Packaged Solutions Foster Cloud Success for SAP Partner Neeyamo

By Denise Gonçalves

Cloud solutions are easy to implement, right? Plug-and-play software that automatically configures all your data and systems? Not exactly, but that’s what many customers expect after hearing all the hype about how cloud will make life simpler, according to Guhan Ramanan, Senior Vice President - Business Transformation, at Neeyamo, an India-based SAP partner.

While cloud solutions absolutely deliver on a lot of promises and help businesses run better, getting there can take some work, particularly for enterprise-level applications. The last thing any partner wants is a frustrated customer, which prompted Neeyamo executives to transform its business—developing a suite of standardized packaged solutions that give customers a predictable, pre-defined solution at a standard price with faster deployment.

“We felt that we needed to give customers choices and get them off the ground quickly. Then we can add more bells and whistles as we go along,” Ramanan said.

Neeyamo’s investments have paid off. The company has seven SAP-qualified partner-packaged solutions available that leverage SAP’s market-leading software and the partner’s own intellectual property and services, each of which has proven to be attractive to customers, Ramanan said.

“Frankly, customers are relieved about the predictability this offers them. They don’t have to watch six demos. They know it follows best practices and gives them a leg up on their business transformation journey,” Ramanan said.

Consolidation Brings Opportunity

Neeyamo describes itself as a full-scope HR services company with four lines of business: cloud transformation, end-to-end payroll services, background verification services and human resources outsourcing. The company’s customers have a global footprint and a “long tail,” Ramanan said, meaning they do a bulk of business in a small number of countries but have a smaller presence in many other countries.

It may seem like a narrow focus, but Neeyamo believes its packaged solutions (targeting 1,000 customers) will help large number of customers implement best practices and drive efficient results. In addition, customers are attracted by an ability to purchase multiple packages from a single provider. “You don’t want different providers doing SuccessFactors, payroll and background checks. If we can take care of all these areas, it becomes an attractive proposition,” Ramanan said. “Customers want centralized visibility.”

The sales cycle for packaged solutions has been one to three months, compared to a three- to six-month average for custom projects while for larger deals, the cycle might last up to a year before winning. Packaged solutions are a door opener. It gets customers the right marketing message for a solution that makes sense for them,” Ramanan said.

Lately, Neeyamo has launched solutions with a per-employee-per-month cost that offers both flexibility and predictability for customers, strengthening its packaged solutions model for businesses with 500 to 1,000 employees, Ramanan said. “We want to bundle this into a total solution and create 100% predictability.”

When pitching packaged solutions, Neeyamo sales teams want to talk to both IT and HR teams, Ramanan said. Both get excited and see value in having a clear definition and scope to a solution. When all parties see the value up front, it accelerates the sales cycle, he said. “When they know this is the scope and this is the price, it’s easier for them to compare,” Ramanan said. “And when you’re comparing in the 500- to 1,000-employee segment, you have an interesting set of options. A packaged solution gives us and SAP something unique to hang our hat on. Now there’s more predictability and a faster decision cycle, so customer acquisition costs decreases.”

With a heavy focus on packaged solutions, and several wins under its belt, Neeyamo had tweaked and improved its own methodology, and is constantly looking to refine the process further, Ramanan said. “It’s a learning curve but we’ve learned from every project to make sure the next one is better than the last one,” he said. “This allows us to deliver time to value even quicker and improve our communications to customers. There’s no going back now. Packaged solutions have redefined our company and helped our customers immeasurably.”

For a complete list of SAP Qualified Partner Packaged Solutions please visit SAP Partner Package Finder.