The Magic Quadrant for SAP ERP implementation service providers in North America analyzes the leading-vendor landscape for SAP ERP implementation services. The relative positioning of vendors in this Magic Quadrant is based on factors determined by Gartner as relevant to this market. We analyze consulting and system integration projects that may require a blend of business, industry, technology, program and project management skills that must align with your objectives, institutional and business culture, and employees.

When considering service providers for a request for information or request for proposal, do not simply select service providers in the Leaders quadrant. All selection processes are enterprise-specific; consequently, vendors in the Challengers, Visionaries or Niche Players quadrants may prove to be more appropriate for your engagement. This analysis is for the consulting and system integration services required for only discrete project work and excludes multiyear contractual engagements typical for outsourcing agreements. This Magic Quadrant is a point-in-time analysis, and the view covers key competitors with the breadth and scale of offerings across a large array of criteria. An IT services provider may appear in a specific quadrant, given its strategy, as compared with the full market criteria set in this evaluation. As a result, in any given deal, provider selection is best decided by a client's needs; therefore, IT services providers should not underestimate any potential competitor because the inclusion criteria in the Magic Quadrant result in the analysis of the most-established providers in the ERP implementation market. Other IT services providers not evaluated in this Magic Quadrant may present alternatives for your business requirements.

For this document, we obtained 169 references to the 21 leading SAP external service providers (ESPs) to supplement our views based on daily interaction with Gartner clients.

Demand for SAP implementation services has returned strongly in 2010 after a dismal 2009. There was a lot of pent-up demand for rollouts, upgrades, consolidation and harmonization. Leading ESPs experienced rapid growth and high demand, resulting in high utilization rates, which brought about new challenges, such as difficulty staffing projects, delays in finding professionals with the right skill sets, especially for newer SAP products, and attrition.

SAP ERP implementation for the core modules is a fairly mature market, as leading ESPs have done this since the 1990s. The challenge is to implement them more quickly, for less money, and to ensure they bring about the business benefits promised. To this end, many leading ESPs have invested heavily in accelerators, reusable assets in industry-specific or horizontal niche functionalities, and preconfigured solutions, as well as accelerated their offshore delivery capabilities. They also codevelop with SAP on "white space" or gaps in SAP products to compete better with best-of-breed software providers. Leading ESPs also differentiate on capabilities in newer products, such as in sustainability and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) products.

A large service ecosystem supports SAP's estimated 100,000 customers and helps sell into new organizations. Needless to say, the 21 providers included in this Magic Quadrant is a small fraction of the service providers that implement SAP. Many capable providers are not included in this study due to our inclusion criteria and methodology. They include, but are not limited to, Answerthink, Clarkston Consulting, Emergys, EPI-USE, Hitachi Consulting, Idhasoft, IDS Scheer, ITC Infotech, KPIT Cummins, Optimal Solutions Integration, and YASH Technologies. Vendor Guides and Hype Cycle reports feature some smaller and/or specialist SAP service providers that may be a better fit for specific SAP implementation projects, depending on resourcing objectives, the size of the project and other factors. HP was excluded in this year's Magic Quadrant because, when this Magic Quadrant was announced, HP was thick in the throes of integrating EDS. Because of the ensuing changes, we decided any evaluation of HP's SAP implementation practice would not be representative of its true capabilities and, thus, decided to exclude the firm.

Gartner evaluates service providers on their ability to execute and their completeness of vision. Evaluation is informed by:

• A total of 169 client references supplied by the included SAP service providers

• Service provider's representation of its organization through briefings, press releases, annual reports and other publicly available information

• Gartner clients with whom Gartner analysts have discussions with throughout the year

This Magic Quadrant focuses on the SAP ERP implementation services that include consulting, system integration and implementation for North America. This study covers these types of professional services related to all forms of on-premises SAP ERP application software. Implementations of SAP applications may be first-time implementation, upgrades, rollouts, consolidations or any combination thereof for any version.

This study does not cover services related to application outsourcing, managed services, staff augmentation, software as a service (SaaS) or business process outsourcing (BPO) — but these capabilities are considered in so far as they influence the choice of and ability of the vendor to win deals and provide project implementation services.

We evaluated the comprehensive set of offerings for SAP ERP programs that include:

• Ability to provide consulting services for SAP ERP environments

• Ability to provide a comprehensive set of system integration and implementation services across the SAP ERP domains, products and technologies

• Ability to service multiple industries

The following is a definition of consulting and system integration and ERP:

• Consulting and system integration — Consulting services are advisory services designed to help companies analyze and improve the effectiveness of business operations and technology strategies. Gartner divides consulting into two subsegments: business consulting and IT consulting. For Gartner, the term "system integration" is roughly synonymous with development and integration services. Development and integration services include application development, deployment and integration services. These are the service areas of focus for project-based SAP ERP service delivery.

• Enterprise resource planning — Gartner defines ERP as a business strategy in which ERP improves business processes and the use of information across an organization by integrating functions into a set of interconnected modules. These include implementation of any version of modules related to: financials, human capital management (HCM), manufacturing and operations, and enterprise asset management (EAM). Other modules, extensions and integration may be implemented as part of an ERP project, but for the purpose of this study, implementation of ERP must be the central objective of these projects.

This Magic Quadrant and a forthcoming Magic Quadrant on Oracle services replace the Magic Quadrant for ERP service providers in North America.

The criteria for inclusion of service providers for this Magic Quadrant are based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures.

• ESPs with consulting and system integration service revenue derived from clients in North America (United States and Canada)

• A minimum of $30 million (estimated for fiscal year 2009) in enterprisewide SAP ERP project service revenue in North America

• Client interest in specific SAP service providers, as revealed by Gartner analysts' interactions with enterprise buyers

• Overall market interest in and visibility of the provider

• Ability to provide consulting and solution implementation services across multiple industries and multiple SAP modules

Gartner evaluated service providers on their ability to execute and their completeness of vision — as per the definitions below. When the two sets of criteria are evaluated together, the resulting North American analysis provides a view of how well the provider performs a spectrum of services compared with its peers and how well it is positioned for the future.

This is a new Magic Quadrant.

This is a new Magic Quadrant.

Gartner analysts evaluate technology providers on the quality and efficacy of the processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable IT provider performance to be competitive, efficient and effective, and to positively impact revenue, retention and reputation. Ultimately, technology providers are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision. Our assessment of a vendor's ability to execute consisted of these criteria.

Product/Service — Core services offered by the provider that competes in and serves the defined market. This category includes current service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills, and so on. Subcategories include: assessment of specific services in the key ERP areas of financials, HR, order management, EAM, delivery processes and methodologies, and knowledge, skills and project management; and assessment of knowledge and partnership with respective ERP vendor. This category also includes vertical, industry, process expertise, project management and application knowledge as revealed by client feedback, industry or software vendor awards and recognition.

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization) — Financial viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood of the individual business unit to continue to invest in the service and continue to offer the service, advancing the state of the art within the organization's portfolio of services. Subcategories include: assessment of service provider's practice area profile (for example, financial strength, number of dedicated resources, growth, utilization and attrition); and analysis of strategy and organization.

Sales Execution/Pricing — The service provider's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel, as well as customer feedback on value for the money.

Market Responsiveness and Track Record — Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve, and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the provider's history of responsiveness and track record in offering different pricing mechanisms.

Customer Experience — Overall customer satisfaction with provider. Included are ease of working with and flexibility in responding to changes, as well as delivering on time, within budget and to scope with a system that meets business needs.

Operations — The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis. Subcategories include:

• Investments in and with software vendor

• Applied use of methodologies and other assets

• Global delivery model

Gartner analysts evaluate technology providers on their ability to convincingly articulate logical statements about current and future market direction, innovation, customer needs, and competitive forces and how well they map to the Gartner position. Ultimately, technology providers are rated on their understanding of how market forces can be exploited to create opportunity for the provider. Our assessment of a vendor's completeness of vision consisted of these criteria.

Market Understanding — Ability of the provider to understand buyers' needs and translate these needs into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those wants with their added vision. Subcategories include: service providers' knowledge and articulation of key market direction and trends; and the analysis of the service providers' executive leadership (including thought leadership, continuity, operational capabilities, and so on).

Marketing Strategy — A clear, differentiated set of messages that are consistently communicated throughout the organization and are externalized via the communication, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy — The strategy for selling services, which uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base. Subcategories include: service providers' strategies for partnerships and alliances; and vision for creating new and/or additional ERP business.

Offering (Product) Strategy — A technology provider's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology, and feature set as they map to current and future requirements. Includes vision on improving business and process design, implement, test, change management, and training

Vertical/Industry Strategy — The technology provider's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including verticals. Vertical, industry and process investments, as revealed by dedicated resources, training and related intellectual property (IP) development in selected verticals, industries and processes.

Innovation — Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes. Investment in tools, methods, prebuilt assets, industry/process maps, etc., to assist in improving speed and/or quality of implementation, reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) or accelerating ROI of solution.

Geographic Strategy — The provider's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries, as appropriate for that geography and market. Includes geographic scope to assist in global rollouts as well as appropriate global delivery centers around the world.

Leaders are performing well today, gaining traction and mind share in the market; they have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

Challengers execute well today for the portfolio of work selected, but they have a less-defined view of market direction. Consequently, these service providers may be the "up and comers" of the future, or they may not be aggressive and proactive enough in preparing for the future.

Visionaries articulate important market trends and direction. However, they may not be in a position to fully deliver and consistently execute. They may need to improve their optimization of service delivery.

Niche Players focus on a particular segment of the market, such as vertical industry, client size, functional area (e.g., HCM, order management and others), or project complexity. Their ability to execute is limited to those focus areas and, therefore, is assessed accordingly. Their ability to innovate may be affected by this narrow focus.

Accenture is one of the largest IT services firms worldwide and provides end-to-end services that range from management consulting to technology and outsourcing. Accenture is an SAP Global Services Partner and has more than 31,000 SAP-skilled professionals worldwide.

• Accenture is one of a small number of service providers in the SAP ecosystem with the depth and breadth of capabilities to implement large, complex transformational ERP initiatives for the largest companies.

• Strong business process, industry and change management expertise complement its deep SAP application knowledge, and more than 100 vertical and functional assets bring to clients a full set of required capabilities to deliver value on a project.

• Accenture's strong relationship with SAP has resulted in access to all SAP training materials, as well as participation in programs that enables it to implement new SAP products ahead of the competition, gaining valuable experience in new products before general release.

• Predictable, good project outcome is predicated on a set of methodologies and tools that Accenture teams use. Clients who need deviation from these may find Accenture's adherence frustrating.

• Accenture's focus is targeted at complex projects at the largest companies; projects in the midmarket (Gartner defines midmarket as below $1 billion in revenue), pure technical upgrades and "vanilla," straightforward implementations do not leverage Accenture's full capabilities.

• Even with its depth and breadth of capabilities, and privileged participation in SAP's Ramp Up & Partner Test Program for new products, expect challenges with inconsistency in resource quality among Accenture's project team and difficulty resourcing for newer SAP products, as is true for all vendors.

Capgemini is an IT services firm headquartered in France, with global revenue of €8.4 billion in 2009, and it employs 90,000 people worldwide, of which nearly 10,000 are SAP-skilled professionals. It is an SAP Global Services Partner, Hosting Partner, Run SAP Partner, SAP Application Management Services Partner, SAP PartnerEdge Channel Partner, Business All-in-One reseller, and a charter member of the SAP ITO program.

• Capgemini has deep capabilities and investments, including preconfigured solutions, in selected markets: oil field services and drilling, consumer products and retail, medical devices, HCM and procurement.

• It has been innovative in alternative delivery, including a SaaS-like single monthly pricing for license and services to companies above $500 million in revenue, from its private cloud environment. It is one of two partners with SAP certification as cloud service providers.

• Capgemini is able to offer a complete set of life cycle services — design, implement, application management, hosting through BPO — to clients who look for end-to-end services.

• Clients cite Capgemini's flexibility and willingness to adapt work styles, staffing and methodologies to a client's needs and preferences as its key strengths. Additionally, clients cite Capgemini's project management, and process and industry knowledge as strengths.

• Capgemini's accommodating work style has led some client sponsors to observe a reluctance in the company to challenge client decisions.

• Clients have reported that bench strength for new products is not as deep as expected, and resource quality for these new products can be uneven.

CGI is a CDN$4.5 billion (annualized revenue) major full-service IT services provider headquartered in Canada, with 31,000 employees and a growing presence in the U.S. CGI is an SAP Services Partner and an SAP Hosting Partner. CGI is placed in the Niche Players quadrant because of its concentration in a few select industries and its limited U.S. presence.

• CGI has a strong presence in the communications industry and public sector in Canada, and resultant strength in business and process expertise in these industries.

• It has a good track record in technical and functional SAP ECC 6.0 upgrade projects for large commercial and government clients.

• Its focus on minimizing TCO and culture of engagement has resulted in high overall client satisfaction.

• Because of its concentration in the public sector and government-related communications industry, CGI's global delivery model, although improving, is still developing.

• Only a small portion of CGI's North American business is in the U.S.; the majority of its SAP work is in Canada.

• Clients have cited challenges in resourcing for experienced resources and lower-than-expected change management capabilities.

Ciber is a $1.1 billion global IT services company with 8,500 employees, and it builds, integrates and supports applications and infrastructures for business and government in 90 offices and 18 countries. Ciber has been a Gold-Level SAP Services Partner since 1989. It is also an SAP Channel Partner, Hosting Partner, Application Management Services Partner and authorized reseller of SAP Business All-in-One and BusinessObjects solutions. Ciber is placed in the Niche Players quadrant because of its concentration in a few select industries and its focus on the midmarket in the U.S.

• Ciber has strong capabilities in education and state and local government and has the ability to understand and address the unique pain points in these areas.

• It has invested in a number of preconfigured solutions for the midmarket, including retail, apparel and footwear, mining, fabricated metal, industrial machinery and components, financial services, and aerospace and defense.

• Ciber provides its midmarket clients with variable pricing: a monthly fee for software, services and hosting.

• Its strong emphasis on change management and training has helped ensure successful user adoption.

• Ciber does not have the scale and depth to tackle large complex engagements in North America.

• Clients have indicated an uneven expertise level; while many consultants are very good, clients have noted some with lower-than-expected process and domain expertise.

With 85,500 associates globally and a worldwide growth rate of 25% in 2010, Cognizant is a fast-growing professional services firm based in the U.S., but it is known for its India-based offshore model. Cognizant is an SAP Global Services Partner.

• Cognizant takes a long-term relationship approach, as opposed to a short-term project approach, to its client engagements, which translates into a willingness to invest in the relationship, cultivation of customer satisfaction, quick reaction to any issues, and a willingness to work to the intent rather than the letter of a contract. As a consequence, Cognizant has high customer satisfaction ratings.

• Cognizant has very strong SAP technical skills, enabled by many prebuilt tools and accelerators.

• Cognizant is able to leverage its traditional strength in testing, combined with tools and accelerators, into a capable upgrade practice.

• Cognizant is still growing its capabilities to provide the full set of competencies for a large-scale SAP transformational program. It tends to develop capabilities, solutions and business value scenarios in specific areas such as logistics and fulfillment management/transportation management in the supply chain or catalog management in retail.

• Clients have reported that Cognizant's functional, industry and process skills are very good in some core verticals (such as life sciences, retail, consumer goods, and manufacturing and logistics) and are developing in emerging verticals, such as banking and financial services, and media and entertainment.

• Being client-centric has a drawback: Clients have reported Cognizant consultants as being reluctant to push back on user requests, even though such requests challenge the aim of consistent processes.

CSC is the world's fifth-largest IT services firm, with 95,000 employees worldwide and more than 6,500 SAP professionals. CSC is an SAP Global Services Partner, Global Application Management Services Partner, Global Hosting Partner and Business All-in-One Partner, and it recently obtained the Global SAP cloud certification.

• CSC has a balanced portfolio and capabilities across the stages of implementation, including first-time implementation, rollouts, consolidation, upgrades and enhancements.

• CSC is particularly strong in and has invested significantly in the public sector, aerospace and defense, mining, energy and chemical, and communications industries, including industry process solution blueprints and other accelerators. It is also investing in newer SAP solutions, such as mobility, smart meters and sustainability.

• CSC has a loyal base of satisfied long-term clients who indicate that they are highly likely to rehire CSC for present and future SAP projects.

• Clients cite project management, communication and onshore resource quality as CSC's key strengths.

• Although CSC has increased its offshore capabilities, some clients cite quality issues with CSC's offshore resources because of lower maturity in delivery processes.

• While CSC attracts clients who value its ability to provide the full life cycle of SAP services — from design and build to run, support and host — some clients report challenges in integrating the CSC consulting and support center teams.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to clients via a global network of member firms in more than 140 countries and 169,000 professionals, of whom nearly 8,000 are SAP-skilled. Deloitte is an SAP Global Services Partner.

• Deloitte has made great strides in its SAP practice in the last 18 months. It has strengthened its global delivery, offered value-based pricing to showcase its commitment to delivering value, ramped up its hiring and invested further in methods and tools, and it now has a portfolio of 15 preconfigured solutions, of which 11 are certified by SAP.

• It is also increasingly experienced in very large implementations as clients become more comfortable with Deloitte's ability to deliver complex engagements.

• Clients cite project management, industry best-practice insights and process knowledge as Deloitte's key strengths.

• Deloitte has one of the highest overall customer satisfaction and likely-to-rehire scores among the group of service providers in this study, a testament to its relationship management, delivery excellence and ability to work well with client teams to deliver the business value promised.

• As a result of strong growth and high utilization rates, some clients have experienced delay in staffing and difficulty staffing certain skills, as well as some inconsistent skill level among its functional experts.

• Deloitte's lack of a substantial managed service practice has hurt its ability to compete in full life cycle deals. While Deloitte has recently formally launched its managed service offering for SAP, many prospects are not aware of this, and when they do, they usually prefer to take a wait-and-see attitude toward Deloitte's Run services.

Fujitsu is part of Fujitsu Group, a global IT services and computing system conglomerate based in Japan. Fujitsu is an SAP Global Services Partner, Global Hosting Partner and Global Technology Partner. Its focus on the midmarket and strong capabilities in a few select industries and solutions resulted in its placement in the Niche Players quadrant.

• Fujitsu has focused investments in selected industries — namely, food and beverages, retail, wholesale and distribution, and high-tech industries. For example, Fujitsu has developed a preconfigured catch weight management solution for the meat processing industry, a chargeback management solution for wholesale and distribution, and a revenue recognition solution for the high-tech industry.

• For midmarket companies, Fujitsu combines the depth and breadth of a global services firm with a focus on local midmarket clients, an attention seldom afforded by other global services firms.

• Clients cite Fujitsu's flexibility, technical skills and dedication to getting the job done as its key strengths.

• Fujitsu's preference for selling bundled implementation with application management services and hosting appeal to clients who want to spread out their cash flow but is a "turnoff" for clients who want to keep the managed services in-house.

• Clients point to communication, knowledge transfer and project management as areas in which Fujitsu can improve on.

HCL Axon operates as a distinct entity that includes the acquired Axon company and HCL Technologies' Enterprise Application practice. It has more than 5,000 SAP-skilled professionals and is an SAP Global Services Partner.

• HCL Technologies' acquisition of Axon enables it to offer the full life cycle of SAP services — from consulting through implementation, infrastructure optimization and ongoing managed services and support.

• HCL Axon has a particular focus and strength in aerospace and defense, high-tech manufacturing, utilities, and travel and transportation. It also has developed solutions in sustainability for manufacturing companies and an HR solution for managing highly unionized workforces called iCREW.

• As the first SAP partner to be certified in Value Management, HCL Axon has 40 consultants trained in Value Management, and they have full access to SAP's Value Engineering database, which includes access to SAP's benchmarking, business case development tools, and other value realization and value optimization assets that help it support customers in accelerating value and optimizing benefit realization from their investments in SAP solutions. HCL Axon was a key partner in helping SAP develop its Value Management practices on implementation and benefit realization.

• HCL Axon's clients cite project management, flexibility, focus on delivery, high percentage of senior consultants on project team and its willingness to commit to outcome-based fees as key strengths.

• Clients have experienced some problems with staffing, such as attrition, difficulty finding consultants close to operating locations and staffing for newer products.

• Although being part of HCL Technologies gives HCL Axon access to a large pool of offshore resources (as HCL Technologies was already a low-cost technical provider of SAP services before acquiring Axon), the new HCL Axon is creating some confusion in the market on the positioning of this formerly high-end consulting outfit.

IBM's SAP practice employs more than 24,000 SAP practitioners in 80 countries. It has SAP certifications in global services, technology and hosting.

• IBM has the depth and breadth of technical, functional and process capabilities across a large number of industries, as well as the global reach for the largest and most-complex global implementations, of which it has successfully completed for many clients, some under highly compressed time frames.

• It has invested heavily in methods and tools in SAP solutions, including best practices collected from a large base of past engagements and systematized into reusable asset libraries. Some tools, accelerators and industry solutions include Perfect Plant (manufacturing), Smart Grid (utilities), best-practice generator, discovery tools, industry solutions maps, visualization and midmarket IBM SAP Express Solutions.

• A close partnership with SAP — both in development and in the field — has led to numerous codevelopment projects and early access to SAP products, road maps and solutions.

• IBM has one of the highest overall customer satisfaction scores among the group of service providers in this study, which is commendable, given the scale and complexity of its engagements.

• While end-to-end application life cycle services is a bonus, the handoff between phases of the life cycle has been cited by clients as less than seamless.

• Some clients have reported challenges dealing with IBM's vast internal landscape and processes, leading to delays in getting change order approvals and obtaining the right resources quickly.

• Even though, overall, clients are highly satisfied, some nonetheless report inconsistencies in resource quality.

One of the pioneers of the offshore delivery model, Infosys Technologies is an IT services firm based in India, with revenue of more than $4.8 billion and more than 114,000 employees in fiscal year 2010. Infosys is an SAP Global Services Partner, an SAP BPO Partner, Ramp-Up Partner and an SAP Technology Partner.

• Infosys is one of the largest offshore-centric players in the SAP implementation space. It has a strong track record of growth, a long list of large clients across a wide range of industries and large complex implementation experience at some of the largest companies across all verticals.

• Among the offshore-centric players, Infosys is furthest along in developing business consulting and industry expertise, although these capabilities are not yet fully realized in some SAP projects.

• Infosys has invested in a large number of reusable assets, accelerators and solutions, including an All-in-One Solution for independent software vendors (ISVs), a New Product Introduction & Promotion Solution for consumer packaged goods (CPG), a Complaint Handling Solution for Life Sciences and "Newspaper in a Box" solution for the publishing industry.

• Clients cite price competitiveness, flexibility, superior technical expertise and strong partnership focus as Infosys' key strengths.

• Infosys' fast growth has led to challenges in resourcing. For example, while many clients are happy with Infosys' project managers, some are not as satisfied with its quality and experience.

• Organizational change management is an area clients suggest that Infosys can improve on. Although Infosys is actively addressing this, there continues to be a gap between its thought leadership and its practice of change management in client projects.

Intelligroup is a Princeton, New Jersey-based company with an offshore delivery model. It has 2,400 professionals, of whom 1,200 are focused on SAP. Intelligroup is an SAP Services Partner, a PartnerEdge Channel Partner and an SAP Business All-In-One reseller. The company was recently acquired by NTT Data, a $12 billion Japanese IT services firm, but Intelligroup will continue to function as an independent subsidiary.

• Intelligroup is a strong provider of technical and functional SAP services with deep application knowledge, supported by an extensive set of business process and delivery tools.

• Intelligroup is very strong in upgrades, with a full suite of proven, automation tools to accelerate implementation and provide consistent delivery at competitive rates.

• It has invested in a number of industry solutions, including livestock and poultry, life sciences, high-tech manufacturing, cement and fertilizer, and professional services.

• Intelligroup has one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the study, a result of its competence and customer focus.

• While clients are generally pleased with Intelligroup's capabilities in implementing SAP applications, they suggested that the company could do even better if it improves its project management, industry and user change management skills.

• Intelligroup has successfully delivered on large projects, but as a smaller provider, it will be stretched if it has several large projects occurring simultaneously. Whether it can scale up significantly now that it has been acquired by NTT Data — a financially supportive parent — remains to be seen.

The company itelligence offers a full scope of SAP services, including consulting, system integration, licensing, outsourcing, education, help desk support and hosting to small and midmarket enterprises (SMEs). It has more than 1,600 employees in 19 countries in North America, Asia/Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Germany and Austria. In 2009, the company recorded a total turnover of €220 million. Its parent company is NTT Data, a $12 billion Japanese IT services firm, which also recently bought Intelligroup. The company itelligence is an SAP Global Services Partner and Global Hosting Partner. It is placed in the Niche Players quadrant because of its focus on the SME market.

• Achieving the SAP's SME Global Volume Partner of the Year award in 2010, itelligence is a focused provider of SAP services to the SME market.

• As an SME provider, itelligence is able to focus its offerings, services and pricing to meet the needs of this group of clients without overwhelming them with services and functionalities they do not need.

• SMEs that use itelligence are able to benefit from a global provider with the breadth of service offerings and reasonable bench depth to meet their needs, and the priority and attention they desire.

• Clients of itelligence give it very high customer satisfaction scores, a tribute to its capabilities and focus in this segment.

• The offshore delivery of itelligence is still maturing; the quality of its offshore resources and communication with the offshore team continue to present some challenges.

• Being a focused SAP service provider, itelligence's expertise in surrounding products and technologies is spotty and may present a challenge to clients that need a lot of integration across SAP and non-SAP landscapes.

L&T Infotech is the 13,000-professionals-strong IT services subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. It is an SAP Global Services Partner, a Certified SAP Application Management Services Partner and a Certified SAP Software Integration Services Partner.

• L&T Infotech has highly capable technical skills in SAP implementation and leverages the business knowledge of its parent company in defined sectors — namely, engineering, manufacturing, construction and financial services.

• It is developing industry-based capabilities and has invested heavily in developing IP for energy and petrochemicals (e.g., fuel compliance management system), engineering and construction (equipment fleet management and rental, and a preconfigured industry solution) and insurance industry (e.g., analytics). In addition, L&T Infotech's SAP practice has gained much experience in oil and gas, wholesale distribution and CPG, having successfully delivered numerous large projects for Fortune 1000 clients in these industries. Some IP in the wholesale distribution and CPG space include nonperforming inventory optimization, spend analytics, and material price forecasting.

• Clients described L&T Infotech's work style as highly customer-focused; it quickly addresses issues raised, is flexible in working with clients on "fuzzy" scope, and has highly dedicated resources committed to delivery success.

• As a smaller provider of SAP implementation services, L&T Infotech does not have as deep a bench as its competitors to support large implementations. It partners with other providers to obtain niche skills and geographic reach to service large global projects.

• L&T Infotech's project management capability is inconsistent; resources vary in expertise and experience. L&T Infotech's programs to improve project management and capability transfer from its parent may help address this issue.

• While L&T Infotech's consultants are technically very competent and knowledgeable, they tend not to be proactive in communicating issues or identifying risks. It remains to be seen if programs that L&T Infotech has put in place to address this issue, such as training/mentoring programs and on-site hires, will improve these softer skills.

Satyam was acquired by Tech Mahindra (a Mahindra Group company) in April 2009. The legacy Satyam stays intact as a practice unit but is rebranded as Mahindra Satyam. Mahindra Satyam is an SAP Global Services Partner and a Global Run SAP partner.

• Despite the crisis Satyam went through, its SAP practice did not implode. Many of its Fortune 100 clients continue their ongoing relationship with Mahindra Satyam, a testament to its strengths in delivery excellence, technical expertise and customer alignment.

• Mahindra Satyam is investing heavily in its SAP practice, such as productized services and industry solutions in numerous subverticals, including frozen foods, CPG, engineering and construction, retail hypermarket, port operating system, public sector, construction, semiconductor and chemicals to accelerate implementation and capture domain expertise. It is also investing in new SAP offerings, including partnering with SAP to validate BusinessByDesign, developing a REACH solution and creating a sustainability framework.

• Mahindra Satyam is eager to prove itself and has been very aggressively competing for and winning deals.

• While Satyam was one of the larger Indian SAP practices, the crisis has negatively impacted the market's perception of the company, and it now has the challenge of rebuilding its new brand.

• Mahindra Satyam is extending its business consulting depth, but current capabilities lag the market.

• Clients have also suggested that Mahindra Satyam needs to improve its softer skills — namely, communication with business users, presentation and organizational change management, as well as project management.

Patni Computer Systems (Patni) is an India-based provider of IT services, with 14,000 professionals servicing clients from 23 global delivery centers. About 1,500 of the 14,000 professionals are focused on SAP services. Patni is a certified Global SAP Application Management Services Partner, an SAP Consulting Partner in the U.S. and a Go-to-Market Solution Alliance Partner with SAP in the high-tech, industrial manufacturing and life sciences industry verticals. Its smaller size and strong capabilities in a few selected areas resulted in its placement in the Niche Players quadrant.

• Patni has strong capabilities in selected areas in the SAP space, such as rollout, supply chain and testing.

• Clients cited Patni's flexibility in resourcing and changes, as well as technical expertise as key strengths.

• As a smaller firm, Patni is a good, highly capable SAP implementation partner for smaller projects and midsize companies, as well as for supplementation of resources for larger companies.

• As a smaller provider of SAP implementation services, Patni does not have as deep a bench as its competitors to support large ERP implementations.

• Patni clients sometimes indicate that its consultants are good at executing a templated methodology but are more hesitant to raise issues and challenge clients' decisions and processes.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a global network of member firms that provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to its clients through more than 163,000 people in 151 countries. PwC acquired the majority of BearingPoint commercial assets in the U.S., China, India and Japan last year that added to its implementation capabilities. PwC is an SAP Services Partner.

• PwC has the clout and access to the CFO suite, which positions it well to advise on large-scale enterprisewide transformational projects that require the involvement and buy-in from the CFO office.

• PwC's focused growth approach includes investing in select verticals, including nuclear, retail, chemicals, utilities, professional services, discrete manufacturing and healthcare. By practice, PwC has strong capabilities in sustainability and GRC.

• PwC has one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in this study, a testament to its relationship management and overall competencies in guiding the implementation of SAP projects.

• While PwC is very strong in the advisory phases, it still needs to increase the depth and breadth of its SAP implementation capabilities (even with the acquisition of select BearingPoint assets), including deepening its global delivery capabilities, to be a leader in this market.

• PwC's strength resides in business consulting, including industry, process and organizational change management; it continues to utilize partners to perform technical work as it expands its organic technical capabilities.

• While PwC's intent is to sell business transformation services into its advisory client base, the broader marketplace's awareness of PwC as an implementation partner is growing but still low.

With 12,000 professionals, SAP Consulting is one of the world's largest providers of SAP implementation services. From a provider of "expertise on demand," SAP Consulting has evolved to providing a comprehensive set of implementation services. The majority of its work in North America, though, is in collaboration with service partners, serving as product experts, although increasingly, clients seek the services of SAP Consulting as prime integrator.

• As the services arm of SAP, SAP Consulting has a large pool of highly qualified and certified product experts with the most up-to-date SAP product knowledge to support clients' implementation. This benefit is especially important for the newer products, in which its service partners have not yet ramped up to a sufficient level.

• Clients value SAP Consulting's involvement to validate implementation plans and to ensure SAP's accountability for the success of the project.

• As a result of client demand for "one throat to choke," SAP Consulting has put together the full range of capabilities that includes leveraging its service partners to assist clients in full-scope implementation.

• The consulting group still trails its top-tier service partners in areas such as global delivery, process best practices and industry expertise. SAP Consulting has put in place several programs, including aligning consultants to industries and increasing use of global delivery, to improve these capabilities.

• Project management expertise is inconsistent; some of its project managers are outstanding, while others have room for improvement. SAP Consulting is addressing this issue with many initiatives in its Project Management Office.

• Clients consistently cite SAP Consulting's prices as significantly higher than those of its implementation partners.

Siemens IT Solutions and Services, owned by Siemens AG, is a Europe-headquartered, global conglomerate with offerings in the manufacturing, transportation, building, lighting, energy and healthcare sectors. Siemens IT Solutions and Services offers a broad portfolio within the IT services chain: from consulting, software development and system integration to the comprehensive management of IT infrastructures. It is an SAP Global Services Partner, Global Application Management Services Partner, Global Hosting Partner, SAP Large-Enterprise License Sales Partner (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and SAP PartnerEdge Channel Partner. Its smaller presence in the U.S. and strong capabilities in a few select industries and solutions resulted in its placement in the Niche Players quadrant.

• Siemens IT Solutions and Services' focus and investments in SAP solutions are limited to a few selected industries — namely, utilities, and discrete and process manufacturing.

• For these industries, it has invested heavily in solutions such as its energy management suite, smart meter integration and enablement and Grid Asset Management Suite for the utilities industry, manufacturing execution system (MES) to ERP integration solution, and various process templates for the automotive and life sciences industries.

• Clients cite Siemens IT Solutions and Services' responsiveness, flexibility and strong sense of partnership as key strengths; for example, they reported that its consultants are eager to participate and learn, and have the attitude of doing whatever it takes to make the project a success.

• While Siemens IT Solutions and Services is globally among the largest SAP service providers, it is a fairly small and relatively unknown player in North America.

• Its clients in the U.S. are mostly companies within the target industries — specifically, utilities, and discrete and process manufacturing. It also has clients that are U.S.-based subsidiaries of its Europe-headquartered clients.

• Clients report inconsistent business process and domain expertise among its consultants.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), part of the Tata Group (India's largest industrial conglomerate), is a 160,000-employee-strong IT services organization that has benefited from the leverage of the global delivery model. With revenue of more than $6.3 billion for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2010, TCS is the largest Indian IT services firm. TCS is an SAP Global Services Partner and is SAP-certified in Run SAP Implementation.

• TCS has been building a full set of SAP life cycle services, from consulting to implementation, managed services, BPO and hosting, while deepening its technical and functional capability.

• Increasing focus on domain-led solutions has led to investments in process maps, data models and solutions for numerous industries, including manufacturing, retail and CPG, life sciences, banking and insurance, travel and transportation, telecom, media and entertainment, and energy and utilities, as well as solutions in areas that are not currently addressed by SAP, such as dealer management and legal management solutions.

• Clients cite TCS's commitment to delivery excellence, flexibility to changing requirements, great teamwork and technical expertise as key strengths.

• Fueling the rapid growth has resulted in TCS relying more on junior, albeit well-trained, resources, which has given rise to clients' perception of inconsistent quality of consultants, skills mismatch and resource ramp-up delays.

• Although making strides, TCS still needs to improve its consulting capabilities and process depth to be truly a business — and not solely a technology — partner.

• Clients indicate that TCS could improve on its project management, communication and user change management skills — areas that TCS is actively working on to improve.

Wipro Technologies (Wipro), a division of India-based Wipro Ltd., is a global IT services and product engineering company with more than 100,000 employees worldwide. Wipro is an SAP Global Services Partner, Application Management Services Partner and Run SAP Partner.

• Wipro continues to build out a full set of capabilities for SAP implementation, including investing in consulting and account management, to accelerate its move up the value chain, from being a technology partner to a strategic business solution partner. To that end, Wipro is also hiring more experienced local talent for on-site client-facing activities.

• Wipro continues to focus significant investments in selected verticals — especially in utilities, CPG and manufacturing — building out a large set of templates and accelerators. In addition, it is investing in newer areas, including sustainability solutions, SAP's BusinessByDesign SaaS product and cloud solutions, such as its private cloud Vblock-based SAP solutions.

• Clients cite Wipro's willingness to sign fixed-price contracts, responsiveness, cost-effectiveness and technical expertise as key strengths.

• Even as Wipro is investing in industry expertise, at the project level, clients continue to play an active role in domain-centric work.

• Its fast growth has impacted resourcing, as clients have raised concerns on the quality of some of its consultants. And in some engagements, clients have noted some turnover in Wipro project resources and the staffing of junior resources, especially in the offshore team.