ISB Optimus expands client base as a SYSPRO partner

ISB Optimus

Based in Centurion, South Africa, ISB Optimus is a specialised professional services firm focused on helping organisations achieve world-class excellence through business transformation, competence development and performance enhancement.

The challenge

Until ISB Optimus joined the SYSPRO PartnerUP Program, their offering to clients focused largely on how to improve their business and processes through experienced consulting and guidance. It needed a technology solution to make its recommendations a reality and provide an end-to-end service.

The solution

ISB Optimus became a Solutions Partner on the SYSPRO PartnerUP Program in 2017. As one of the first companies to embark on that journey, ISB Optimus soon found that the partnership played a significant role in growing its market share and expanding its client base.

The outcome

As a solutions partner on SYSPRO’s PartnerUP Program, ISB Optimus is able to collaborate with its clients throughout their digital transformation journeys. The company has also made effective use of the SYSPRO Learning Channel to help staff maintain their product knowledge and complete the certifications required by the programme.

Why SYSPRO

Brian Mudhokwani, Director: Managed Services of ISB Optimus, says SYSPRO was the natural choice when the company decided to look for an ERP vendor to partner with. “We had discussions with a couple of larger ERP providers as well, but we weren’t aligned in terms of values and strategic objectives,” he says.

ISB Optimus focuses mainly on the business process management and business performance improvement space. Most of its clients are large corporates and manufacturers whose operations are strongly process orientated. SYSPRO’s strengths in manufacturing and distribution contributed to the decision, as did its values. “SYSPRO shares our belief that technology exists to support process rather than the other way around,” Mudhokwani says. “SYSPRO also offers superior accessibility to its own senior staff as well as other partners so that we can share experiences, express our views and get opinions to help us make informed decisions.”

“I was familiar with how SYSPRO operates in the manufacturing and distribution space, and was confident that SYSPRO’s values were in line with ours. SYSPRO shares our belief that technology exists to support process rather than the other way around,” Mudhokwani says. “SYSPRO also offers superior accessibility to its own senior staff as well as other partners so that we can share experiences, express our views and get opinions to help us make informed decisions.

”Further contributing factors were the frequency of product updates and commitment to taking customer requirements into account. ISB Optimus has been able to discuss its customers’ needs with SYSPRO and benefit from quick response times. “The rate at which SYSPRO takes these changes into account is far faster than would be possible with a much larger ERP vendor. We are committed to sharing a successful journey with SYSPRO,” Mudhokwani says.

Building an effective partnership

The employees at ISB Optimus became familiar with the software fairly easily and have optimised the SYSPRO Learning Channel to enhance their knowledge. “Most of our implementation staff are based onsite and the Learning Channel relieves us of the burden of taking them off billable projects so that they can attend classroom-based training,” Mudhokwani says. “As a result, our people have been able to complete all the certifications required by the Partner UP Program.

”The support provided by SYSPRO has included passing on leads, assisting with sales discussions and product demonstrations as well as marketing assistance. For example, SYSPRO runs co-op funding with its channel partners, which involves working with partners on marketing campaigns and funding 50% of the costs.

Mudhokwani uses the PartnerUP portal to manage teams, add and remove new members, manage logins, keep track of certifications and load marketing plans.

Benefiting the end customer

ISB Optimus is adding value to its customers by offering a complete end-to-end solution to their manufacturing, distribution and digital transformation challenges. The SYSPRO partnership has also positioned ISB Optimus as a one-stop shop, freeing its customers from any need to deal with multiple vendors providing different aspects of the solution.

“This capability has also unlocked new opportunities with organisations across the continent which are looking to become world-class. These companies want to implement solutions that are used in more advanced geographies, and we are now ideally positioned to help them achieve that goal,” Mudhokwani says.

As a SYSPRO partner, ISB Optimus is able to quickly source answers to complex customer challenges. Through SYSPRO’s Channel Business Developers, partners are connected with the person best placed to answer a particular query.

“For example, we are migrating one of our clients from an on-premises solution to a cloud deployment, and technical issues arose concerning communication protocols,” he says. “Thanks to SYSPRO’s network of expertise, ease of access and swift response, we were able to provide answers to the customer within an hour.”

ISB Optimus

Based in Centurion, South Africa, ISB Optimus is a specialised professional services firm focused on helping organisations achieve world-class excellence through business transformation, competence development and performance enhancement.