John Keells IT earns highly acclaimed SAP on Azure Advanced Certification

Microsoft Solutions and Services COO Nishan Thevathason (left) and John Keells Holdings Executive Vice President and John Keells IT CEO Dr. Ramesh Shanmuganathan

John Keells IT, a leading boutique consulting and professional services company and one of the pioneers in driving cloud adoption in the region, has achieved the rare feat of ‘SAP on Azure Advanced Certification’ demonstrating its long-term commitment to the leading technology partners, SAP and Microsoft. 

“We are very pleased to attain the SAP on Azure Advanced Specialisation Partner status as it proves that John Keells IT met the high standards it sets and attests to the company’s capabilities of supporting customers in their digital disruption journey.

“We have the knowledge and experience necessary to understand a client’s individual needs, no matter the size or complexity. Ultimately, it proves our commitment to our customers to provide them with leading technologies in a highly compliant environment. The recognition as a key partner is a major step towards fueling innovation at scale and lead customers and their industries into the future,” stated John Keells IT Microsoft Solutions and Services COO Nishan Thevathason.

John Keells IT today enables organisations to adopt technologies which drive the digital transformation. In the proven blueprint, John Keells IT has established for digital transformation, the first 2 phases out of a four-phased approach (i.e., John Keells IT – Transact, Transform, Engage and Innovate) realise the establishment of strong core systems leveraging strong ERP practice. In the second phase, John Keells IT  – Transform establishes the agility and scalability of the cloud. 

The aim of the four-phased approach is to ensure modernisation of the businesses from a legacy approach. SAP is a market-dominant ERP solutions organisation and before the cloud technologies became a mainstream adoption, they tend to be mostly deployed as on-premise solutions. Over the years, SAP, too, began to move the ERP solutions to the cloud, and one of the key drivers had been the S/4HANA introduction by SAP. 

However, over the last few years, there had been a focused approach with the introduction of the ‘Embrace’ initiative with Microsoft. Today, SAP on Azure is established as the industry standard for the SAP ERP solutions moving to the cloud.

“The SAP on Azure Advanced Certification sets us apart from a capability and engagement standpoint with SAP and Microsoft compared to other partners. We are committed to driving the conversation, which is a major global focus and with this certification; we are now among an exclusive list of top 25 partners globally to be endorsed by Microsoft offering value to customers,” Nishan further added. 

Commenting on the new recognition, John Keells IT CEO Dr. Ramesh Shanmuganathan stated: “We are extremely excited to receive the highly acclaimed SAP on Azure Advanced Certification, which is a validation of a services partner’s deep knowledge, extensive experience and proven success at implementing SAP solutions on Azure. 

“We are one of the few partners that met stringent criteria around customer success and staff skilling globally on both SAP and Azure technologies today. We are working towards providing our services offerings and increasing trust with a robust security architecture tied to it. It is indeed a proud moment for us, and this specialisation will further strengthen our partnership with SAP and Microsoft.”

Moving your ERP solution to Azure or to any cloud provider is no easy task. The Embrace initiative was to establish the best partners globally to drive this transition with customers. SAP and Microsoft established and recognised these partners who have been through the rigorous and exclusive certification program under ‘SAP on Azure Advanced Specialisation’. Under this certification program, Microsoft and SAP will prioritise and exclusively prefer transitions of SAP workloads to Azure by only utilising partners with the above certification.

John Keells IT has a deep-rooted relationship with Microsoft, establishing the Gold Development relationship back in 2010. Over the years, the partnership was reinforced with John Keells IT further investing in building capabilities in key technology areas. Today, John Keells IT has achieved new capabilities with several Microsoft certifications under its name, such as Microsoft Gold Partner for Cloud Platform, Microsoft Gold Partner for Application Development, Microsoft Gold Partner for Data Analytics, Microsoft Gold Partner for Data Platform, Microsoft Silver Partner for Datacenter, and Microsoft Silver Partner for Security, with a clear roadmap on more certifications planned.