Showing posts with label Chris Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Carter. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2019

You're invited! A Real-Life Journey on the Upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909 Webinar

Back by popular demand! Did you miss SAP TechEd in Las Vegas? Our CEO Christopher Carter delivered a popular session at the event, A Real-Life Journey on the Upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909, to a standing room only crowd. The Approyo team has moved many different companies to S/4HANA and now is your chance to learn about real-life situations and scenarios for moving to SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909 in this SAP TechEd bonus webinar.

A Real-Life Journey on the Upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909
Presenter: Approyo CEO Christopher Carter
Date: Wednesday, October 30
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST

Join us for a discussion of the methodology and the process used to migrate to SAP S/4HANA 1809/1909. We will discuss the pitfalls, the success, and the overall project. We will not dig into the details on failed activities but will give everyone a sense of the timing and skill set needed to be able to accomplish such a herculean task.

Don't miss out, Register today! 

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Approyo Announces Promotion of Tim Reiss to Vice President of Service Delivery


Approyo is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Tim Reiss as Vice President of Service Delivery.

Mr. Reiss has solid leadership experience with a highly customer-oriented focus. He has broad experience in all SAP delivery activities and developing quality service delivery teams.  As part of his role, Mr. Reiss will develop and implement new delivery policies for the organization and work closely with our clients to ensure their satisfaction.

Prior to Approyo, Tim held a variety of senior positions including Managing and supervising SAP Basis teams and service delivery for Virtustream and Symmetry. 

“Tim is a highly experienced SAP Basis executive, with a solid track record of building and leading high performing teams, as well as a strategic focus on world-class customer care,'' said Christopher M. Carter, CEO of Approyo.  “He has been a great asset to our company over the past year and his skills are exactly what Approyo needs to best leverage the opportunity presented by the market.”

Mr. Reiss had this to say regarding his new position leading the team at Approyo, “It’s exciting times ahead, we have a number of customers in production to support the ever-increasing demand for SAP Basis.” Mr. Reiss continued, “I’m looking forward to the challenges on this journey. I know with the support of Approyo's highly skilled engineering specialists, we’ll continue to lead the way with innovative solutions and firmly establish Approyo as a trusted partner in the SAP market.”

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Approyo CEO Christopher Carter to present at SAP TechEd Las Vegas

We are excited to announce that our CEO Christopher Carter will be speaking at SAP TechEd in Las Vegas on Wednesday, September 25 from 9:30am - 10:15am PST. His session, A Real-Life Journey on the Upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 1809, will look at what it takes for a company to migrate or upgrade to SAP S/4HANA 1809.

This session will look into the process used to migrate to SAP S/4HANA 1809. We will discuss the pitfalls, the success, and the overall project. We will not dig into the details on failed activities but will give everyone a sense of the timing and skill set needed to be able to accomplish such a herculean task.

Make sure you add this to your agenda at SAP TechEd.

SAP TechEd is the single best technical training program of the year offered by SAP. The experiences and content offered at this event are in alignment with both my personal development needs AND the interests of our organization’s development, growth, and success.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Approyo recognized as an SAP Industry Leader in Three Categories of the 2019 ACQ5 Global Awards

Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider, announced today it has been recognized in three categories of the 2019 ACQ5 Global Awards by ACQ5. This is the second consecutive year that Approyo has been honored by ACQ5.

  • US - SCALE-UP COMPANY OF THE YEAR (IT SERVICES), APPROYO
  • US - SAP SOLUTION PROVIDER OF THE YEAR, APPROYO
  • US - GAMECHANGER OF THE YEAR, CHRIS CARTER, APPROYO

The ACQ5 Global Awards honor the leading deal teams, firms and professionals whose activities set the standard for our markets. This year, companies and individuals, representing every major market in the world, became finalists for the awards.

"It is an honor to be recognized by ACQ5 for the second year in a row," says Christopher M. Carter CEO of Approyo. "Thank you to the folks at ACQ5 and all of our customers, partners and staff. This achievement continues to validate our success in the SAP ecosystem."

“Experts whose intimate knowledge and expertise in the corporate, cultural, financial and legal arenas are redefining our industry,” says Jake Robson, Group Editor of The ACQ5. “The 2019 ACQ5 Global Award winners represent the best of breed in all industry sectors and have earned these honours by standing out in a group of very impressive finalists. We are lucky enough to work with some of the most influential and enterprising private organizations in the world and are proud to share their message with our readers. Relying on reader insight and experience to provide nominations to the panel remains the cornerstone of our program and to identify industry leaders, individuals, teams and organizations that represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in the business world.”

View Approyo's full profile: https://www.acq5.com/magazines/29_932

About the ACQ5 Global Awards:
ACQ Global Awards’ Objective as Always: To gather quantitative and qualitative information from and about the sector to be able to give a set of “Best of” awards. One of the industry's favorite awards events was right to anticipate another record-breaking number of votes! The total number of nominations received stood at an amazing 97,416 our highest ever.

The poll was not only designed to reflect actual performance in any particular area of expertise, it was also aimed to reflect direct market share based on a number of criteria. Voters were encouraged to base their decisions on addressing professionalism: experience, value for money & responsiveness in order for ACQ to derive a numerical rating from 1 – 5. In that sense, this poll should be considered a reflection of how professionals view any practice, individual or related sector supplier in terms of overall quality of service.

About ACQ5:
Serving the finance sector since 2003, we provide our Global audience of over 168,000 subscribers with the information behind the headlines.

ACQ5, the English-language magazine news portal is read exclusively by senior executives holding power and authority at major organizations. Our readership are the people who will select and authorize the purchase of your products and services. The magazine is intended for CEO's & CFO's as well as other corporate finance and private equity executives from all corners of the globe.

Friday, July 26, 2019

SAP S/4HANA migration fears are overblown - Approyo CEO Chris Carter interviewed by Tech Target

Approyo CEO Chris Carter was recently interviewed by Jim O'Donnell for Tech Target. Below is an excerpt from the interview, to read the full interview, please visit https://searchsap.techtarget.com/news/252467155/S-4HANA-migration-fears-are-overblown. 

Most SAP customers will eventually have to face the inevitable S/4HANA migration.

SAP has stated it will end support for the legacy SAP ECC platform by 2025. Although migration is a daunting prospect, the fear factor may be overblown, and customers could be missing out on the benefits of going to S/4HANA.

In this Q&A, Chris Carter, founder and CEO of Approyo LLC in Brookfield, Wis., comes at an SAP S/4HANA migration from a more hopeful place: The leap from ECC to S/4HANA may be inevitable, but it's also manageable.

Carter has been around since the SAP R/2 days, SAP's ERP software in the 90s and the predecessor of SAP HANA. Approyo, an SAP partner, provides managed services, hosting, migration and implementation services for more than 300 SAP cloud environments for customers around the world, according to Carter. It has also done just over 100 SAP migrations.

Where are SAP customers in their plans for S/4HANA migration with the 2025 deadline in mind?
Chris Carter: We've been working with SAP hand-in-hand on some of the migrations, but customers are very slow to migrate -- and understandably so. They're fed one line and then there's another real world thing that happens, but it's not as bleak as people think. You've got to work with a lot of Z data codes [non-standard data] and change activities, but there are so many tools that we can use that we can understand what is going on with their current environment in order to move into the new environment. You get a lot of integrators out there trying to get people scared, but it's really not that scary. This is a lot easier than what it was when it was R/2 to R/3, that's for sure.

What's the biggest fear SAP customers have about an S/4HANA migration?
Carter: Cost is No. 1, and change is No. 2. Everybody is worried about change -- is this going to change my job? Is it going to change what we do in FICO with the new [S/4HANA] finance tools? Every new SAP system has changes -- it's been that way since the R/2 days -- so they just have to understand that going in. You have to literally walk them through what those changes are and how they're going to benefit from them. You need strong change management and you've got to be very cognizant of what activities are going to happen.

What are the first things organizations need to do when starting a migration?
Carter: The first thing is always the plan. What is your plan and what's the plan for your SAP system, because they may not go hand in hand. An SAP system typically has had so many changes to it over the years that the individuals who are working on it today, and who may work on it tomorrow, may not know everything that has changed within that environment and what's going to happen starting tomorrow when the new system kicks in.

Read the full interview: https://searchsap.techtarget.com/news/252467155/S-4HANA-migration-fears-are-overblown

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Approyo CEO Christopher M. Carter accepted into Forbes Technology Council

Christopher M. Carter, CEO of Approyo has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Christopher was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

“We are honored to welcome Christopher M. Carter into the community,” said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. “Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.”

As an accepted member of the Council, Christopher has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Christopher will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Finally, Christopher will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team.

“I am thrilled to be joining this great community of technology leaders,” said Christopher M. Carter, CEO of Approyo. “The Forbes Technology Council gives great insight into the technology trends of today and into the future. I’m excited about my invitation to this community of innovative minds and looking forward to sharing my insights on the SAP ecosystem and the impact SAP can make.”

ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS
Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Approyo named one of the 10 Most Promising SAP Solution Providers by Insights Success

Approyo is excited to announce it has been named one of the 10 Most Promising SAP Solution Providers 2019 by Insights Success.

Insights Success is a platform that focuses distinctively on emerging as well as leading companies, their confrontational style of doing business and way of delivering effective and collaborative solutions to strengthen market share. This magazine talks about leaders and orators from the world of technology, which includes CEOs, CIOs, VPs, managers and other professionals who had set a benchmark in the revolution of the industry.

“We are honored to be part of this great list of companies," said Christopher M. Carter, CEO of Approyo. "This achievement continues to validate our success in the SAP and Cloud marketplace.”

View the full profile: https://www.insightssuccess.com/approyo-offering-simplified-sap-with-innovative-cloud-solutions/

The 10 Best Performing SAP Solution Providers list: https://www.insightssuccess.com/the-10-most-promising-sap-solution-providers-2019-june2019/

About Insights Success
Insights Success is a forum where top leaders and executives talk and share about their experiences, views, and mantra for success which will help the young and dynamic bloodline of professionals to learn, cater and deliver business needs for customers in order to become futuristic market leaders.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Third-party Maintenance Companies are Killing Your Future ERP Innovation

If you are a company with an ERP solution in-place, you are looking at a very bright future. A future where the newest, latest and greatest technologies are coming at you. Your ERP solutions providers are there to support you in your company's growth. These ERP vendors are building software specifically designed to help your company in this new digital age. The old legacy technology is just outdated, and it needs to be refreshed, just like our phones, our bodies, and our minds.

Unfortunately, there are third-party maintenance companies who are taking organizations down a road that will eventually kill innovation within that organization. These so-called “third-party maintenance companies” are telling you and other organizations like you, that status quo is “good enough”. That is not what true innovative technology and business partners should be doing. “Good enough” is socialism. If you want to be a socialist company with zero updates or innovation for the next 15 years, then you're going to be in trouble.

I deal with these horrible “third-party maintenance companies” every day. I listen to their stories on how they help an organization stay on an old antiquated and outdated SAP system. They tell the companies that they will maintain old systems day in and day out for organizations at 90% savings.

Unfortunately, that 90% of savings is a lie a flat out lie.  No third-party maintenance company can provide these kinds of services legally and ethically. I know who these companies are, their executives and their sales team. And they are slick as snake oil. If you really want your company to grow and you think that your firm is cutting-edge, then you need to stay away from these organizations.

Let me give you an example. I personally know of a third-party maintenance company that took over the support for a company running SAP ECC 6. This company is actively looking to grow and innovate its technology footprint. Unfortunately, because they are under contract with the third partner maintenance company that forces them to continue to use outdated technology. The third-party maintenance company lied to the organization. They will not be able to succeed while they are stuck using old ERP solutions. They will have to continue to rely on the third-party maintenance company to try to create custom code to connect everything while paying more costs and losing out by not having access to new innovative technology.

If they would have stayed on a simple upgrade plan from SAP (yes there's a cost to that), instead of believing this third-party maintenance company, they would be able to upgrade their SAP environments around the globe right now. SAP and other software providers have development teams around the globe, upgrading and updating the software every day of the year. To be so naive to think that a software application like SAP, Microsoft or Oracle should not get a license revenue maintenance because of the updates and upgrades that they are providing to an organization is asinine.

Don’t allow your company to fall further and further behind but signing a long term (up to 15 years) contract with a third-party maintenance company. While there will always be a cost to a licensing and maintenance agreement, staying with old legacy technology will cost more at the end of the day.

Don’t let that slick snake oil salesmen sell you.

About the Author - Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo
With almost three decades of extraordinary working experience in the SAP industry, Christopher Carter, CEO at Approyo founded Approyo with the goal of making it easy for customers to embrace SAP HANA. Chris works with businesses around the globe and is known to assist them in their journey to the usage of Big Data in the forms of Hadoop (Cloudera and Hortonwork’s) and SAP HANA. His experience has earned him national recognition by the American SAP Users Group, SAP, Hadoop World, Cloud Expo and more.

Under Chris’s leadership, Approyo has been named to the Inc. 5000 three years in a row (2016 – 2018) and named one the SAP Solution Provider of the Year in 2018 by ACQ5. In 2018, Chris was awarded the Gamechanger of the year by ACQ5, one of the 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders by Mirror Review and one of the Rising Entrepreneurs of the Year by The Technology Headlines.


Thursday, May 23, 2019

Approyo CEO Chris Carter to speak at the 2019 CloudEXPO

We are excited to announce that Approyo CEO, Chris Carter will be speaking on Wednesday, June 26 at the CloudEXPO in Silicon Valley. Chris's session, The Growth of Cloud Usage in the ERP World, will dive deep into the enterprise cloud computing world.

The Growth of Cloud Usage in the ERP World
GCP, Azure and AWS are dominating the "cloud" world, well now they are attacking the Enterprise with partnerships with SAP. Learn how and why these cloud firms see the enterprise ripe for the attack.

Wednesday, June 26, 4:20pm - 4:55pm
Register: https://sched.co/K6Ut

About the Cloud Expo
Now is the time for a truly global DX event, to bring together the leading minds from the technology world in a conversation about Digital Transformation. DX encompasses the continuing technology revolution, and is addressing society's most important issues throughout the entire $78 trillion 21st-century global economy.

DXWorldEXPO® has organized these issues along 10 tracks, 22 keynotes and general sessions, and a faculty of 222 of the world's top speakers.
DXWorldEXPO® has three major themes on its conference agenda:

Technology - The Revolution Continues
Economy - The 21st Century Emerges
Society - The Big Issues

Global 2000 companies have more than US$40 trillion in annual revenue - more than 50% of the world's entire GDP. The Global 2000 spends a total of US$2.4 trillion annually on enterprise IT. The average Global 2000 company has US$11 billion in annual revenue. The average Global 2000 company spends more than $600 million annually on enterprise IT. Governments throughout the world spend another US$500 billion on IT - much of it dedicated to new Smart City initiatives.

For the past 10 years CloudEXPO® helped drive the migration to modern enterprise IT infrastructures, built upon the foundation of cloud computing. Today's hybrid, multiple cloud IT infrastructures integrate Big Data, analytics, blockchain, the IoT, mobile devices, and the latest in cryptography and enterprise-grade security.

Digital Transformation is the key issue driving the global enterprise IT business. DX is most prominent among Global 2000 enterprises and government institutions.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Key takeaways from the 2019 SAP SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference with Approyo CEO Chris Carter

Another SAP SAPPHIRE NOW is in the books. As always this year featured lots of news and announcements in the SAP ecosystem. This year, our team hosted an incredible event at the Ice Bar with Worksoft. Over 200 people joined us for a fun night of SAP discussion, drinks and food. In addition, I was able to meet with multiple customers, partners and friends throughout the show. It was great to be able to really talk about the impact of new SAP technology and how the team at Approyo can help. Our team is growing and it really made quite the impact this year.

Here are a few of the key takeaways from my perspective:

Upgrades and Migrations
Everyone coming up to me all week wanted to know one thing. What is the easiest transition to HANA or S/4HANA? In previous years, the question was really "Why should I move to HANA" or "What are the true benefits of moving to HANA?" Now companies from every industry want to understand how they can move to HANA and the easiest path to get there.

The truth is there isn't one answer for all companies. Companies need to work with a partner that really understand the options for moving to HANA or S/4HANA. This can be a major upgrade or full migration. It's not something that companies should take lightly. A failed upgrade or migration can cost your company countless dollars. At the end of the day, you and your team need to understand all the steps and processes that will go into moving to HANA.

SAP Experience Management - X and O Data
The most talked about topic by SAP at the conference was the "new" SAP Experience Management. This is the big new offering from the Qualtrics acquestion last year. Basically SAP wants to the major player in the Experience Management area. They want to help companies truly understand thier data, how people are interacting with their product and services and improve upon the customer experience.

Here is how SAP breaks it down:

"Operational data (O) – like costs, revenues, and sales – show what is happening in your business. But you also need experience data (X) to understand the feelings of the people involved and why things are happening.

SAP Experience Management solutions combine X-data and O-data. By collecting experience data at every meaningful touchpoint, you can analyze and understand experience gaps – and determine what to do about them.

Your company can then automate actions across business functions to drive improvement in customer, employee, product, and brand experiences.

Sap wants to know why it's a part of the X and O data solution why is somebody doing something why are they taking me steps why did they back out of this transaction why are they doing this transaction if they can figure out the why that will be a game-changer but right now I'm not exactly sure how it's all going to melt together with the other tools that they have."

This is something that can truly be a game-changing solution for SAP, SAP customers and the entire SAP ecosystem. I'm not sure all the pieces are there yet but the overall vision is something that can help any organization in any business.

Connect with Approyo
We will be sharing out more thoughts and content from SAP SAPPHIRE NOW throughout the next few weeks. In the mean-time, we invite you to follow us on social media and connect with us. Now is the time to move to these new and exciting SAP solutions and our team has the experience to help you. Contact us today...

Friday, May 10, 2019

Big Data and Digital Transformation

This article from Approyo CEO Chris Carter originally appeared in the Technology Headlines: https://www.thetechnologyheadlines.com/technology/big_data/Big-Data-and-the-Digital-Transformation/

Over the past two to three years, big data and digital transformation have become all the rage within organizations and IT departments around the world. This has led to a lot of confusion and myths in the marketplace. Let’s dig into some myths around Big Data and The Digital Transformation.

The first major myth is that every company has a digital transformation or a big data project in place. The truth is, not everyone has a need for digital transformation and even less have a need for big data and analytics. As you look out into the scope of these initiatives, companies are bypassing big data because of the lack of need within their organization. Companies might be utilizing applications and tools that feature some form of big data analytics, but as far as acquiring new tools, specifically for big data analytics, it’s just not happening.

As far as digital transformation projects, small companies with under a million in revenue per year, are already using some sort of tool or software, with features of digital transformation such as QuickBooks or Salesforce. These types of tools, already have the features and functionality, smaller companies need to succeed.

Another myth is that digital transformation is very difficult to implement within an organization. This really is not the case. As mentioned in our first myth, there are a lot of software tools available with various digital transformation and big data applications built into them out of the box. Many of these applications are available through a web browser or smart device, allowing every individual within the organization, the access and ability to transform their day-to-day activities with these software tools. That’s not to say digital transformation and big data initiatives are easy. This is an important fact to make sure your company understands. However, there are tools and applications out there that can make it easier. The hardest part is knowing what you want to analyze and accomplish. This is really where you start a big data analytics and digital transformation project.

Today, there are vast amounts of data everywhere. You can grab data from your website, apps, smartphones, smart devices in your home, your car and thousands of other devices. With all this information available to your company, it is important to figure out what data is the most valuable. That is the key for anyone working on a big data analytics project. Your business needs to know what data is most valuable, in order to make business decisions that will positively impact your company.

Valuable data is key. It can impact your business and bottom line in many ways. However, dirty data can make any digital transformation or big data project wasteful for you and your company. This is where most companies run into problems with big data projects. They get sidetracked by data that doesn’t have a positive impact on their business. When starting a big data and digital transformation project, your company needs to focus on what data is relevant in helping your business succeed.

The final area of big data, that has caused a lot of confusion in the marketplace, is how you are getting that data and using it. As part of a data transformation, you must make sure that you are compliant with the usage of that.

If you cannot be relied upon to do the right thing with your data, someone will step in to make sure that you are or you could have major legal ramifications like we are currently seeing with Facebook and Google. You need to make sure you have a controllable platform within your organization.

Big Data analytics and Digital Transformation will remain an important key to growing your business today and into the future. Your company needs to stay on the forefront of these trends, in order to succeed in the marketplace.

This article from Approyo CEO Chris Carter originally appeared in
the Technology Headlines: https://www.thetechnologyheadlines.com/technology/big_data/Big-Data-and-the-Digital-Transformation/

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Big Data and Digital Transformation

This article from Approyo CEO Chris Carter originally appeared in the Technology Headlines: https://www.thetechnologyheadlines.com/technology/big_data/Big-Data-and-the-Digital-Transformation/

Over the past two to three years, big data and digital transformation have become all the rage within organizations and IT departments around the world. This has led to a lot of confusion and myths in the marketplace. Let’s dig into some myths around Big Data and The Digital Transformation.

The first major myth is that every company has a digital transformation or a big data project in place. The truth is, not everyone has a need for digital transformation and even less have a need for big data and analytics. As you look out into the scope of these initiatives, companies are bypassing big data because of the lack of need within their organization. Companies might be utilizing applications and tools that feature some form of big data analytics, but as far as acquiring new tools, specifically for big data analytics, it’s just not happening.

As far as digital transformation projects, small companies with under a million in revenue per year, are already using some sort of tool or software, with features of digital transformation such as QuickBooks or Salesforce. These types of tools, already have the features and functionality, smaller companies need to succeed.

Another myth is that digital transformation is very difficult to implement within an organization. This really is not the case. As mentioned in our first myth, there are a lot of software tools available with various digital transformation and big data applications built into them out of the box. Many of these applications are available through a web browser or smart device, allowing every individual within the organization, the access and ability to transform their day-to-day activities with these software tools. That’s not to say digital transformation and big data initiatives are easy. This is an important fact to make sure your company understands. However, there are tools and applications out there that can make it easier. The hardest part is knowing what you want to analyze and accomplish. This is really where you start a big data analytics and digital transformation project.

Today, there are vast amounts of data everywhere. You can grab data from your website, apps, smartphones, smart devices in your home, your car and thousands of other devices. With all this information available to your company, it is important to figure out what data is the most valuable. That is the key for anyone working on a big data analytics project. Your business needs to know what data is most valuable, in order to make business decisions that will positively impact your company.

Valuable data is key. It can impact your business and bottom line in many ways. However, dirty data can make any digital transformation or big data project wasteful for you and your company. This is where most companies run into problems with big data projects. They get sidetracked by data that doesn’t have a positive impact on their business. When starting a big data and digital transformation project, your company needs to focus on what data is relevant in helping your business succeed.

The final area of big data, that has caused a lot of confusion in the marketplace, is how you are getting that data and using it. As part of a data transformation, you must make sure that you are compliant with the usage of that.

If you cannot be relied upon to do the right thing with your data, someone will step in to make sure that you are or you could have major legal ramifications like we are currently seeing with Facebook and Google. You need to make sure you have a controllable platform within your organization.

Big Data analytics and Digital Transformation will remain an important key to growing your business today and into the future. Your company needs to stay on the forefront of these trends, in order to succeed in the marketplace.

This article from Approyo CEO Chris Carter originally appeared in
the Technology Headlines: https://www.thetechnologyheadlines.com/technology/big_data/Big-Data-and-the-Digital-Transformation/

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Approyo expands team, adds Sean Gilmour as new CTO

​Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider headquartered in Milwaukee announces the addition of Sean Gilmour as CTO.

Mr. Gilmour joins Approyo with decades of expertise. Most recently he led the Global Applications and Big Data Practice for Dell EMC.

“I have been working on and around SAP for almost 7 years now, and wanted to take it to the next level,” says Sean Gilmour. “I believe Approyo to be one of the top SAP partners globally. I am thrilled to help them continue to grow and doing what I love, says Gilmour.

Gilmour resides in the San Francisco, CA area and will be working directly with our clients, partners and team to help grow the Approyo footprint in the United States and around the globe.

“I would personally like to welcome Sean to the team,” says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. “Having worked with and known him for many years, it is a pleasure to have an executive of his caliber and experience inside the organization as we continue to grow. His experience, knowledge, partnerships, as well as his level of technical expertise, are second to none in our SAP ecosystem, which will mean great growth,” says Carter.

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Approyo Named to ChannelE2E Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs

Approyo has been named to After Nines Inc.’s ChannelE2E Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs list and research (http://www.channelE2E.com/top100) for 2019. The annual list and research identify and honor the top 100 managed services providers (MSPs) in healthcare, government, financial services, manufacturing, legal, not-for-profit and additional vertical markets.

The Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs rankings are based on ChannelE2E’s Q4 2018 and January 2019 readership survey, and ChannelE2E’s vertical market industry coverage. MSPs featured throughout the list and research leverage deep vertical market expertise to drive annual recurring revenues (ARR) in specific market segments.

This year’s research revealed several key MSP market trends. Among the Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs for 2019:


  • Honorees generated a combined $699.1 million in vertical market annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2018, up from $277.3 million in 2017. The surge involved organic growth combined with aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.
  • Honorees are managing nearly one million devices.
  • The most successful vertical market MSPs are zeroing in on financial services and healthcare, while manufacturing, legal and not-for-profit vertical activities are accelerating.


Approyo was ranked number 23 among the top vertical market MSPs in the Technology industry.

“It is honor to be recognized as a top Managed Service provider by ChannelE2E, says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. "This achievement continues to validate our success in the SAP and Cloud marketplace."

“After Nines Inc. congratulates Approyo on this year’s honor,” said Amy Katz, CEO of After Nines Inc. “Through a vertical market focus, top MSPs are generating stronger profit margins and increased customer loyalty, while increasingly attracting acquisition and investor interest from peer MSPs and private equity firms.”

Find the online list and associated report here: http://www.channelE2E.com/top100

Friday, March 1, 2019

Approyo CEO Chris Carter featured in Authority Magazine

Approyo CEO Chris Carter was featured as part of an ongoing series with Authority Magazine on February 27. In this interview with Dr. Ely Weinschneider, Chris shares how he manages to be there for his daughters while running a successful company.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

"With almost three decades of extraordinary working experience in the SAP industry, Christopher Carter, CEO at Approyo founded the company with the goal of making it easy for customers to embrace SAP HANA. Chris works with businesses around the globe and is known to assist them in their journey to the usage of Big Data in the forms of Hadoop (Cloudera and Hortonwork’s) and SAP HANA. His experience has earned him national recognition by the American SAP Users Group, SAP, Hadoop World, Cloud Expo and more.

Under Chris’s leadership, Approyo has been named to the Inc. 5000 three years in a row (2016–2018) and named one the SAP Solution Provider of the Year in 2018 by ACQ5. In 2018, Chris was awarded the Gamechanger of the year by ACQ5, one of the 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders by Mirror Review and one of the Rising Entrepreneurs of the Year by The Technology Headlines.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your “childhood backstory”?
Absolutely I grew up as the oldest son of 4 boys. I was the first to leave for college. My parents were divorced, and I grew up between my mother and my father’s homes. When I left for college, I wanted to go somewhere warm and as far away from my parents as possible. I joke about that now, but at the time it really seemed fitting because I wanted to leave to become a technologist or baseball player.

Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?
What brought me to this point in my life was a lot of life experiences. A ton of trial and error. And many times, not trusting others and doing it myself. It took a long time for me to be able to understand the fact that I could trust others which would help grow myself and my business."

Can you tell us a bit more about what your day to day schedule looks like?
Typically, my day starts at 5 a.m. The first thing I do is listen to the news while I’m getting ready. I try to be out the door by 5:30 a.m. because my local radio station plays The Star-Spangled Banner at that time. I can continue to listen to the local news and any national activities going on once I get to the office. I usually have some good time to myself to get ready for my day, go through my notes that I left for myself from the evening prior, and answer any emails that have come in overnight. From that point, I continue my day with a lot of activities with customers and prospects. I meet with my team in the office and staff across the globe with phone call meetings.

Read the full interview at https://medium.com/authority-magazine/to-be-a-great-parent-you-must-be-able-to-enjoy-life-to-the-fullest-with-those-around-you-and-the-45cb5cbc1b96

About Authority Magazine
Leadership Lessons from Authorities in Business, Film, Sports, and Tech. Authority Mag is devoted primarily to sharing interesting feature interviews of people who are authorities in their industry. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable.

Friday, February 22, 2019

Approyo CEO Chris Carter appears on DM Radio, Google and Amazon: The Future of Data Centers?

Approyo CEO Chris Carter was a guest on the latest episode of DM radio, "Google and Amazon: The Future of Data Centers?" with host Erik Kavanagh.

About this episode:
Time was, every major corporation built their own data centers! You found an appropriate site with enough power and cooling, bought all the hardware, set up the operating systems, loaded your applications, and then, sooner or later, had yourself a data center. These days, one visionary summed it up like this: “Friends don’t let friends build data centers.” The future is clearly in the Cloud, with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others vying for those dollars. What does that mean for your organization?

Listen now: http://dmradio.dataversity.net/google-and-amazon-the-future-of-data-centers/ 

Guests:
  • Keno Fischer, Julia Computing
  • Chris Carter, Approyo
  • Patrick Mcfaddin, Datastax
About DM Radio:
DM Radio is a weekly, one-hour live radio show broadcast Thursdays at 3 PM Eastern / 12 PM Pacific. It is owned and produced by The Bloor Group in partnership with DATAVERSITY. It is currently syndicated across three networks and broadcast live on WFOY and GAB Radio Network (please note: These are live radio stations which broadcast 24 hours per day. DM Radio and its affiliates have no control over any other show outside DM Radio.) Each show includes host Eric Kavanagh, a guest Analyst, and several industry experts brought together to discuss hot topics in Data Management. Every show is recorded and converted to a podcast within two US business days of the show. Some shows will keep the conversation going in a Webinar format at a later date or be followed by an article to dive deeper into the topics.

About Eric Kavanagh:
Eric Kavanagh CEO, The Bloor Group  Eric has more than 20 years of experience as a career journalist with a keen focus on enterprise technologies. He designs and moderates a variety of New Media programs, including The Briefing Room, DM Radio, as well as GARP’s Leadership and Research Webinars. His mission is to help people leverage the power of software, methodologies, and politics to get things done.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Approyo and CEO Chris Carter Featured in BizTimes Milwaukee

Approyo is proud to share that we have been featured in the BizTimes Milwaukee magazine and website. The article written by Molly Dill, focuses on our CEO Chris Carter and our recent growth in the SAP ecosystem and Southeast Wisconsin over the past few years. Below is the article:
​​
Approyo LLC founder Chris Carter learned a lot from the failure of his first SAP software company, CCI, in 2012.

After CCI lost a major contract, Carter had to put the Milwaukee-based business into bankruptcy and endure significant strain on his relationships with family and friends, some of whom had worked for the company.

“I learned several things. First of all, don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” Carter said. “Second thing I learned is I never want to go through that again… so I work 10 times harder, 20 times harder every day. The third thing I learned is you’ve got to always be selling.”

In 2013, Carter took those lessons and applied them to the formation of Approyo. And it seems to be working. Approyo recently moved from a 900-square-foot office in Muskego to a 7,800-square-foot space in Brookfield and was named to the 2018 Inc. 5000 list with three-year growth of 557 percent.

“Being named as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States is a great honor. I’m proud of my team,” he said.

Like CCI did, Approyo consults with companies on implementing and hosting enterprise resource planning software from German company SAP. ERP software is used to manage and automate business operations and customer relations.

But unlike CCI, Approyo has spread its client base among 27 companies in various industries across the globe, including French IT services giant Atos. It specializes in a specific type of SAP system called HANA, which is poised for growth as SAP has asked its customers to upgrade by 2025 or face maintenance fee increases.

“Companies like Briggs & Stratton, Miller Brewing Co., Boeing and others, they literally use (SAP HANA) to run their entire business,” Carter said.

In 2018, Approyo’s revenue topped $5 million, and its last three years have been profitable, Carter said. It had grown to 73 employees this year, but recently eliminated its workforce in India to focus on new hires in the U.S. Approyo now has 31 employees, 11 whom work out of the new Brookfield headquarters.

“I don’t take any profits out of the company; I put it straight back into the company to grow it,” Carter said.

His next growth initiative: finding two to three companies to acquire.
“You can’t just be a small player any longer. You need to think bigger, you need to think aggressive, you need to think forward and not just day-to-day,” Carter said.

Five years down the road, he plans to sell the bigger, better version of Approyo.

View the original article:
https://www.biztimes.com/2019/ideas/entrepreneurship/approyo-moves-to-much-larger-hq-earns-inc-5000-spot/

About BizTimes Media
In print, online and in person, BizTimes Media provides up-to-the-minute business news, thoughtful analysis and valuable strategic insights to southeastern Wisconsin business leaders.

Our award-winning print magazine, BizTimes Milwaukee, includes industry trend analysis, strategic advice and one-on-one interviews with Milwaukee’s top executives, achievers and up-and-comers.

BizTimes.com is the place to find the latest business news in southeastern Wisconsin. Convenient and timely daily and weekly e-newsletters are delivered to your inbox to ensure that you’re always up to date.

BizTimes events bring readers face-to-face with local, regional and national industry leaders. From our flagship BizExpo to our Nonprofit Excellence Awards, BizTimes presents and sponsors over 20 of the region’s most relevant and well-attended events each year.

Photo Credit: Jake Hill Photography

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Approyo Recognized as SAP Industry Expert

Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider, closed out 2018 by being recognized by multiple industry and international publications. The Wisconsin based company received six awards and recognitions in December focused on Approyo’s growth and expertise in the SAP marketplace throughout the year.
  • Approyo named one of the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur360 List
  • ACQ5 2018 Global Awards
    • US - SCALE-UP COMPANY OF THE YEAR (IT SERVICES) 
    • US - SAP SOLUTION PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 
    • US - GAMECHANGER OF THE YEAR, CHRIS CARTER, APPROYO
  • Approyo named a SB100 Winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards
  • Approyo named one of the 20 Best Companies to Watch by Insights Success
“It is honor to be recognized by so many different publications for our SAP expertise,” says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. “2018 was been a great year of growth for the team at Approyo. Thank you to our team, partners and customers. These awards set the tone for the next year and being recognized as the SAP Solution Provider of the year is an accomplishment that showcases what we bring to the SAP ecosystem and how we can truly help!”

Honorees for the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America" by Entrepreneur Magazine were identified based on the results from a comprehensive study of independently owned companies, using a proprietary algorithm and other advanced analytics. The algorithm was built on a balanced scorecard designed to measure five metrics reflecting major pillars of entrepreneurship — innovation, growth, leadership, impact and business valuation.

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is America’s most prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates the BEST Small to Mid-Sized Business Visionaries. With over twenty-five notable “Best of Small Business” categories to choose from, The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is the largest Annual Business Recognition Program in the US.

The ACQ5 Global Awards honor the leading deal teams, firms and professionals whose activities set the standard for our markets. This year, companies and individuals, representing every major market in the world, became finalists for the awards.

Read the full announcement on www.approyo.com

Friday, January 4, 2019

Approyo named a SB100 Winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards

Approyo was recently named a SB100 winner in the 2018 Best of Small Business Awards. The company ranked No. 62 in the SB100 category, which recognizes the top 100 small-to-mid-sized businesses in the US for their growth & accomplishments in the previous year. The Best of Small Business Awards is a competitive and prestigious award that ranks Approyo as one of the most elite businesses in the country!

“It is honor to be recognized as one of the top small businesses by the Small Business awards” says Chris Carter, CEO of Approyo. “2018 has been a great year of growth for the team at Approyo and this recognition further validities our success in the SAP ecosystem. Thank you to our team, partners and customers.”

See the full list of winners in each category and learn more about the awards here.

About the Small Business Awards
The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is America’s most prestigious honor that recognizes and celebrates the BEST Small to Mid-Sized Business Visionaries.  With over twenty-five notable “Best of Small Business” categories to choose from, The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is the largest Annual Business Recognition Program in the US.

The Best of Small Business Awards ™ is presented by Small Business Expo (celebrating its 10 Year Anniversary with nearly 100 Successful Business Shows Produced), the Nation’s BIGGEST and most attended Business-to-Business Networking Event, Trade Show & Conference, hosted in 17 major US cities.  Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs attend our nation-wide events to attend cutting-edge business-critical workshops, shop for vendors that can help their business grow & network with thousands of attendees.

Friday, December 28, 2018

2018 year in review: Top Awards and Recognitions

It's hard to believe by 2019 is almost here. As we head into the final few weeks of 2018, the Approyo team wanted a chance to look back at some of the important moments of the past year. Over the next few weeks, we will publish a series of 2018 year in review blog posts, looking back at the top stories of the year. This post will focus on all of our top awards and recognitions from the year. 

  • Approyo Honored 3 Years in a Row as an Inc. 5000 Company, Ranking No. 895. It’s Approyo’s third straight year on the list, driven by several years of strong revenue growth. Only 20% of all companies on the list have been honored 3 or more times. Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo Featured in “10 Cloud Providers to Watch in 2018” on CRN.com. The editorial, written by CRN Senior Associate Editor Gina Narcisi, highlights cloud technology vendors that “have made a name for themselves by carving out a niche in the market in 2017” and which “solution providers should keep their eyes on.” The 10 companies were singled out for their innovative cloud offerings and for the “aggressive goals” they set for 2018. Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo Named Among 10 Fastest Growing SAP Solution Providers of the Year 2018 by The Silicon Review Magazine. Read the full announcement...
  • Mirror Review recognizes Chris Carter, CEO at Approyo, as one of The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders, 2018. Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo Named Among ‘Silicon 70’ by The Silicon Review Magazine 2018. Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo named one of the 30 Most Valuable Tech Titans of 2018 by Insights Success. Read the full announcement...
  • Mirror Review Recognizes Approyo as one of the 10 Best SAP Solution Providers of 2018Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo recognized as an Industry Leader in Three Categories of the 2018 ACQ5 Global Awards. Read the full announcement...
  • Approyo named one of the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies In America" by Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur360 List. Read the full announcement...