Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are being offered a unique opportunity to fine-tune their business through a business analysis and improvement programme sponsored by SAP Africa’s SME division (www.growthhq.net).
The Business Booster programme is being offered by BusinessEdge, an independent business consulting service contracted by SAP to provide impartial business management and growth services to SMEs. The SAP Growth Support programme, was established as a joint initiative between SAP Africa and BusinessEdge, a business consulting practice.
“The goal of SAP Growth Support is to empower SMEs, which we do through providing services such as the Business Booster programme, that are aimed at creating internal capacity to support enterprise growth,” explains Derek Kudsee, Director: SME and Channel at SAP Africa. “The important point here is that this process is not about pushing SAP software onto the business owners. SAP Growth Support operates independently, although it is able to draw on business best practices developed through SAP’s global success with businesses of all sizes.
Graham Perry, MD of BusinessEdge, says the Business Booster programme aims to help organisations gain a clear understanding of the business’ current position, its people and prospects.
“Effectively what we do is go into an organisation and do an assessment on the company before producing a situation assessment that measures up to 60 key business indicators,” he says. “This requires but a few hours from the company representatives involved, which includes feedback from up to 100 employees, while our team spends up to two days completing the assessment.”
Part of the assessment feedback is an action plan detailing the measures the company should implement in each area of the business to improve productivity, profitability, staff morale, and identify areas for growth and competitive positioning.
“Through our partnership with SAP, we are able to offer this service for less than R8000, which any organisation serious about setting itself on the right track can justify and afford,” he adds.