The future of SAP Business One – three takeaways from the Partner Summit

As an award-winning SAP partner, we’re always tuned in to the latest news and trends in the world of SAP, ready to bring the benefits to our customers as soon as they’re available. After a great week in Madrid at the SAP Partner Summit, our Head of SAP, James Peel, reflects on the wealth of valuable information presented on the direction of its leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for SMEs, SAP Business One. 

The summit is a great opportunity for partners across EMEA to interact face-to-face with SAP staff from product developers to global commercial managers. This allows us to gain insights on SAP’s trajectory and allows them to interact directly with the partners that are delivering the solutions and listen to their feedback. It’s also a fantastic chance to speak with the add-on solution providers who develop the huge ecosystem that makes SAP Business One so powerful. 

At Thinc, we partner with a selection of industry-leading solutions from best-in-class providers such as Sage, Microsoft and CrowdStrike and we’re always on the lookout to add new products to our stable that can benefit our clients. 

Here are my key takeaways and highlights from the event and thoughts on the road ahead:

The future of SAP Business One 

SAP Business One, or B1, has now been on the market for around 20 years, has a huge global footprint in the SME market, and continues to be a front runner in SME ERP. 

Throughout the summit the messaging could not have been clearer – SAP has no intention of changing this any time soon. 

SAP has provided assurances that SAP B1 will continue to remain in their focus over the next decade; a clear message that gives our existing clients and new adopters of the solution a level of assurance that B1 is here for the long haul. 

However, this doesn’t mean they’re resting on their laurels. SAP has a clear road map that highlights the technological advances of the solution which will keep it ahead of the competition. These include key developments in the areas of data mining and artificial intelligence, as well as integrations into fiscal institutions. 

SAP Business One in the cloud 

Over the past few years, SAP has been deeply engaged with partners and system users to understand what they need from cloud services.  

This collaborative effort has culminated in a strategic roadmap, where SAP is rolling out a suite of tools and features allowing partners and their clients to define what cloud means to them. 

With a refreshed web client and tools to facilitate seamless upgrades and patching, this takes the SAP B1 technology to a new era of flexibility and customisation. 

This announcement sets SAP B1 apart as a positive outlier in capability. It allows for it to be on premise, private cloud or multitenant SaaS, without the need for separate development branches. 

SAP recognises Thinc’s growth 

In the ten years we have operated in the SAP B1 market, our focus has always been clear – to become the leading IT solution provider to SMEs. At this year’s summit our growth in the sector was recognised with a major award for our achievements. 

“Huge congratulations to you all.  This is a great achievement and looking forward to what the coming year has in store”

Gareth Lewis

Channel Sales Manager SAP Business One UKI

 

Our responsible growth strategy means that we never take focus off our existing clients in the pursuit of new businesses, which is why we’ve achieved a 99% customer retention record during this phase. 

Across the business we continue to gain accolades for our levels of customer satisfaction and truly believe that this mindset will continue to push Thinc forward for many years to come.