With the launch of IFS Cloud, many of our partners are increasing their focus on IFS services. For this partner, it’s now 100 percent IFS moving forward.
In this IFS Partner Q&A blog, I talked to Michael Tapper, CEO of Enterprise Consulting, about the company’s origin and their customer offering together with IFS.
How long have you been a partner of IFS?
In one capacity or another, we have been serving the IFS customer base since 2002. Enterprise Consulting is the result of an acquisition in 2010 of an ERP services business I managed where we became IFS Partners in 2002. We re-signed as an IFS Services Partner under Enterprise Consulting in 2013.
Now in 2021, we have signed new agreements with IFS becoming a Channel Partner and reseller of IFS Cloud.
Why did you decide to team up with IFS?
In 2001, IFS was one of the finalists for an ERP software selection project we were doing for a client and was eventually chosen and implemented. Through the selection process, we realized what a wonderful ERP Solution IFS truly was and added supporting IFS to our service offerings.
Describe the ideal Enterprise Consulting customer.
We have a broad swath of experience with manufacturing, distribution, services, and engineering companies. We also have experience with more moderately sized aerospace and defense companies.
For new IFS customers, we sell and implement IFS. For existing IFS customers, we have a very strong IFS upgrade practice, performing more upgrades every year than any other partner.
We also complete many optimization projects to expand or improve a customer’s use of IFS, and we provide cloud hosting and managed support services for IFS.
In which countries do you operate?
We focus on working with North American-based companies because all our employees are US-based. We also work with North American divisions of European and Asian organizations, often implementing IFS for these divisions as they come online.
What makes Enterprise Consulting unique?
First, we don’t sell products other than IFS, and we don’t support multiple ERP solutions. We only support IFS and its customer base.
Second, we always provide a “business first” perspective. We understand our customers’ business and how IFS can deliver a return on their investment, and we make sure that return on investment gets delivered.
Third, as a Platinum Certified IFS Partner in North America today, we have proven the breadth and depth of our IFS customer successes. But more importantly, the real value Enterprise Consulting brings to our customers is our employee-level expertise.
Our staff’s average IFS experience is greater than 10 years and we have more IFS certified consultants than any other IFS Partner in North America. This is significant to our customers. They know that whoever we assign to support a project, large or small, our subject matter experts will be experienced in their specific area(s) of expertise with IFS.
How would you describe your firm’s values and how do they align with IFS?
At Enterprise Consulting we’ve maintained our values since day one. Both our employees and our customers inform us of the validity of these values each and every day.
- Committed to doing whatever it takes to service the customer.
- Passionate attention to quality, consistency, and detail.
- Embody integrity, trustworthiness, and professionalism.
- Exhibit confidence while embracing modesty and empathy.
- Encourage individual initiative and growth.
These values are not just words in a frame for us. These are the values and goals we consciously strive for every day. Both IFS and Enterprise Consulting work toward the goal of being the best. And I believe that our values play an important role in getting there.
To learn more about our partner landscape, please visit the IFS Partner Network.
