By Anne Widjaja
Global IT and consulting firm Accenture has been positioned as the top provider in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant in Gartner Inc.’s recently published Magic Quadrant for SAP Application Service Providers, Europe report.
The Magic Quadrant report analysed 16 leading providers of SAP application lifecycle services in Europe. The positioning of vendors was based on factors such as analysis of consulting and system integration projects and multi-year IT management engagements that may have involved aspects ranging from program and project management, to business culture and employees.
These factors were categorised into two primary criteria – ‘ability to execute’ and ‘completeness of vision’. ‘Ability to execute’ included criteria such as core services and provider’s effective use of partnerships and alliances, end-to-end capabilities and set of industry offerings and capabilities. ‘Completeness of vision’ included criteria such as marketing understanding, marketing strategy and geographic strategy.
Based on these factors, Accenture was positioned as the leader in the Magic Quadrant. This finding was a reflection of Accenture’s strong relationship with SAP, as one of the company’s largest service providers and top global revenue partners. The report commented that the strength of this relationship supported Accenture’s ability to effectively provide end-to-end SAP application lifecycle services to customers. Accenture also received the highest customer reference scores for the likelihood of rehiring a provider for similar engagement.
However, issues such as Accenture’s high pricing and lack of attention to long-term customers were identified as ‘cautions’ by the report. Furthermore, the company was described as sometimes “aggressive and inflexible” when it came to the company’s interactions with customers’ internal staff.
The report also commented on general SAP trends in the European market. European service providers accounted for, on average, 45 per cent of the global SAP application lifecycle services market in terms of staff, and around 55 per cent of global revenue. The biggest revenue stream for end-to-end SAP application lifecycle services was found to be SAP ERP solutions. The biggest industry for service providers was manufacturing, followed by energy and utilities and the public sector.
Overall in the European market, it was found that SAP application service provider clients “were not impressed by the organisational change management capabilities and business acumen of the providers when executing services”. However, clients also indicated that this was not generally used as a selection criterion for awarding contracts. Clients were found to select providers primarily by price, then service delivery, technical and integration expertise, and finally, by their prior relationship with the company.
To access the report in full, go to:
http://www.gartner.com/reprints?id=1-18CLJQU&ct=111215&st=sb
