SAP UKI today announced that G3 Global is now live with and already reaping the benefits of SAP Business All-in-One.  G3 Global, one of SAP UKI’s own leading channel partners selected SAP technology to help measure and achieve business objectives over the next five years.  As a Channel Partner, and now also a customer, G3 Global is now in a strong position when it comes to SAP.

G3 Global had outgrown its various disparate legacy systems and needed an integrated solution that would help it achieve its business strategy over the next five years.  G3 Global chose SAP Business All-in-One, which provides the full Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite to the business, as it represented the most complete solution, and because of the strength of the SAP brand.  The implementation began on Christmas Eve 2009 and was completed in a rapid timescale of six weeks. 

Chris Gunter, G3 Global CEO, commented: “The implementation of SAP is vital for our strategic growth plans. We now have a real time integrated view across our entire business that has improved the reliability of our reporting, and increased the speed of decision making. Control has been placed in the hands of the right person within G3 Global leading to greater autonomy, significantly faster turnaround time and less burden on upper management. We are a now far more agile organization.”

Since going live G3 Global has realized a number of benefits including reducing month end close time from 14 days to just six hours, increased transparency and improved controls on and access to information.  G3 Global has now also been able to align its operations with industry best practice processes and set a solid foundation for cost effective future business performance by increasing visibility to real time information.  The company now plans to scale up and implement Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) over the coming months. 

Stephen Read, Head of SME, SAP UKI said: “Our relationship with our customers and partners has always been a priority and now through G3 Global we are combining the two and I am delighted to see one of our partners using the SAP product they sell to make their own business run better.  G3 Global’s implementation has been nothing short of perfect, demonstrating that SAP technology can be implemented quickly and easily and that SAP offers quick time to value.”

G3 Global’s drive to constantly improve customer experience lead to the strap-line “drinking our own champagne”. This implementation has resulted in a very strong proposition and improved customer confidence knowing that G3 Global use the very solution they market and sell.

Gunter continued: “Being able to make informed decisions based on real time data has proved invaluable but the fact that we use what we sell is probably the biggest benefit we have seen so far. Knowing that G3 Global is committed to delivering a robust solution through our own experience has significantly improved customer confidence.”

On the 10 May, G3 Global was announced as a winner at the SAP UKI Quality Awards 2010, G3 Global was presented with the Gold award for best Small and Midsize Enterprise Implementation.

For more information (press only):

SAP UK Press Office at Burson Marsteller

Email: SAPUK@bm.com

Phone: +44 20 7300 6262

PDF Version – Media Release

The launch of the practice will initiate the organisation’s involvement in the utilities industry, adding to its traditional focus areas of media, manufacturing, professional services and third party logistics.

Recently, there has been significant research and investment into exploring ways of using conventional energy and resources more efficiently and sustainably.

Over the next 10 years, the push towards reducing carbon emissions is expected to cause the most fundamental changes experienced by the utilities market since the early 1900’s.

Innovations such as the Smart Grid are expected to change and impact the way utility providers produce and distribute resources.

The way households consume energy and water is also set to be revolutionised with the arrival of smart appliances which can be controlled remotely and respond to price signals.

G3 Global recently welcomed Stephen Law to oversee the establishment of the Utilities Practice. 

According to Mr Law, the challenges facing the utilities industry are unique and will require a great deal of planning to manage the changes to existing business processes and adapt to new and emerging technologies.

“It’s imperative that utility companies now look far enough ahead and begin planning and preparing for upcoming industry developments. In turn companies can ensure they avoid wasting effort on ideas that don’t deliver value,” Mr Law said.

Stephen’s extensive experience in the utilities sector covers implementing large customer and revenue management systems required to manage the increased data volumes and flexible business processes that are needed during the mass roll-out of new grid and metering technologies.

G3 Global CEO, Chris Gunter commented on how Mr Law’s involvement at G3 Global would provide a new industry skill set to the business whilst strengthening G3 Global’s core competencies.

“A key G3 Global strength and differentiator is refining complex business processes with simple, pragmatic solutions and Stephen’s experience in the utilities sector will drive the development of G3 Global’s offerings to our new utility clients,” Mr Gunter said.

“Stephen has a broad consulting background across EMEA with both SAP and Oracle based solutions and this will enable G3 Global to build on our traditional strengths whilst offering our clients a wider range of technology options to deal with complex business problems,” Mr Gunter added.

G3 Global plans to grow the Utilities Practice over the coming months by increasing internal resources in an effort to extend its new capabilities to utility companies across the world.

- ENDS -

About G3 Global

G3 Global is a strategic business consulting partner helping mid and large enterprise deliver process efficiencies and strategic business goals.

With its strong project management backbone and proven industry capability, G3 Global manages strategic change programs underpinned by industry best practice processes.

For more information contact:

Renée Walker
Communications Manager
G3 Global Ltd
renee.walker@g3it.com
Phone:  020 7384 0950 

Or visit www.g3it.com.

G3 Global Utilities Practice Media Release PDF

The Quality Awards were created to reward and recognise customers that have, by using SAP’s quality principles, achieved smooth implementations and anticipated benefits as measured against business requirements.

G3 Global CEO, Chris Gunter was pleased to accept the accolade on behalf of the organisation and said the benefits of the implementation had already been experienced within the business.

G3 Global CEO Chris Gunter with fellow directors accepting Gold Award

“It’s great to receive an award like this, which reaffirms and recognises the hard work the entire team has put into the implementation of more effective business processes using SAP,” Mr Gunter said.

G3 Global, operating as an SAP Value Added Reseller (VAR), decided to implement SAP All-in-One to help manage its own finance and logistics.

The project objective was to harness SAP technology to set a solid foundation for future business performance and provide access to real time information in a cost effective way.

After implementing SAP All-in-One within a tight six week timeframe, the organisation has been able to reduce month end close to only six hours, down from 14 days.

The final result was achieved following the second month-end, which is an extremely significant accomplishment and highlights the benefit of a well implemented, fully integrated system.

Adhering to tight deadlines, achieving target deliverables and using quality processes throughout has resulted in a model implementation; one that is a true recommendation to G3 Global’s own customers of the power and quality of SAP technology.

“As an SAP Channel Partner selling SAP Business All-in-One we decided to endorse what we had done, and show our confidence in our solution, by “drinking our own champagne,” Mr Gunter said.

“I am very impressed with what the team achieved in such a tight timescale and can commend them to clients with the confidence that we will deliver a premium customer experience,” he added.

The winners were chosen by a specially selected judging panel made up of representatives from SAP, including Board members and executives from the Active Quality Management team.

About G3 Global

G3 Global is a strategic business consulting partner helping mid and large enterprise deliver process efficiencies and strategic business goals.

This is achieved through the management of strategic change programs underpinned by best practice processes that use technology as the enabler to achieve strategic business goals.

For more information contact:

Renee Walker
PA to CEO
G3 Global Ltd
renee.walker@g3it.com
Phone:  020 7384 0950 

Or visit www.g3it.com

G3 Global SAP Quality Awards Media Release_FINAL

This model has enabled us to support an OnDemand model for SAP ERP BusinessSuite – previously not possible under the old SAP agreements. We believe the pricing is very compelling starting from £155 per professional user (and £50 per lite user) for an extensive scope. See the G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud^TM

Having spoken to a number of clients recently it has been interesting to find effective per user cost appear to range widely from £190 to £400 per user, and above (which appears to make our solution very cost effective).

G3 Global has announced the launch of their Subscription-based Hosting Offering for SAP Business All-in-One, as part of the G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud™, the technology platform that enables business process innovation™.
The G3 ConnectedBusinessCloud™ solution is designed to drive massive cost savings for the mid-market by delivering a portfolio of pre-configured, fully integrated “Best Practice” SAP ERP and CRM business processes and business intelligence solutions, as part of the G3 Global ConnectedBusiness™ Concept.

The solution offering is a complete managed services delivery, encompassing G3 Global’s innovation in the development, configuration and application support of SAP Business All-in-One, with built-in capability to rapidly scale computing resources up or down according to business demand, as well as to implement cost-effective disaster recovery solutions and unprecedented business agility.

G3 Global has been driving for complete price transparency for a number of years and we feel we have now broken the mould by offering a price per user, fully inclusive of all licenses, hosting, support and upgrades, with an implementation timeframe of 4 – 8 weeks. This will enable our clients to derive almost immediate cost benefits from the efficiencies delivered by a highly available, functionally rich, robust, fully managed SAP solution – all the benefits enjoyed by larger enterprises, delivered within an accelerated implementation timeframe, at an affordable price point and with no additional burden on internal IT resources.

Stephen Read, Director of SME at SAP UKI said “The subscription based hosting offering enables our customers to better focus on their core business, products and services that best meet the demands of their individual markets. In turn, midsize customers can focus resources on differentiating from their competitors, executing on their growth strategies and making their businesses more transparent and sustainable. We are pleased to be partnering with G3 Global, and are confident that together, we can make a difference to organisations’ efficiencies in the media sector.”

G3 Global’s confidence in the ConnectedBusinessCloud solution is reinforced by the decision to base all of our own mission-critical ERP and CRM business processes on this solution. As Chris Gunter, CEO, G3 Global explains, “We are confident that this is the right decision for our business and will position us strongly for growth. As a mid-size company ourselves, it not only reinforces the message that SAP is not only for large organisations, but more importantly, it provides our clients with the additional confidence that we are using ConnectedBusinessCloud to run our own business.”

Robert Furnivall, Head of Channels at SAP United Kingdom & Ireland said “G3 are an important partner to SAP and it is great news that they will be implementing SAP ERP and CRM software to use internally. We are pleased to see G3 pioneering the way as they become the first partner to implement SAP in this way in the UK.”

As Andrew Borresen, Technology Director, G3 Global explains “The ConnectedBusinessCloud platform has already allowed us as a company to benefit from the best possible utilization of computing resources to run our applications, with server virtualization technologies providing the option to scale during busy periods.  In the same way, this will translate into direct cost savings for our customers, only paying for the resources they need and not having to be concerned about their own back-up sites to support their mission-critical applications. As cloud computing continues to gain momentum in the marketplace, the ability to deliver business-critical applications like SAP solutions is key to helping customers fully leverage the cloud computing concept”.

“Supporting an SAP solution landscape that anticipates peak demand can require significant computing resources which may be underutilized during normal load periods. We’re excited to provide our customers cost-effective, secure on-demand access to SAP solutions, leveraging technology that dynamically expands computing power as needed. This allows our customers to reduce their total cost of ownership and shift focus toward business innovation and driving faster solutions to their business problems, rather than managing infrastructures. We’re excited that the G3 ConnectedBusiness concept has naturally transformed into a Cloud service to offer a pre-eminent world-class cloud computing platform for business process innovation,” said Chris Gunter, CEO, G3 Global.

About G3 Global
We partner with our customers to establish robust business process platforms that enable rapid business innovation. This is achieved through the management of strategic change programs underpinned by best practice processes that use Technology as the enabler to achieve strategic business goals.  For more information, visit www.g3it.com and www.connectedbusinesscloud.com.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software, offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses.  With more than 95,000 customers in over 120 countries and in 30 different languages.  For more information, visit www.sap.com.

JohnsonDiversey commissioned G3 Global to identify the application toolset and complete a high level design to support the Channel Management Business across 15 Western European countries. Distributor Partnership’s are key to the JohnsonDiversey business strategy. This led to the need for consistent company-wide business processes to replace any manual processes. Additionally, they allow proactive decision making through access to real-time information that is comparable across all territories.

Said Richard McEvoy, Channel Director, JohnsonDiversey

“The ISR solution is seen as an Innovation Project for the JohnsonDiversey business, enabling margin & customer management across EMA which will facilitate Business Building. G3 Global are strategic partners in this Channel Business investment. Along with their proven project delivery history, G3 are our trusted advisors providing valuable input to our decision making process on risks and opportunities as we move through the project lifecycle. The G3 design will be a key driver for a consistent global solution and be a platform for excellence in distributor management.”

Nick White, Senior Manager, Global IT Sales & Service Solutions, JohnsonDiversey continued

“JohnsonDiversey required an efficient and robust solution to improve management of our Channel Business. In 2009, G3 Global were commissioned as the Implementation Partner to design a solution that would satisfy both the Internal Business Partner and Global IT Architecture. They achieved that design goal and then proposed a creative and clear implementation approach that would deliver a large scope within a short timeline. They are now implementing the Project, including the management of several 3rd Party vendor partners, driving the execution of this solution aggressively. The business understanding and technical excellence that G3 bring are a key component of delivering our strategic solutions. G3 Global is continuing to enhance their excellent track record of delivering value to JohnsonDiversey.”

Following an in-depth review, G3 Global has designed a unified business process across Western Europe which maximises the current JohnsonDiversey investment in Technology by utilizing a blend of existing SAP and other technology. As a result, JohnsonDiversey will benefit from enhanced system performance and reduction of localised supporting applications leading to cost savings, a stable Global solution to facilitate revenue growth, and appropriate reporting for deal reviews with the latest margin analysis.

Said John Reynoldson, ERP Practice Manager, G3 Global

“The G3 design for the integrated toolset is a blend of industry solutions that take advantage of JohnsonDiversey’s investment in their core ERP applications of SAP in EMA and JDE in North America. The tool will be a key driver for a consistent global solution and a platform for excellence in distributor management, meaning JohnsonDiversey are able to quickly take advantage of improved processes in order to see Return on Investment benefits as early as Q2 2010.”

Chris Gunter, CEO, G3 Global, continued:

“JohnsonDiversey has been a highly valued customer of G3 Global for over 9 years. We look forward to continuing this long term relationship with involvement in key innovation projects such as this. Our vision is to build significant value for our customers through pioneering work in areas such as developing strategies to leverage technology and drive significant Return on Investment. Being awarded a project of this strategic significance further establishes our Strategic and White Space Consulting service offering.”

The project is currently in full execution with a pilot planned for Q2 2010 and a wider EMA rollout planned for the remainder of 2010.

About G3 Global

We partner with our customers to establish robust business process platforms that enable rapid business innovation. This is achieved through the management of strategic change programs underpinned by best practice processes that use Technology as the enabler to achieve strategic business goals.

Key Service teams:

• Our Strategic Consulting Team creates technology solutions to support and influence the business strategy across our customer’s organization. Working as trusted advisors and partners, we develop long term strategies that leverage technology to streamline business processes and maximise return on investment.
• Our White Space Consulting Team develops solutions to fill business process white spaces in the Technology Process Map.
• Our Solutions Delivery Team delivers business transformation through the implementation and global rollout of technology solutions. By bringing together technology and business experts well equipped to design, implement and rollout solutions for the long-term, we can help you realise your IT investment quickly and efficiently. We will help you plan, develop, run, manage and support the complete life cycle of your business systems both locally and globally.

In order to deliver relevant business experience, our internal teams are aligned into Industry Practices which include:

• Media, Technology and Communications
• Professional Services
• Manufacturing and Supply Chain
• Utilities

Bruce Jackson

The rate of change facing the world of publishing is escalating.

The thin margins in the industry, high complexities of the business, intense competition in a small industry, low staff salaries, and expanding competition from other media lead to constant turmoil in book publishing.  Translation: expect even more changes and challenges in coming months and years – Taken from The infamous 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing list by Berrett-Koehler founder and publisher Steve Piersanti

Recent blog activity poses the question:
EBook complexity: good news for publishers?

“We are working on a project in this office to “grid” the eBook world. We’ll have a hard time doing it in fewer than four dimensions. And after we get that sorted out, we’ll start thinking about the various commercial terms”

The book publishing industry is continually challenged to maintain and grow profits by keeping a tight rein on the costs associated with publishing books. All of this change will place increasing pressures on the underlying business processes and supporting systems used to manage the business.

New product introductions, new pricing models, new distribution channels, new deal types, new customers, new suppliers…………the list goes on.

To face the future with certainty businesses will need to out this right foundations in place in which can be built the future capabilities you will need.

SAP Business All-in-One
No other affordable solution provides the underlying capability to support his expansion of functionality to support the increasing complexity of business described above.

The foundation delivered by our baseline products is the starting point for a roadmap leading to a complete solution for the book publisher.

To find out more…….. “An SAP ERP solution for as little as £150K? ”

And listen to the varied experiences of Companies who have benefited from the All-in-One approach at http://www.sap.com/sme/seeitinaction/CustomerReferences.epx?sol=SAP%20Business%20All-in-One

Especially the story from Ditan Corporation and their experience of continual growth and Polyglass USA inc. And their experience of Zero to SAP in 16 weeks

Over the past 10 years G3 has worked with a large number of companies in this sector, attracted a number of key people from this sector, and developed considerable capability around niche requirements found in Media, Technology and Communication.
Andrew Borresen, who joined G3 early in 2001, will head the MTC Practice. Andrew has been key to the advancement of G3 Global’s Media specific developments and solutions including G3’s flagship development of the Intellectual Property Ledger which fills a vital white space in the SAP solution offering between SAP’s IPM, other external Royalty calculation engines, and the Finance Ledger.

The MTC Practice will continue to invest in delivering products that add strategic value to our clients and form part of a road-map for “readiness” to embrace the changing face of Media.  A large part of the G3 Global MTC Practice offering will therefore focus on developing best practice suites that provide a solid ERP platform.
Mike Slemmings will be leading our Media Service. Mike brings with him more than 10 years experience within the Media sector successfully delivering projects within companies such as Sony Music, EMI Music, Universal Pictures & the BBC.  Mike’s responsibility will be to focus on developing our All-in-One Media propositions such as (G3MediaSuite).

Jurgen Lootens and Drew Preston will be leading the Technology aspects of the Practice, including further enhancement of the Intellectual Property Ledger (IPL) as well as an Electronic Royalty Statement cloud “Portal” based on a software as a service model which they both have considerable experience in.

Says Andrew Borresen, “Digital distribution channels have created vast opportunities for Media companies to expand quickly and exploit the long tail in the market.  Many that have expanded quickly have felt the pain of back and mid office systems creaking at the seams in an effort to manage the volume, Meta Data requirements and IP complexities. The result is that they are finding it very difficult to account accurately and timely to their stake holders. In the lead up to the launch of this practice we have been working on solutions to address this specific gap and look forward to working together with key industry players to formalise the ‘go to market’ proposition.”

Says Chris Gunter, “The establishment of our MTC practice will bring greater focus to the unique requirements of clients in this sector, whilst enabling us to continue the core service offering that G3 has become known for. I am looking forward to seeing even further improvements in our Customer Service as we bring together even more expertise required to help them in strategic initiatives.”

The key proposition of this practice will be divided into 3 layers:

The first layer, Strategic consulting, will seek to assist our clients in the development of programs to maximise their return on their technology investments. In this area, SAP has considerable experience in finding creative ways to sweat the SAP asset, simplify the Technology Landscape, and find innovative ways to use existing applications in the technology mix.

The second layer, White Space Consulting, will focus on white spaces in organization Business Process maps with a view to developing a cost effective blend of solutions that take into account the organization existing technology mix.

The third layer, Project Delivery, will differentiate itself from traditional models by seeking to adopt a more agile approach by using a blend of methodology and approach depending on the circumstances of the customer, project, people, process and technology.

Says Chris Gunter, CEO G3 Global, “Already we are engaging with customers in new and creative ways that are looking to align G3 Business objectives with our clients Business Objectives in order to ensure a model that all parties are truly aligned, sharing risk in order to drive the right outcomes, and seeking out the same end goals. This realignment of our core services has achieved improved clarity in G3’s market positioning. With numerous opportunities starting to open up as customers start to revisit their Technology Programmes, this will enable us to maximise the value we deliver to our clients.”

Apart from the core Business Processes found in most organizations, G3 Global offers a number niche capabilities that specifically differentiate it from competitors. These include capabilities around Intellectual Property Management, Subscription and Series Management, 3rd Party Warehousing, 3rd Party Logistics and 3rd Party Sales. These capabilities have enabled G3 Global to help a number of customers across varied sectors such as Media, Distribution, Chemicals and Manufacturing.

By continuing to develop niche capabilities G3 Global seek to fill the white space that our customers are seeking to fill.