This is the second in our series of conversations with members of the IFS partner community. One of the longest running partners of IFS in Scandinavia is Addovation. Even though they’ve been a part of our ecosystem for more than a decade, they too are experiencing a lot of change these days.
To learn more about their history and focus, I talked to Per Inge Sævareid, founder and CEO of Addovation. Here are the highlights from that Q&A
Per Inge is pictured on the right and Kenneth Smith, the other founder of Addovation to the left. Source: Lars Johnsen, Drammens Tidende
How long have you been an IFS Partner?
When we established Addovation in 2008 the partner program was quite slim. We made the first agreement with IFS Norway in 2010, and have since then participated in various partner initiatives. We have been a Gold Channel Partner since 2015.
Why did you decide to team up with IFS?
We like IFS Applications, we know IFS Applications and we claim that we can create business value for our customers being an IFS partner. That is the situation now, and it was also the reason for joining the partner program back then.
Describe the ideal Addovation customer?
We want customers with an ERP approach and fairly complex processes. Most important is that they have a genuine desire to work as a team and cooperate closely with us to gain the best results.
In which countries do you operate?
Mostly Norway and Sweden.
What makes Addovation unique?
We have a large and very competent team covering all aspects of IFS Applications. We have a long term perspective on everything we do, as well as an extreme desire to solve challenges given to us by our customers. This has resulted in a number of Addovation Solutions that can help us to simplify, automate and integrate.
What are Addovation’s selling points when meeting with customers?
The richness of features and capabilities in IFS Applications combined with a down to earth and sober implementation strategy.
Do you work with any IFS competitors as well?
No, we are a member of a quite exclusive club working only with IFS Applications.
How would you describe IFS’s approach to partnerships?
The approach and attitude has changed a lot since 2008. Now we see that IFS is putting a lot of effort into the program and we are looking forward to seeing continuous improvement.
Describe the IFS partnership onboarding process?
Addovation became a partner despite the partner program in the early days, not because of it. Now the situation is totally different. We claim that we get the most success when we are carrying out activities together with IFS. For example, when we have IFS representatives participate in Addovation sales (or vice versa), when we solve challenging application issues etc.
What advice would you give to future IFS Partners?
We think that a key success factor is to know IFS Applications down to nuts and bolts. Start with a few functional areas and make sure you know them well!
To learn more about our partner landscape, please visit the IFS Partner Network.
If you have questions regarding our partners in the Nordics and Baltics, simply reach out to me on LinkedIn.
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Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
