In today’s interview, we sit down with Atima Kumar Parashar, Partner Engagement Lead for SAP ICC Australia to discuss adapting to the latest market trends and adapts them as part of the recruitment strategy to help partners and ISVs build, integrate, and certify their solutions for the Australian market.
BARAJAS: What is your role within ICC Australia? When was ICC Australia formed? How do you interact with the local partner ecosystem?
KUMAR PARASHAR: ICC Australia was formed in Q4 2015 to extend our footprint in one of the fastest growing markets for SAP and explore opportunities within the partner ecosystem. As it is quite an evolved market, our focus is more in the direction of enabling partners and ISVs towards adoption of the latest technology. As SAP primarily has its sales office in Australia, interaction with people in the field provides immense exposure to what customers are looking for from SAP and our partners. The interactions have to be customized and partners really need to see the value in our services before investing in them. Getting involved in local programs driven by GPO and other units is also essential for business.
BARAJAS: What regional events have you attended? What did you present at these events?
KUMAR PARASHAR: I attended the Architect and Developer Summit (like a mini-TechEd) last year and PKOM this year. As our local presence is new, it was mainly about creating awareness about PLS and ICC. Some internal and external stakeholders did not even know we existed, and were pleasantly surprised that there are teams within SAP that focus on partner enablement for building solutions and helping them reach the market.
BARAJAS: In your opinion, what is unique about the local partner ecosystem within Australia?
KUMAR PARASHAR: ANZ is one of the fastest growing markets and the market is extremely volatile, so local business understanding is very crucial and there is a large partner community with GPO presence, which is also beneficial. Partners are very well educated about SAP’s latest offerings and are also well-equipped. A lot of innovation is coming from partners around SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP S/4 HANA adoption and we see many new businesses emerging especially in the SMB market.
BARAJAS: What do you want to tell partners and ISVs about yourself?
KUMAR PARASHAR: Partners and ISVs should primarily know that ICC has a local presence in ANZ now. Apart from being the engagement lead for their solution certification project, I can help connect them to relevant SAP stakeholders. Partners with a proof-of-concept for any SAP engagement can also contact me for enablement services to help build their solutions. We are looking to build long-term business plans with some of the key ANZ partners, while simultaneously engaging and providing services to any ISV, who is looking to develop a strong SAP customer base.
BARAJAS: What are your plans for the rest of 2016? What events will you attend in the future?
KUMAR PARASHAR: Planning is segmented into short-term and long-term focus to make sure we provide services to our local presence and at the same time reach out to new ISVs, who could also benefit from our services. There is potential for our end-to-end services as well as our packaged services that could cater to newer businesses as well as established partners, who are committed to working with us for our mutual growth. We are planning to be present at SAUG – SAP Australia User Group where we will have a separate space to interact with partners and customers, showcase our offerings, and discuss future roadmap.
BARAJAS: What have you enjoyed most about working at ICC Australia? Is there a special moment?
KUMAR PARASHAR: Exposure to the real world – working in SAP Labs before, I missed this exposure to customer interactions and how it’s all done on the ground. How these amazing solutions that we build bring value to customers’ businesses and make a difference to the world around us.
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