On October 25^th, 2023 the SAP Certification for Outsourcing Partners (SAP OPC) team in China, a division of the Partner Innovation Lifecycle Services  (PILS) group, organized a partner event at SAP Labs in Shanghai. 10 partners with 17 participants from the IT outsourcing industry in Greater China attended the event. The gathering offered an excellent platform for partners to gain insights into SAP’s strategic plans, network with industry peers, and exchange views on the SAP outsourcing business.

Group Photo of SAP OPC Partner Meeting in Greater China

At the beginning of the event, Rudolf Scheipers, VP, Head of SAP Certification for Outsourcing Partners, introduced the latest SAP strategy for business AI and the portfolio update of SAP Certification for Outsourcing Partners. Also, Rudolf Scheipers outlined the concept of a local, regional, and global certification scope with a focus on the regional aspect in the Asia-Pacific region. This was followed by presentations from two of our certified Chinese partners: Syntax and HAND.

Roger, Shi, Regional COO of Syntax Asia, presented Syntax Asia’s SAP Operation service and shared his thoughts on how to jointly optimize the local OPC Certification market and maintain long-term value for SAP install-base customers.

Roger, Shi, Regional COO of Syntax Asia

Melody Sun, Regional SAP Manager for HAND Customer Digital Service Center in East China, shared HAND’s journey with SAP OPC certification and introduced HAND’s outsourcing solution operation service for SAP products.

Melody Sun, Regional SAP Manager at HAND

As the final agenda item of the event, Kevin Qin, Partner Manager of SAP Outsourcing Partner Certification in Greater China, moderated a roundtable discussion with the partners about the SAP Outsourcing Partner Certification Program in Greater China on topics such as: To what extent does SAP OPC certification support partners’ business; which SAP outsourcing certifications are particularly relevant or additionally desired; and how SAP could better support partners’ business with the OPC offering. The discussion was stimulating and very valuable for both sides – SAP and partners – thanks to the many contributions.

The event was attended by 8 certified outsourcing partners: our long-standing partners Syntax and CDP, who joined the SAP OPC certification program more than 15 years ago; Tencent Cloud and Sangfor, who joined the program in 2019; Camelot, who have been SAP-certified OPC partner since 2021; and HAND, MSC and Shanghai TAKAI, who decided to become SAP OPC certified just last year.

The event was a resounding success and received a lot of positive feedback from our partners. Many expressed that the SAP OPC certification was very valuable to their business and helped them gain the trust of SAP customers. At the same time, some partners expressed the desire for SAP to conduct more marketing activities for the OPC program in Greater China to improve and raise awareness of the SAP outsourcing ecosystem in the region. Overall, the event was a rewarding experience for all participants and provided an excellent platform to exchange ideas and intensify partnerships.

If you would like to find out more about our SAP Certification program for outsourcing partners, please take a look at our SAP Partner Guide or read our extensive collection of blog posts, which includes news about our program but, above all, experiences and views from our partners.

Information about the SAP Certification Program for Outsourcing Partners as well as an overview of all certified partners can be found on the SAP Outsourcing Operations Partner Guide.

To clarify questions about the certification requirements and the certification process itself, please read our presentation.

The SAP Certification for Partners program is part of the larger PILS (Partner Innovation Lifecycle Services) team at SAP, which 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 businesses and run intelligent enterprises.

Visit the SAP Partner Program: https://www.sap.com/partners/partner-program.html

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