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Christine13
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
601
On October 26, 2021, the first golden certificate of appreciation was handed over to BTC Business Technology Consulting AG. BTC obtained its first certification for their operations capabilities back in 2002 and have this year successfully passed their 10th certification. The Outsourcing Partner Certification (OPC) team is very proud of this long-lasting relationship with BTC and invited them for a short interview where they shared their view on the certification program.

May you want to start with telling us about your company and what services your company is offering.

BTC Business Technology Consulting AG was founded in 2000 with its headquarter in Oldenburg, Germany. As of today, the BTC Group comprises 10 companies and 3 second-tier subsidiaries. We are represented at ten locations (Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Kelkheim, Leipzig, Münster, Neckarsulm, Oldenburg, Salzgitter) in Germany and operate with companies in Poland, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Romania, China, Japan, and the USA.

If customers do not run their SAP solutions in their own data center and decide to use a service provider, we manage and operate their SAP solutions and IT infrastructure in our data center or with hyperscalers. We are a certified Outsourcing Operations Partner and run SAP solutions in the Partner Managed Cloud.  In addition, SAP supports our customers' applications and users through SAP-certified BTC Application Management. This relieves the pressure on customers´ resources and frees up capital for investment in growth areas.

To demonstrate our competence in this environment, we have therefore obtained certification in the following areas.

  • SAP Certified Provider in Business Suite Solutions Operations

  • SAP Certified Provider in SAP S/4HANA® Solutions Operations

  • SAP Certified Provider in Hosting Operations

  • SAP Certified Provider in SAP HANA® Operations

  • SAP Certified Provider in Cloud and Infrastructure Operations


 

Why did you initially (in 2002) apply for the certification program to become an SAP outsourcing operations partner?

SAP was already an integral part of BTC's service delivery when the company was founded. And since quality is an important issue for BTC, opportunities were sought to review and optimize our processes. And, of course, a seal of approval from SAP is a good argument to demonstrate the performance of the BTC to prospective customers. Another important element was that an audit provides the opportunity to draw on the auditor's experience and to obtain information on new solutions and methods for operating these solutions at an early stage.

Since your first certifications, you have expanded the certification scope, so you have not only re-certified your initial certification several times but also added additional certifications. What was the most decisive factor for enhancing the certifications?

BTC is constantly growing in providing solutions for the customer. In this context, the service portfolio was expanded. The same quality standards applied to these services as to the initially offered solutions. Since SAP has also expanded its portfolio for certifications, this was then consistently used by BTC, i.e. the new service offerings were also certified.

Has the certification – or more explicitly the audit and the audit feedback – had any effect on your service offering? For example, has it helped you to validate and improve processes and practices or enhance your service offerings in general?

As part of the audit, SAP provides direct feedback for the service offering. The resulting discussions provide positive ideas for improvements. Based on SAP's comprehensive audit report, a plan is made as to which topics will be addressed.

                                                                                                    Stefan Fahrenhorst, General Service Owner SAP, BTC Business Technology Consulting AG: "SAP is an integral part of BTC’s service offering. We are therefore pleased that we have been certified as SAP Certified Provider for the tenth time in a row. And after the audit is before the audit because we will constantly evolve with SAP."


 

After each audit, the partner gets the corresponding certificate(s) and the certification logo(s). Can you tell us, whether - and if yes - how you make use of the logo(s) and certificate(s)? For example, are you promoting your SAP certified status via your company website?

On our website, we inform our customers about our services. For this we use the certificates to prove our competence. For SAP Application & System Management, we use exactly these certificates for this purpose. Likewise, the certifications are used in presentations. Another area of use is the meeting rooms, where we receive our customers: the framed certificates are displayed there.

As indicated at the beginning, the market for outsourcing services is growing. So, more and more players want to participate in this business. This makes it crucial for service providers to increase their visibility. How have the OPC certifications helped you with your go-to market activities?

For those interested in BTC, finding the right service provider is an important consideration. A good basis here is the SAP OPC site with the SAP Outsourcing Operations Partner Guide listing all the certified service providers.

Thank you very much for the interview. We appreciate this long-lasting relationship with BTC.

 

 

As mentioned in the interview, all certified partners can be found in the SAP Outsourcing Operations Partner Guide (www.sap.com/opc) 

Partner Innovation Lifecycle Services is a global team of experts who help partners develop innovative solutions on SAP platforms and products to enable customer success. They offer a comprehensive set of guided services to partners who provide hardware, IT operations, and software extensions. These include co-innovation, certification, and technical services to help customers transform their business and run intelligent enterprises. Watch this brief video. 

Visit PILS at SAP.COM: https://www.sap.com/partner/certify-my-solution.html 

Visit PILS at PartnerEdge.COM: https://partneredge.sap.com/en/partnership/services/co-innovation.html