Partner story: WYZE MOVES
Evert-Jan Tromp
Vice President Cloud Sales EMEA @ SAP | Customer Acquisition, Portfolio Expansion
SAP ByD Africa Partner of the Year, WYZE Consulting Services Ltd, part of the WYZE Group and run by Femi Wright (Managing Partner), Wale Ogunsola (Consulting Partner) and Olu Familusi (Technology Partner), has enjoyed a series of wins in 2020 thanks to its transformation to a cloud-first company.
WYZE Consulting Services Ltd, a West Africa based SAP gold partner, is a professional services company that helps customers manage every aspect of their technology transformation journey. In spite of the Coronavirus pandemic, it has celebrated a strong 2020.
Last year, the 85-strong team, with offices in Nigeria and Cameroon, invested significantly in a suite of virtual tools, taking the business through a major transformation and change management process to become a cloud-first partner.
This business switch proved to be timely: when the pandemic hit, Olu and his colleagues were able to hit-the-ground running: they had made the switch to virtual working almost a month before lockdown.
“There was zero interruption on our ability to deliver,” he explains. “There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s been a challenging year but, professionally, it’s been amazing, and we are very thankful for that. We’ve trebled the business, doubled our head count and one of the reasons for our success is that we have 100% powered into the cloud. The pandemic has accelerated the need for cloud-based solutions because of the numbers of businesses now having to work virtually. Customers are looking for platforms to get them there very quickly.”
WYZE has gone live on three significant projects in the last six months and it’s seen a number of customers who were previously sceptical about cloud platforms, knocking on the door.
“It can be a challenge commercially for some customers, so we have shaped some of our solution packages to be more pocket-friendly and compelling enough for them to make a decision. And it’s working. The bench is hot, there’s no slack.”
The SAP-centric company is structured to operate around a series of SAP solution pillars that meet the needs of the company’s customer base: Customer ERP needs are covered by its S/4HANA, SAP Business ByDesign and SAP BusinessOne offering, while the Human Experience Management (HXM) needs are covered by its SAP SuccessFactors packaged solution offering. Cross line of business Analytics and Insights customer needs are addressed by its SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) offering. WYZE has also developed in-house solutions such as the WYZE Payroll solution and WYZE Investment Add-On for SAP Business One.
Across every one of these solution verticals, WYZE offers end-to-end engagement from pre-sales all the way up to post go-live annual support agreements. The company has a deep SAP skill set: a good proportion of its consultants have worked within the ecosystem including Olu, who started his 11- plus-year SAP career in SAP UKI in 2007. He was transferred to SAP Africa in 2014 where he spent five years running West Africa business operations and sales functions.
“We are very deep within the ecosystem: we know the solutions and have a breadth and depth of delivery experience. Our passion for delivering measurable, successful outcomes for the customer is really strong. If we make a promise, we keep it, we deliver. It’s a combination that works for us.”
Looking ahead to 2021 and with the aspiration to double its revenue, Olu is clear on where WYZE needs to invest to get there.
First up is product development because a greater number of customers are looking to innovate on the SAP solutions WYZE has provided.
In addition, investments will be made in customer support infrastructure, cloud renewal as well as ‘ramping up’ the business’s analytics capability. Finally, Olu is looking at how WYZE can build new pillars around “Experience” focused SAP solutions (i.e. Customer and Employee experience management).
“We see Qualtrics coming into play, looking at how people are feeling and what they’re thinking,” he says. “It’s an important area and so we need to consider how we can develop our skills around it as we believe it has a relevance for our market. It’s an exciting time and there are lots of positives to focus on.”