Building a better sandwich and a better business solution

In the past year, many small to medium-sized businesses had to shift to new ways of managing their businesses. The ability to work from anywhere took on greater importance, and that meant data accessibility, application performance and integrated solutions were paramount. Even as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, many enterprises are taking a more hybrid approach to the work environment. Employees might be at the office, working at home or somewhere in between.

As a result, digital transformations in business have accelerated to accommodate a decentralized and distributed workforce by moving more applications and business processes to the cloud. Enterprises face new challenges of integrating technology and operations into a cohesive, manageable solution. Smaller organizations may lack the knowledge or skills in-house and rely on system integrators and value-added resellers to supply a solution.

This is where Lumen in partnership with SAP can help. As the leader of the system integrator vertical for Lumen, I’ve worked with enterprises of all sizes as they navigate these transitions. Over the years, we’ve worked closely with SAP on many of these projects. This has evolved into Lumen Solutions for SAP Business One, a unique program that enables us to bring a full suite of capabilities to the thousands of integrators and partners that are delivering SAP solutions to their clients. In case you missed it, Fierce Telecom wrote about this work, and I wanted to expand on that coverage based on what we’ve experienced together.

I’m based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is where I grew up and I’m excited to call it home once more. And if you’ll bear with me for a moment, my hometown offers a great way to understand this simple concept of putting things together to solve business challenges.

You want fries with that?

Pittsburgh experienced its own transformation from a blue-collar steelworker economy to a thriving cosmopolitan city with a vibrant arts scene and some of the most iconic professional sports franchises in the country. But it’s another home-grown institution that serves as a great template for understanding what we’re trying to accomplish through this SAP partnership. I’m talking about a famously stacked sandwich that features all the sides and all the meats sandwiched between two slices of Italian bread.

Those familiar with Pittsburgh know what I’m talking about. This is not your typical sandwich. The inspiration for this creation arose from feeding hungry truck drivers and shift workers who needed to be able to eat quickly and get back to work. Many of them chose to eat their meals on the go. But trying to juggle a sandwich, fries and coleslaw became complicated and messy. What they needed was a meal that incorporated everything into a single sandwich that could be held in one hand and consumed together.

It was more than just a sandwich. It was an integrated solution that solved a business problem for people who needed to stay focused on their core missions.

Integrated solutions for a digital world

Our partnership with SAP essentially does the same thing for partners and integrators serving small businesses. By combining Lumen expertise and technology with the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, we can deliver a complete integrated package that’s easy to sell and implement.

When it comes to ERP, SAP Business One is the gold standard. It’s an integrated solution that gives enterprises complete control over all aspects of their business operations, from finance and sales to purchasing and inventory control to distribution. Lumen provides the underlying infrastructure and expertise for network management, cloud migration, SAP implementation and custom coding for integration with supplier databases. We can host, manage and provide security around the SAP software suite and keep up with enhancements better than anyone out there. And we’re the only one endorsed by SAP to do this.

This is good news for thousands of partners and their clients. By wrapping what they do around what we do they become more successful and deliver a better customer experience.

Just like that famous Pittsburgh sandwich. Let’s talk about what you need. I’ll buy lunch. I know a great place.

Check out the power of Lumen, SAP and other integrators working together.

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