|
 |
|
OnSTREAM -- The DNASTREAM Newsletter
|
Autumn 2009
|
|
WELCOME
Welcome to the Autumn 2009 edition of OnSTREAM, the newsletter from DNASTREAM.
We hope you had a good summer and were able to get some time off to recharge the batteries for the challenges (or is it opportunities?) that lie ahead.
This edition of OnSTREAM includes the usual mix of articles and news from the world of DNASTREAM including our latest successes.
We hope you both enjoy OnSTREAM and find it interesting. Any feedback or suggestions for future newsletter articles will be appreciated, please contact us at info@dnastream.com.
|
In this issue:
– Welcome
– Save Costs By Understanding Your SAP Licenses
– The Project “A” Team
– Latest News & Customer Successes
– Just For Fun!
– Did You Know?
|
|
Save Costs By Understanding Your SAP Licenses
|
|
In the current economic climate everyone is looking to reduce costs. One area companies rarely consider for cost saving, but where there is a lot of potential, is software licences.
SAP regularly change software license categories (user types, software engines etc) and the functionality that each of these covers, to reflect their current sales offerings. With companies investing in SAP on a long term basis, often in different organisational units, this invariably leads to a complex picture – discussions with a large customer recently revealed that, over time, they had bought 18 different types of licence. It was difficult to know exactly what each user is allowed to do and the result was a high degree of confusion and inefficiency.
All of this makes it very difficult for companies to:
- Maximise the usage of existing licensed software;
- Achieve consistency across organisational divisions;
- Negotiate from a point of strength on future SAP software requirements;
- Ensure accurate cross-charging; and
- Achieve compliance with internal or regulatory controls.
In short, this is a confusing picture with huge potential for inefficiencies, unnecessary cost and missed opportunities to maximise the SAP investment.
|
|
DNASTREAM offer a Software License Optimisation service especially tailored to overcome these issues. This service will enable you to:
- Gain a consolidated view of your SAP contracts;
- Understand what you can, and can’t do, with your SAP software;
- Make best use of what you have – before buying any further licenses from SAP;
- Achieve greater efficiency and lower costs by getting more from your existing investment;
- Identify any duplicate, unused or misclassified licenses;
- Understand where licenses can be reallocated across projects or divisions;
- Ensure accurate allocation of costs across projects and organisational units; and
- Achieve and maintain compliance with statutory, regulatory or internal controls.
With the current focus on saving costs this remains an area of untapped potential – so when did you last review your SAP licenses?
|
|
The Project “A-Team”
|
|
Implementing SAP software is a major undertaking and needs expert project management and controls applied throughout.
You should spend time to ensure you get the right people in key project roles – the project team “A-Team”. The number of these “A-Team” positions will depend on project size but will usually include the Project Manager, Solution Architect and Technical Architect. In larger projects there may be a number of similar roles across different work-streams and other positions such as Training Manager, Testing Manager and Data Migration Manager may be equally important.
You should interview people for the “A-Team” roles, even if they are being proposed as part of a consultancy team. Don’t just engage with the Consulting firm; engage with these key individuals directly to ensure that they are right for your requirement. Take up references to verify that they have previously successfully delivered similar projects to yours.
The “A-Team” should understand both your business and the SAP solution to be implemented. This combination of business and systems knowledge will ensure that they will develop and implement the solution in the way which best suits your business requirements and will make a significant difference to the success of the project by driving through the IT processes which are ultimately going to enhance your business.
DNASTREAM’s focus on experienced consultants means that we are ideal for these “A-Team” roles and have undertaken these in many successful customer projects. Our experience has shown that a small, select team of experts can deliver significant value to our customers’ projects.
In addition, we also undertake a client advisory service helping our customers define complex project and resource requirements and assisting them in finding the best “A-Team” for their specific project.
If you are planning a future SAP project please call us and our experienced consultants will ensure you get off on the right foot.
|
|
Latest News & Customer Success Stories
|
|
DNASTREAM Welcomes New Team Members
We are delighted to announce two new important recruits to the DNASTREAM team both of whom will help us continue to deliver SAP excellence to our customers.
John McGann has joined DNASTREAM as Head of Education & Testing Services.
 John has over 11 years experience of ERP solutions, in particular SAP, and has previously held programme management and project management roles with a number of major organisations, including SAP (UK) and RWD Technologies. Prior to joining DNASTREAM, John was Director of International Learning at Lawson Software.
His industry experience covers a range of sectors including utilities, oil, pharmaceuticals, public services, technology, beverages and nuclear. John is also a qualified Solicitor. In this key role, John will take overall responsibility for DNASTREAM's education and testing services portfolio, supporting our customers to ensure successful project delivery and effective business adoption.
If you have any education or testing requirements, give John a call on 07518 950168 or contact him at john.mcgann@dnastream.com.
Andy Mead has joined us as Recruitment & HR Manager.
Andy has a strong background in specialist SAP selection and recruitment, and has developed a broad knowledge of the UK SAP market through his previous roles at several well-known recruitment companies.
The appointment of Andy provides DNASTREAM with dedicated focus on selecting and retaining premium quality resources to support our customers' requirements, ensuring we continue to delivery agility and maintain the highest levels of service.
|
|
Public Sector Customer Go-Live
DNASTREAM are delighted to announce another successful project go-live at a major public sector customer. Unfortunately at this time we can’t say any more – but there will be further details in the next issue of OnSTREAM.
DNASTREAM Win New Project With Major Financial Institution
DNASTREAM have been selected by a major International Financial Institution to deliver a detailed corporate procurement systems review. The review will support the customer in adopting new policies and procedures using SAP solutions as the strategic business systems platform. Ian Anderson, Director at DNASTREAM commented, "This is a great success for DNASTREAM at a new customer in one of our strategically important industry sectors, and demonstrates that we are able to continue growing our business even in these challenging economic conditions."
Read All About It – DNASTREAM In The Media Sector
Never ones to rest on our laurels here at DNASTREAM, we have further extended our industry sector coverage and entered into the Media sector. SAP has an established industry solution specifically developed to support companies in this sector, and there is a sizeable installed base of SAP customers.
DNASTREAM has forged a relationship with a highly experienced and respected market specialist, to drive a campaign aimed at tapping into the potential of this market and already we are seeing a great deal of interest. Once again, our ethos of delivering high value to our customers through a small, select team of specialists seems to be hitting home and we are very excited about the opportunities.
DNASTREAM in CIMA Magazine
DNASTREAM was mentioned as a company doing well despite the recession in the April edition of Financial Management, the official publication of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
"It is very pleasing to be recognised by such a major professional body as CIMA", commented Ian Anderson, Director at DNASTREAM.
Ian added, "We operate with a select team of experienced SAP professionals delivering significant value to projects, and are growing our business by employing this approach even during these tough times. In fact, we suspect the current climate may even be working in our favour as large companies are using their limited budgets to sweat existing assets, rather than starting major new projects, and so they are looking for smaller expert teams to help them do this. That is exactly DNASTREAM's strength."
|
|
Just For Fun!
|
Did You Know?
|
|
Some Real Help Desk Calls
Caller: I have problems printing in red.
Help Desk: Do you have a colour printer?
Caller: Ah…thank you.
Caller: I have a problem printing from my computer.
Help Desk: Is your computer running under Windows?
Caller: No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The guy in the next cubicle is under the window and he can print OK.
|
 SAP’s first software product – the “R/1 system” – was launched in 1973, a year after the company was established, as a standard financial accounting application for real-time business processing.
The “R” in the product name stands for “real-time data processing”.
Business Objects, which was recently acquired by SAP, was the first European company to go public on NASDAQ in 1994.
|
|
Copyright © DNASTREAM 2009 All Rights Reserved
If you do not wish to receive further newsletters from DNASTREAM or you wish to amend any of your details please contact us at info@dnastream.com.
|
DNASTREAM Limited, Surrey Technology Centre,
40 Occam Road, The Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7YG
|
|
|
 |
|
|