Leading independent SAP consultancy Absoft has announced two new deals, worth more than £250,000, providing support services to Northern Rail and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
The deals come just a week after Absoft completed its acquisition of specialist performance management and business intelligence solutions provider Hexarus Consulting, as it pushes forward a major growth strategy and responds to customer demand for enhanced organisational reporting and business planning and forecasting capabilities.
Northern Rail, the latest addition to Absoft’s growing customer base in the transport sector, operates trains across the north of England with some 4,900 employees providing around 2,500 local and regional services, making it the largest train operator in the UK.
Absoft will provide ongoing support for Northern Rail’s SAP business software solution through to 2013, across its finance, human resources, payroll, materials management, supplier relationship management and engineering operations.Â
“We first met representatives of Northern Rail at last year’s SAP user group exhibition and are extremely pleased to have secured them as a client, after they were impressed by the quality of our overall support package. Key elements in their decision were the flexibility of our service and access to our market leading NetWeaver support,” says Absoft sales manager Matthew Gordon.
Under an initial year-long contract with the RNLI, Absoft will provide general SAP support and additional project provision, marking a further expansion of its footprint in the not-for-profit sector, where it already counts the Scottish Qualifications Authority and ConstructionSkills amongst others as its customers.
Peter Quinnear, RNLI IS Applications Manager, said: “We chose Absoft as our support partner following a rigorous selection process. Absoft’s proposal offered very good responses to technical questions and we received good feedback from other customers. We felt Absoft would be able to work well as an extension to our internal teams.”
Absoft Managing Director Ian Mechie said: “The RNLI is a charity working across Britain and the Republic of Ireland renowned for providing the highest standard of service. The fact that they wanted to work with us, based on our own established national reputation, is a great endorsement for our dedicated support team.
“This win coupled with our success in securing Northern Rail as a customer reinforces Absoft’s reputation as a provider of market leading SAP support services, and continues our client base expansion throughout the UK.”
Absoft recorded sustained growth throughout 2011, as it marked its 20th anniversary – boosting turnover and its pool of expert staff by more than 20%.
Pre-tax profits jumped by more than 70% at Absoft, which was founded in 1991, which also increased its office space at Aberdeen Innovation Park as it builds on its team of 90 staff.Â
