1. Expertise

Problem: SAP is  hugely adaptable: applications cover a number of niche areas and their functionality can serve any business situation. But for many in-house IT teams this presents a problem. How do you ensure you have specialists for every aspect of your implementation? Developing the applications your business demands can mean tough recruitment challenges if your existing team lacks the skills required, and staff retention becomes a major headache. If your HCM specialist leaves, for example, you lose your cover. Finally, as SAP develops, staying on top of current thinking and best practice can create training and compatibility problems.

Solution: Whatever level of service you take from, all of our experts are available to support every aspect of SAP. We have the scale and diverse skills sets to service any new functionality and niche applications – and our SAP professionals are, by definition, up to speed on every new development.

2. Flexibility

Problem: If demand for support were predictable or your business was continually working on new SAP applications, life would be simple. It would be easy to forecast demand for IT services and resource your support and development desks accordingly. But IT’s workload tends to be a bit more… “lumpy” than that. Support queries go through peaks and troughs. When you’re rolling out new functionality or an upgrade, demand for resources spikes – whilst at other times, the department is underutilised. It’s not a great story for the CFO.

Solution: Outsourced SAP services mean you can deploy the resources you need, when you need them. With more staff than all but the biggest in-house teams, Bluefin can ensure the manpower you need is always to hand, whether it’s short-notice support peaks or well-planned development requirements.

3. Cost

Problem: Every spending department is under pressure right now. Even with the credit crunch and an economic slowdown, no organisation can afford unpredictable or soaring costs. But because SAP is fundamental to the running of the businesses that use it, it’s impossible not to pay up when the need arises and with high demand for SAP experts in the jobs market, filling vacant positions can be expensive. Finally, if your organisation is working with ROI metrics, higher costs or reduced functionality will affect your stats badly either way.

Solution: Bluefin knows that predictable service and support costs are a major benefit of outsourcing. But too often, outsourcing providers will boost their own bottom line with hidden costs, astronomical charges for use of resources outside the initial contract or non-standard requests. That’s why we use an extremely straightforward method for establishing contract terms – with built-in flexibility – and produce weekly reports that demonstrate how well your team is using our services. Bluefin makes cost an outsourcing benefit again.