When United VARs – a global network of SAP specialists – recently held its Center of Excellence meeting, Implema hosted the event. Approximately twenty people from ten organizations and three continents participated during three intense days focused on SAP ERP Cloud, best practices, and international collaboration.
Hello Katarina Sutrowitz – Implema recently hosted a United VARs Center of Excellence meeting. What is it?
It is an initiative within the United VARs network where experts from member companies meet to deepen collaboration in specific areas, in this case SAP ERP Cloud. The focus is on exchanging experiences, sharing knowledge, and jointly shaping best practices in cloud-based ERP solutions. We are very pleased to have been entrusted with hosting the meeting. We are proud to be the only Swedish member of United VARs – and also one of the founders of the network.
Why is it Important for Implema to be Part of the Network?
United VARs provides us with a strong, global context with long-term significance – and, ultimately, an opportunity to offer even more to our customers.
It gives us a unique opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s most experienced SAP partners, while contributing our own expertise and taking part in the collective international knowledge. United VARs as an organization is also an important global partner to SAP, which means that we also gain greater access to SAP’s entire global network.
For our customers, this means that we can offer global delivery capacity combined with local presence and understanding of each market – a success factor in international ERP implementations and also when we support our customers internationally. It’s not just about technology, but also about being able to adapt solutions to local requirements such as legislation, tax regulations and reporting standards.
What has the collaboration been like so far? Has Implema been part of many global rollouts within the network?
For several years, we have been an active partner where we have either been part of the Nordic part of the implementation or we have received international help when we have carried out rollouts to our global customers. Through United VARs, we have been able to help a number of customers with successful implementations of business systems, where each partner contributes local expertise within a common framework.
It is a powerful way to ensure both quality and efficiency and that each country in a project receives the support and expertise required based on local conditions, regulations and culture.
What Did the Program Look like During these Three Days, What Themes Were in Focus?
The program was both intensive and well-balanced. We focused a lot on SAP S/4HANA Cloud and how we can accelerate customer value through standardization, automation and best practices. Other themes that were highlighted were AI in business systems, scalable delivery across borders and concrete experiences from ongoing global implementations.
What is the most Exciting Thing You Take away from the Meeting?
The most inspiring thing was to experience the strong collaborative culture in the network. We operate in different markets with the common ambition to develop and deliver cutting-edge SAP solutions.
Through the collaboration and exchange of experiences within United VARs, we quickly get started with news in SAP’s roadmap. There was a lot of that during the meeting, which means that we can stay one step ahead and quickly apply new functions, methods and tools in our projects. That is, things we actively work to translate into our customer solutions.
I am therefore also taking away concrete ideas on how we at Implema can further develop our customer projects, not least for companies with operations in several countries.
We are also developing our delivery models to better meet the requirements of customers who are expanding internationally. There is enormous strength in being able to combine global methods with local roots.
What Does this Mean in Practice for our Customers?
For our customers, this means that we can apply proven working methods and solutions faster, but also that, through the network, we can offer expert support on site in over 100 countries, through partners who understand local requirements and business conditions.
We are now looking at how we can package and make even more pre-defined content available within SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and how we can further develop our delivery models for customers who are expanding globally or already operate internationally.
In Summary, What Does this Mean for the Future?
This strengthens our position as a strategic SAP partner, both in Sweden and internationally. We are a local company with global reach, and that is a combination we know our customers value. Through United VARs, we continue to develop, learn from each other’s experiences and be at the forefront of SAP’s ecosystem.
Above all, it means that our customers can feel confident that, regardless of geography, we have the capacity, knowledge and network to deliver – with the right expertise in the right place.
