SunGard Public Sector

• Home
• About Giant Step
  • Giant Step Team
  • The Momentum Alliance
• Services
  • Opportunity Assessment
  • Route to Market
  • Partner Strategy
  • Partner Skills Development
  • Partner Activation
  • Channel Optimisation
• Clients
• Partners
• Contact Us

Giant Step helps SunGard Public Sector rapidly achieve new business objectives through strategic engagement with Microsoft

"Our profile and reputation within Microsoft has really grown.  We have a strong proposition, support from Microsoft and a real opportunity to develop this strategic area of our business." Jonathan Woodward, CTO, SunGard Public Sector

Driving incremental revenue

SunGard Public Sector provides software and consulting solutions to meet the specialised needs of Central Government, Local Government and other Public Sector agencies and organisations. More than  100 million citizens in North America and 50 million citizens in the UK benefit from its products and services. SunGard Public Sector is a business unit of SunGard, one of the world's leading Software and IT Services companies.

SunGard Public Sector had identified an opportunity to take leading technical skills to market and develop a new area of business.  For this to be successful it had to happen quickly. CTO, Jonathan Woodward, looked to Giant Step to provide the extra impetus they needed to drive the venture forward and reduce the time for revenue lag from a pipeline of qualified prospects. He says: "We had made the strategic decision to complement the ISV side of our business with a Professional Service delivery arm. It was vital for the success of this venture that we secure incremental revenue opportunities in the shortest possible timeframe."

Woodward understood the benefits of working with Microsoft to achieve its objectives: "We knew that, if we got it right, there would be real value for both organisations. The challenge for us was in the complexity of the Microsoft organisation: knowing who to talk to, understanding their priorities and finding a way to successfully position SunGard PS."

He continues: "Giant Step really impressed us with their knowledge of the Microsoft UK. We were very confident that they could help us engage with the right Microsoft contacts and work with them to quickly deliver mutual results. It was clear to us that they were the catalyst that would drive the relationship forward and allow us to achieve our objectives."

Building momentum

Giant Step's strategy for delivering this rapid success centred on helping SunGard to engage with key Microsoft business teams and build its profile as both industry and technology expert.

Giant Step initially created a Microsoft Accelerated Engagement Plan based on a go-to-market and partner strategy for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) propositions into key UK Enterprise markets.  Encouraged by rapid success, this was extended to incorporate Local Government, Central Government and Health markets in the UK.  The result for SunGard PS was a structured partner engagement strategy that focused resources effectively for the highest possible return.

Giant Step undertook detailed analysis, including gathering feedback from key personnel at Microsoft, to establish the value to SunGard PS of engagement with Microsoft.  Market analysis also ensured that SunGard PS understood the competitive landscape, drivers, and influencers within the chosen markets.  Armed with this information and with a map of key Microsoft contacts, SunGard had a clear picture of the integration opportunity and was in a position to communicate a strong, differentiated, value proposition to key Microsoft Stakeholders.

With joint activity underway, the next step was to further extend the Accelerated Engagement plan to the SunGard Infrastructure business for Local and Central Government. "We were seeing impressive results from close engagement with the Microsoft Public Sector teams and felt we could use this momentum to support and accelerate SunGard's infrastructure business" says Caroline Egan, Managing Director, Giant Step.

Egan continues: "We could see the potential benefits for both parties. There was a great opportunity for SunGard to drive new incremental business around managed services and infrastructure consulting. And an opportunity for Microsoft to deliver against core infrastructure and optimisation strategies."

Delivering rapid results

As a result of Giant Step's Accelerated Microsoft Engagement plan, SunGard Public Sector established strong working relationships with the Microsoft Public Sector teams. Woodward says: "Giant Step evangelised SunGard's services and put us in contact with the people who drive strategy. As a result, the Public Sector teams see the value of our Integration and Infrastructure services and are working with us to generate new business."

Woodward confirms the level of success: "The results speak for themselves. Our pipeline is growing, with the number of category A leads reaching double digits. We are already delivering a number of live projects, with more in the pipeline."

He is clearly delighted with the results: "For our Professional Services strategy to be successful, we needed to raise our profile within Microsoft and rapidly generate new business. Giant Step has been instrumental in helping us work with Microsoft to drive a £ multi-million pipeline and we are extremely excited about the potential ongoing revenue opportunity. "

Phil King, Industry Business Development Manager for Government, Microsoft UK echoes Woodward's comments: "Giant Step has been pivotal in the engagement between Microsoft and SunGard Public Sector. They accelerated the relationship by bringing clarity to SunGard's propositions and allowing us to understand exactly what SunGard has to offer across different areas of its business.  We have worked with SunGard on a number of joint activities and have seen outstanding results in a very short period of time."