INK IT Solutions Stays True to Culture and Sees Growth in SAP SI Business

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is a widely used quote attributed to management consultant and writer Peter Drucker, emphasising the criticality of a company’s heart, not just its mind. One of the SAP partners at the recent Mastering SAP Connect event in Gold Coast, Australia, INK IT Solutions, has embodied this sentiment since its founding in 2014. A boutique, right-sized SAP consultancy, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with operations in India, UAE, Singapore, and Malaysia, INK IT SOLUTIONS emphasises design-thinking and innovation. With expertise in the SAP solution stack, back-office and front-office space, across all lines of business, INK IT Solutions has emerged as a rapidly growing SAP solutions company focusing on trust and transparency, with customer success and people first at the core of their culture.

At INK IT Solutions, fostering team spirit and a sense of purpose is paramount. The company celebrates its culture and success through annual international off-sites, bringing employees from various geographies, ethnicities and cultures together. These events serve as a platform to appreciate commitment, inspire collaboration, and celebrate diversity, while the company stays focused on growth milestones as a team. Beyond team-building activities, the company integrates CSR initiatives into these events, supporting local communities and charity. These efforts further reinforce INK IT’s commitment to making a positive impact on its employees and society as whole.

When the company launched 10 years ago, its founders declared that they weren’t about fancy suits; they aimed to create a fun place to work with a flat structure and an open-door policy.

“We are committed to maintaining a small, boutique feel despite our rapid growth, prioritising a hands-on, personal approach with customers,” said Kabir Bawa, Co-founder and Director at INK IT solutions. “Our unique approach is appreciated by our customers who value relationships. We make our customers feel valued, including inviting them to company events and celebrations. Our culture is top-down, with leaders ensuring that the right culture is infused across the organisation.”

INK IT solutions now has 300 employees globally and has expanded to India, UAE, Singapore, and Malaysia, while exploring opportunities in Europe and the U.S. Kabir attributes the company’s success to its unique culture, top-tier talent, cost-competitive model, and strong customer relationships, leading to a 100% sales conversion rate in the last six months.

“Our cost competitiveness is a result of having small, efficient teams of highly skilled, well-paid consultants,” said Pranay Mishra, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Customer Success Head at INK IT Solutions. “And we focus on the cost of the outcome rather than the cost of resources, ensuring value for money. As a result, we’ve seen organic expansion with the addition of net new logos in North America and Canada.”

With the rapidly advancing capabilities and increasing ubiquity of AI across the SAP solution portfolio, INK IT Solutions has created three products aligned with AI and Blockchain, and is currently exploring how SAP’s co-pilot Joule fits into these solutions. That said, Kabir and Pranay emphasised the importance of setting customer expectations realistically with emerging technologies like AI.

The company’s honest and candid approach with customers typically earns it the right to expand from an initial engagement to new projects and enterprise transformation programs over time. This approach mirrors the company’s philosophy regarding geographic expansion. Its leaders are cautious about expanding too quickly, focusing on building a solid leadership team in Australia first. Their goal is to start with smaller projects locally and expand gradually, ensuring a strong foundation before expanding to new geographies.

What this means for Mastering SAP insiders

Know when and why to engage a boutique SI like INK IT Solutions. Customers across the mid-market space have experienced challenges engaging with Tier 1 SIs, due to stringent processes, delayed decision making, delayed ROI due to high upfront cost and lack of personalisation. Boutique firms excel at resolving these challenges as these organisations are agile, can quickly respond to a change, and have a more focused core team ensuring customer success. Boutique SIs with strong local knowledge are often better suited for regional projects, particularly where regulatory or cultural understanding is critical. And boutique firms often specialise in cutting-edge SAP tools and integrations, such as SAP BTP, SAP Analytics Cloud, AI, or IoT-enabled asset management. And as is the case with INK IT Solutions, boutique SIs often aim to build long-term relationships, offering post-implementation support and continuous improvements.

Calibrate your investment in SI partners based on expected outcomes. Companies should look at average SI costs for similar SAP projects in their industry. But a decent rule of thumb is typical costs for SAP SI agreements range from 15-25% of total project costs, depending on complexity. SAP customers should quantify the expected benefits of the SAP implementation, such as cost savings, revenue growth, or operational efficiency, and then compare these benefits against the SI investment to determine ROI. A good practice generally is to allocate 10-20% of the total SI budget as contingency for unexpected changes in project scope or timelines.

SMB SAP customers should start small with boutique SIs and build on small successes. It often makes budgetary sense for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to engage boutique SIs rather than the larger global SIs. In doing so, these companies would be well-served to begin with a defined tight scope, timeline and target outcomes to measure the success and see how the SI performs. If it meets the success criteria related to budget, quality, stability, and outcomes, then the SAP customer should slowly expand to more complex, transformational projects with the SI partner.