It was October 1, 2002 and after a full day attending various TechEd sessions, Daneel de Villiers and I sat in a bar in Bremen putting the world to rights.
Daneel had recently left Price Waterhouse and I had returned to permanent employment after a few years as a contractor. We had both joined a start-up that turned out to be a masterclass in how not to run a consulting business and were feeling deflated.
Daneel had recently left Price Waterhouse and I had returned to permanent employment after a few years as a contractor. We had both joined a start-up that turned out to be a masterclass in how not to run a consulting business and were feeling deflated.
After the third (or may be fourth) beer we agreed that we could not do any worse than our current employer and decided right there and then to start our own SAP consulting business.
We believed that as a new player in an already crowded market we needed to specialise. SAP CRM and SAP BW were in the ascendancy and we had skills and experience in both. The decision to focus on these areas was both logical and easy and it’s a focus we maintain today albeit with the latest generation of SAP Analytics and CRM products.
But, what type of consulting business did we really want to be?
Having worked for a number of consulting companies both as an employee and a contractor I was clear about one thing: I wanted to run the type of business where I could look at myself in the mirror each morning and not avert my gaze.
We agreed on three principles that we’ve used to run De Villiers Walton since we started in 2003:
Idealistic? Yes. Naïve? Perhaps. Easy? No. We’ve certainly lost out on opportunities over the years because of these principles, but it’s a relatively small price to pay for keeping your integrity.
To ensure that we adhere to our principles we employ only proven, hard-working professionals who enjoy and take pride in the work they do.
As a specialist SAP consulting company we often find ourselves working at the bleeding edge of the latest technology or pushing the boundaries of what people think SAP’s more established products can do.
“Innovation” is our watchword and is evidenced by our work with companies like Heineken, Brakes, Rieber & Son and SAP.
We most frequently work with large and midsize enterprises across a range of industries and markets.
We have successfully delivered a wide range of SAP projects including green field implementations, complex integration projects, simple “vanilla” implementations, global implementations, single and multi-vendor projects and project rescues.
We take on projects both large and small so whether you are looking for a partner for full project delivery or team augmentation, please get in touch.
We believed that as a new player in an already crowded market we needed to specialise. SAP CRM and SAP BW were in the ascendancy and we had skills and experience in both. The decision to focus on these areas was both logical and easy and it’s a focus we maintain today albeit with the latest generation of SAP Analytics and CRM products.
But, what type of consulting business did we really want to be?
Having worked for a number of consulting companies both as an employee and a contractor I was clear about one thing: I wanted to run the type of business where I could look at myself in the mirror each morning and not avert my gaze.
We agreed on three principles that we’ve used to run De Villiers Walton since we started in 2003:
- We tell the truth
- We deliver on our promises
- We will treat you with respect (but expect the same in return)
Idealistic? Yes. Naïve? Perhaps. Easy? No. We’ve certainly lost out on opportunities over the years because of these principles, but it’s a relatively small price to pay for keeping your integrity.
To ensure that we adhere to our principles we employ only proven, hard-working professionals who enjoy and take pride in the work they do.
As a specialist SAP consulting company we often find ourselves working at the bleeding edge of the latest technology or pushing the boundaries of what people think SAP’s more established products can do.
“Innovation” is our watchword and is evidenced by our work with companies like Heineken, Brakes, Rieber & Son and SAP.
We most frequently work with large and midsize enterprises across a range of industries and markets.
We have successfully delivered a wide range of SAP projects including green field implementations, complex integration projects, simple “vanilla” implementations, global implementations, single and multi-vendor projects and project rescues.
We take on projects both large and small so whether you are looking for a partner for full project delivery or team augmentation, please get in touch.
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