Two global consulting and services firms, EDS and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, announced an alliance Tuesday that should be good news for SAP AG customers.
With SAP growing its customer base, EDS, of Plano, Texas, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, of New York, penned a global alliance to provide companies with installation, delivery and maintenance of SAP software.
The pair expects to generate substantial future sales from the partnership by offering a single source for best-of-breed SAP ERM (Enterprise Resource Management) services.
EDS and PricewaterhouseCoopers are also taking the hint from analysts. International Data Corp. estimates the worldwide market for ERM services, including consulting, integration, operations management, support and training, to be $40 billion in 2001–and to reach $62 billion by 2005.
According to Scott Hartz, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, EDS core services of strategy, implementation and hosting are a natural extension of PricewaterhouseCoopers core services offering.
Combined, EDS and PricewaterhouseCoopers offer more than 10,000 SAP-trained consultants to IT and business communities.
As part of the alliance, each organization will define the other as a “premier provider of services.” The initial market focus is in the United States, with plans for global expansion in 2002.