DigiPartnerIT Aurora Finland Image by Sturrax from Pixabay Rootstock Software has added another Salesforce partner to its channel ecosystem. DigiPartnerIT, a fast-growing Finnish consulting company is now to sell and implement Rootstock in the Finnish and Nordics market. Enterprise Times asked Per Norling, General Manager of Rootstock International and Arto Heikkinen, CEO of DigiPartnerIT some questions about the announcement.

(c) Per Norling credit Linkedin General Manager International at Rootstock Software
General Manager International at Rootstock Software

Norling noted: “Demand for Cloud ERP exists in Finland, and DigiPartnerIT is the right partner to help us grow in this market. Their extensive experience with ERP from both an IT and business perspective will help drive customer-driven projects focused on successful implementation and improved business processes.”

Norling confirmed that DigiPartnerIT is the second channel partner that Rootstock has signed up in Finland, its first was Fluido, now part of the Infosys Group.

Finland targetted

Manufacturing is still strong in Finland and contributed 14.39% to the GDP in 2019. In 2021, Trading Economics estimates that it will be around €8.929 billion. With the addition of DigiPartnerIT, Rootstock will hope to increase the number of customers it has from the two headquartered there, including Mobidiag. Since its acquisition by Infosys, Fluido does not seem to have actively promoted Rootstock since April 2019.

Enterprise Times asked Norling about localisation for the Finnish market. He replied: “Rootstock is localized to support Finnish legislation. One of our customers will use it in Finland and Germany.”

While there is a good target market, does it want to buy cloud software? Norling noted: “Finland has been very early-adopting cloud-based solutions in manufacturing and distribution and early using Salesforce applications compared to other Nordic countries.“

DigiPartnerIT

DigiPartner was only founded in 2018, but several of its employees have deep experience of working in the Manufacturing ERP market, mainly with Epicor. ET asked Heikkinen about its size and growth plans. He replied: “We have six highly skilled internal employees, as well as external contractors who work for us. We are in the middle of an aggressive ramp-up of headcount and business. Our target is to increase headcount rapidly up to 65 internal employees and a significant number of external contractors globally.”

Heikkinen sees a big opportunity and commented: “Rootstock extends our partner ecosystem. In Finland, many manufacturing and distribution companies are seeking modern ERP systems to digitally transform their business processes.

“Rootstock offers a cloud-native, flexible ERP with deep functionality. We can combine their ERP with Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud and ComplianceQuest to form a unique end-to-end solution for existing and new customers. As a result, customers can experience greater collaboration between sales and operations, enabling them to be highly responsive to market conditions.”  

The combination of ComplianceQuest and Rootstock works well. Aphria leverages a triumvirate of Salesforce, Rootstock and ComplianceQuest for its operational systems. Where traceability is critical such as in life sciences, and Food and Beverage, DigiPartnerIT clearly hopes the combination will bring success. Who will DigiPartnerIT target?

Heikkinen replied: “For DigiPartnerIT, one focus area has been mid-size manufacturing companies, typically using CRM and ERP. Soon we’ll be expanding our focus to bigger companies. Parallel to that, DigiPartnerIT is also serving financial services companies, as well as health technology.”

On Salesforce

What does DigiPartner offer?

Heikkinen replied: “DigiPartnerIT is a registered Salesforce implementation partner and is certified to provide Sales, Service, Platform and Community Clouds, as well as fully capable to implement Marketing tools and will soon become a pro of Analytics Einstein.”

Besides Rootstock and ComplianceQuest are there other app exchange solutions that DigiPartnerIT works with?

“Yes. In addition to Rootstock Cloud ERP and ComplianceQuest, we have partners like Documill and Salestrail, and we’re working with several others in the area of integration, marketing, project management, resource management, light ERP, etc. “

On COVID and the opportunity

The announcement comes as the situation with COVID is evolving. Organisations across the globe are switching to Cloud solutions in droves. EY asked Heikkinen how COVID has changes attitudes in Finnish manufacturers?

“COVID-19 has dramatically increased use of digital tooling in all kind businesses in Finland. This trend is also visible in the positive attitudes manufacturers now have toward cloud-based solutions. They’re beginning to understand the benefits of cloud software, and this is becoming increasingly evident in the market. This is a positive development for us as a company and has provided a good foundation to increase our services to Finnish companies.”

This is good news for both Rootstock and DigiPartnerIT. However, while DigiPartnerIT has tens of customers across the Nordics and the UK, there are no case studies available yet, That will need to change for it to gain further traction in the market. While it can point to Mobidiag, it will be better to have its own stories.

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

Rootstock is aggressively expanding its channel partner network. Importantly the partner teams are rapidly trained to sell and implement Rootstock solutions. The is just the first step though, as it will need now help deliver the opportunities and convert these into active customers. Since COVID, the sales cycle for cloud procurements appears to have reduced. Rootstock will hope to increase the win rate of two in two years since signing up Fluido.

Norling commented: “Since we signed our first Finnish customer in 2018, a growing number of companies have realized the benefit of having an ERP on the Salesforce Platform, such as having data and enhanced capabilities all in one place. Demand for Cloud ERP exists in Finland, and DigiPartnerIT is the right partner to help us grow in this market. Their extensive experience with ERP from both an IT and business perspective will help drive customer-driven projects focused on successful implementation and improved business processes.”

The signing of DigiPartnerIT is a good first step, but there needs to be many more afterwards.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here