Accesa IT Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project lead for an IT consulting company. I'm the service manager for HR IT systems and an SAP SuccessFactors consultant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accesa IT Group?

We were looking to escalate our delivery capabilities on the consultancy side and be more efficient on the internal side.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our collaboration is threefold; Accesa IT Group works with us to provide support for SuccessFactors — both internally and externally for user support and implementation projects. They take care of 80% of our internal SuccessFactors tickets and change requests. They resolve problems and expand the capabilities of the tool. 

They also handle 50% — 10 tickets a week — of our external support tickets. We provide key user support to our customers. If a user has a problem, they report it to their internal IT team, who reports it to their SuccessFactors administrator. If our customer’s administrator can’t provide the needed support, they escalate the ticket to us; we’re the last line of defense. The tickets that reach us and Accesa IT Group are highly complex and remain open for 2–3 weeks.

They’ve also partnered with us to provide support for Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft 365, and ServiceNow.

What is the team composition?

The team is comprised of SAP SuccessFactors consultants.

How did you come to work with Accesa IT Group?

Our COO found them while looking for a nearshore partner. I wasn’t involved in setting up the partnership, but my project was the first of the partnership.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent over €1,000,000 ($1,067,000 USD). My project with Accesa IT Group costs €150,000–€200,000 ($160,000–$213,000 USD) a year. In total, our company sometimes spends close to €1,000,000 ($1,067,000 USD) in a year with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing project started on October 1, 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I measure success by customer satisfaction. We have a very high Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 100 across 12 clients — all of them responded with a 10. Some clients work exclusively with Accesa IT Group, so that score is pretty indicative of their quality of work.

How did Accesa IT Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive. We typically communicate with Microsoft Teams and use the chat function for quick, non-urgent communication. For larger issues, we call them. We also have 15-minute daily scrum meetings; I ask them what they’ve done over the past day, what they’re planning to do over the next day, and if there are any constraints I can help them with. 

The meeting is set for 30 minutes because I insist on using the extra 15 minutes to gossip and drink my coffee with them. This is our secret to maintaining the relationship as teammates rather than just vendor and client. There is a very good feeling of camaraderie even though teammates have come and gone over the years. We still celebrate each anniversary of the partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Accesa IT Group has been a well-oiled machine since the beginning of the partnership. Their business culture is similar to ours. They employ high-quality teammates with an agile mindset. I’ve come to rely on their willingness to learn new things and accept new challenges. IT systems change constantly, and Accesa IT Group is able to adapt.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should focus on recruiting. We’re struggling to find new talent and expand the team quickly; the last recruiting process I was part of was a bit chaotic.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but they’ve delivered from day one.