opesus is a Germany based advisory company operating mainly in Europe and the Americas, specializing in SAP consulting services and software development. It supports its clients in making their operating processes more sustainable by providing advisory services in the scope of strategy, design and implementation of SAP solutions.
For the accomplishment of implementation and development projects, as well as performance of adaptation works at clients’ premises, SAP demonstration systems are necessary, which opesus has in its resources. opesus does not operate an own data processing center, but searched for an outsourcing partner that could meet its desired high availability and safety parameters. Besides disc space for its systems, opesus also expected SAP administration services from the service-provider, i.e. permanent supervision of the safety and performance of the system, as well as help in planning their landscape development.
The company decided to settle for the BCC (now All for One) offer, which incorporates managed hosting in All for One Data Centers and nearly 20 years of experience in SAP systems administration. In addition to these arguments, the readiness of BCC to trim down the services to the needs of opesus, high communication standards, and good relation of the quality of services to price was also crucial in the choice of BCC as the service provider.
In All for One Data Centers
All for One Data Center is a specialized competence center of BCC, providing IT outsourcing services, secure data processing and storage, cloud computing and IT consulting. All for One Data Center has modern data processing centers in two different locations. The implemented Information Management System based on ISO 27001 and IT Management System compliant with ISO 20000 among others, guarantee the highest working standards. Several dozen teams of experienced technical and service specialists oversee the systems entrusted by clients. The modern monitoring center guarantees permanent supervision 24/7.
BCC also has a dedicated service division (BCC Outsourcing Center), which is responsible for providing constant support for service contracts and outsourcing for BCC clients. The center operates in accordance with best practices of service organizations. Among others communication with clients based on the principle Single Point of Contact (SPOC). Clients notifications are registered, processed and reported in the service application. The Service Desk Team, responsible among others for managing clients’ notifications to the appropriate teams of specialists, coordinates the work of the Center.
Among the broad spectrum of IT outsourcing services provided by BCC, services related to SAP systems, including maintenance and support for SAP users occupy a prominent place. The high level of services in this scope is periodically confirmed by certificates issued by the producer of the systems among others SAP Certified Partner in Hosting Services, SAP Certified Partner in Cloud Services and SAP Partner Center of Expertise (SAP PCoE) – a status authorizing BCC Outsourcing Center to provide SAP maintenance services.
Since April 2015, development installations and demonstration systems of SAP ERP, SAP Solution Manager and data warehouse – SAP Business Warehouse – of opesus operate in the All for One Date Centers, which also manages these systems.
Joachim Neff, SAP Program Manager, opesus AG
Safety, efficiency and high availability
During the selection process, we considered companies from all over Europe. We decided to go with BCC (now All for One Poland) for several reasons: Firstly, and most importantly for us was safety and efficiency paired with high availability of our landscape; secondly, the high competence of BCC consultants in the scope of SAP technology and thirdly, the high level of work standards. We received a guarantee of high availability and safety of our systems. In addition, the quick reaction time to notifications and a flexible approach matched our expectations. All of this allows us to provide the SAP platform at a highly effective level to our clients and internal stakeholders without obstacles.
Joachim Neff, SAP Program Manager, opesus AG
One of the major requirements of opesus was to launch the SAP system in the new locations as quickly as possible and reduce the time of their unavailability for the user to a minimum. The migration and adaptation process to the new virtual machine environment was conducted using the method “downtime minimized”, which guarantees a short system turn-off time.
After start-up, the environment was connected to active monitoring. The monitoring system used in BCC allows for early detection and indication of existing problems, giving the administrators time to react and undertake repair activities. As part of the monitoring, BCC consultants perform regular checks on the status and availability of the systems, amount of free space in the database, CPU load and status of the backup process.
Basis Support
By specializing in SAP sustainability solutions consulting, opesus has in its ranks experienced modular consultants; however, it does not develop competence in the technical layer systems. Within the cooperation with BCC, the company uses the support of Basis administrators, having guaranteed for itself in the contract some monthly hours of administrative work.
BCC’s SAP administrators specialize in analyzing and solving complex low-level system problems and implementation of tasks from clients, including, among others configuration changes or proposals for changes in parameters affecting performance.
Such distribution of competences made it possible to improve the process of solving current problems encountered in the systems, allowing opesus to focus on its core business activities. All recommended system modifications and changes within the operating system are always discussed and approved by the coordinators of both parties prior to introduction.
A proven SAP/IT outsourcing partner with extensive experience is for opesus a guarantee of system availability, lack of the need to invest in infrastructure and SAP Basis competences, as well as the possibility of a flexible development of the system infrastructure that is subsequently made available to its clients.