Consol and T-Systems sign SAP migration deal

T-Systems will supply Consol with information and communication services in a deal worth R25 million.

As with many companies, Consol was challenged to balance over- or under-provisioning of infrastructure due to the length of their investment cycles. The move to dynamic ICT services removes these capacity issues, as T-Systems’ cloud services are optimised to deliver flexible, automated provisioning, when and where required.

Consol looked to T-Systems to provide a solution which could harness the benefits of their existing virtualised and hosted environment and meet global standards for cloud services while also making commercial sense. The solution had to pass rigorous hurdle rates in the Consol business case.

T-Systems in South Africa has been Consol’s major ICT outsource partner since 2005.  Says Mike Arnold, CEO of Consol Glass, “For us, the relationship with T-Systems in South Africa has evolved from that of a mere supplier to a strategic alliance where there is an alignment of needs.”

He continues “T-Systems offers support that leverages its global standards and best practices, is implemented locally and backed by a strong team.  The advantage of a partner such as T-Systems is the global support. However, the local team instilled our trust and confidence in the cloud services offering. As a customer we can now benefit from this expertise and are rest assured that we meet local legislative requirements.”

Says Johan du Plessis, CIO of Consol Glass, “T-Systems not only offers the cloud infrastructure but also delivers the platform, along with the capability to maintain and deliver ongoing support. In addition, they also provide value-added services on top of the standard offering. Today, very few service providers can run a SAP environment in a stable manner while tweaking, optimising and fine tuning it to meet your growth expectations; T-Systems can.”

“Cloud provision with guaranteed service quality is still a new concept in South Africa, so navigating any possible risks involved was done jointly.

That makes this agreement very significant for T-Systems, and we’re extremely proud of our partnership with Consol,” says Gert Schoonbee, Head of Sales at T-Systems in South Africa. “Many providers add to the ‘hype’

around cloud service concepts and components, however T-Systems is able to deliver the full cloud services solution, and this deal is proof of that,” concludes Schoonbee.