Introducing Accely, the partner company that’s embraced IP to great success

In Design: Customer Success Story

EMEA South partner Accely has embraced product development, acquiring two specialist companies to grow its expertise in intellectual property and shore up its long-term future. Nilesh Shah, CEO, explains why.

As a service partner who ‘eats, drinks and sleeps SAP’, Accely has been an expert in providing its wide customer base with flexible, end-to-end solutions – and doing so quickly – for the past 20 years.

But seeing a shift in market expectations, with customers demanding more from their tech providers than pure service support, was the impetus the team needed to expand its remit and develop its own intellectual property for the first time. Nilesh Shah, CEO of Accely, says: “We’ve grown significantly as a service provider for the last 20 years, but we knew that if we could build product lines on top of the services we deliver and change to a hybrid way of working, it would drive better customer engagement and higher valuation for our investors.” The team could see a clear opportunity in the market to build customised apps to “enrich and enhance” the overall customer experience. They just needed the expertise to enable them to do so.

“We have service in our DNA and therefore didn’t have the skill set to develop IP,” explains Nilesh. “So, we took a risk-free approach and acquired companies that were already doing it. We’ve already recovered the investment because we could capitalise on this approach faster than doing it organically. Plus, we have a big sales force in place with the support of SAP Alliance, to help us to scale faster.”

Now, sitting beneath the parent company of Accely, are two distinct arms of business ready to support customers: Accelerated

Products – covering S/4HANA ERP solutions for customers looking to become Intelligent Enterprises; and Activa Factory, for customers with SAP SuccessFactors needs.

Nilesh is clear on the benefits IP brings to his customers: “Once we had the skills and the right team in place it was easier to identify customer pain points and develop more product lines,” he says. “As a result, there’s a much greater customer ‘stickiness’ and satisfaction rates are higher.

“Digital transformation and the contactless transitioning of apps brings demand from the customer, but they don’t know exactly what they need. Now we have this business offering we can bring them on the journey, building products on SAP BTP together. And, once you have the foundation in place, you keep building and bringing in new apps and functionality on top. You take on board the learnings from each deployment to continually enhance the experience and enrich product functionality. And customers get a better return on investment because they’re getting a ready solution instead of going for a typical custom development.” Looking ahead to 2022 and IP remains the driving force behind Accely’s goals. From identifying and adding more products in collaboration with SAP, Accely is looking to scale its business by working jointly with partners across the ecosystem to offer a broader range of products and solutions to customers.

“We will need support from SAP, but this hybrid model of working will grow, it’s not going anywhere! It’s all about investing in enhancing and enriching our products.” ■

Introducing

• A progressive global tech & innovation company with 20+ offices

• Specialising in retail, wholesale and distribution, CPG, EC&O, Discrete & Process Manufacturing and Professional Services

• 1,000+ clients – and growing!

• Member of a 50+ partner network with best-of-breed partners

• 1,500 employees worldwide

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