provider that can offer this complete solution to the market, encompassing connectivity, device, and solution access as a single offering. What’s more, as it is a cloud based solution, it is easy to set up, use as well as customise to meet the changing needs of a business.
MTN Business is leveraging its extensive network footprint to provide access to the solution for customers looking to manage their businesses from anywhere at any time.
This means that customers can have up to the second information and control of their business activities no matter their location. Access to the solution is done via an online portal or through an application on a mobile device. This partnership is another example of how MTN Business is creating a full comprehensive ICT value proposition to the market.
“MTN is committed to partnerships that complement MTN’s strengths in the local market and this is another demonstration of that promise. The integrated ERP capabilities of MTN Business enable customers to streamline and optimise operations, increase business insight, and reduce total cost of ownership.
“This will result in increased business agility through the flexibility to size up or down based on changing business requirements with limited investment risk,” concludes Lambotharan.
SAP Business One is used in more than 120 countries globally with localised versions offered in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, China, and now is available in South Africa.