Chris Carter, Founder and CEO of Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider, defines success as the nexus between customer satisfaction, staff fulfillment and company growth. A strong advocate of employee success, Chris believes in empowering his team, and believes that if they have skin in the game, they are more vested in success.
Over more than two decades in the industry, Chris has observed how other executive teams failed repeatedly, while he and other like him succeeded. It made him realize, “My first years were up and down, some great days some not so great but hey, I can do this! I can create a company and succeed!”
Helping Companies Prosper and Flourish
Chris saw the need for a company that could provide cost effective, strategic solutions using the best of SAP, cloud and big data analytics. He started Approyo in 2011 with the aim of helping other companies to prosper and flourish.
Today, his company supports firms that are looking for the knowledge that will help them to grow through current business process, where even a 1% increase can lead to millions of dollars in business flow.
Approyo follows a strategy based on the platform eco-system trend that is becoming prevalent in the tech world. “We have seen the success of this model with Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Salesforce’s Force.com. Using this strategy based on a platform and its eco-system, a large number of developers are able to build their businesses cost-effectively without time-to-market disadvantages,” Chris explains.
Approyo helps companies make their shift to the SAP HANA platform by developing secure, ready-to-deploy predictive analytics solutions. The distinct benefit of the HANA platform over other big data technologies is its ability to fit structured and unstructured data into an existing system without the hassle of massive hardware deployment and huge costs. Approyo also allows its customers to choose a pay-as-you-go model or a monthly subscription.
Revolutionizing Data and Igniting the Future
Chris is proud of the team which has created “IGNITE”, where the team takes SAP solutions and puts them into its cloud to support clients’ missions. Recently, they launched SAP S/4HANA Ignite that creates a true SAP S/4HANA sandbox ready for use in minutes. This revolutionizes the SAP world with a production-grade sandbox at a cost lower that any similar product on the market—only $3,000 per month with a 100% secured network. Chris believes that this is a game changer for SAP customers who want to try S/4 1610 and who need to test how they will migrate to S/4.
Key Traits that Distinguish Approyo
Approyo’s success lies in how it has made itself unique in the industry. Here are some of the key traits that have led to their growth:
Network: Chris and his team bring a wealth of relationships into the SAP ecosystem, which they have used to build business partnerships through the years.
Expertise: Chris has over 25 years of Big Data and technology expertise. He was the creator of the very first customer SAP HANA Cloud Environment. His team has worked with over 100 SAP HANA customer cloud environments.
Global: Approyo is everywhere that its clients are, and has the resources and team members throughout the world that can help them.
Team: The Approyo team of experts is committed to helping customers realize the business benefits of big data, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing. They drive the success of their customers by providing expertise to help facilitate business growth, improve efficiency and increase profitability.
Technology: Approyo helps customers achieve their dreams through solutions tailored to their business needs. Its cloud environments are built from the ground up for SAP HANA, S/4HANA, Hadoop and other technology solutions.
Making the Right Decisions
Chris emphasizes that communication and listening skills have always helped him make the right decisions. He also believes that the buck stops with you, and that it is very important to be a leader who takes responsibility.
Chris gave some insights on his time management strategies. He said, “I am on 24×7, just like my team. I manage staff, technology, customers and sales from a high level. My staff then handles the items down in the dirt. I firmly believe we need to play in the dirt to succeed for them and us.”
Some Advice and the Road Ahead
Chris had a piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs: JUST KEEP GOING FORWARD!
“Do not stop, do not let others tell you to stop, if you believe you can do it! Trust your technology, but pivot if you need to and do it fast.”
Looking back on his journey, Chris said, “Creating the first SAP cloud was pretty cool. Working with an incredible team every day is awesome, and finding customers who want to be helped by us is fulfilling in itself.”
Talking of his vision for the company’s future, he added, “I would love to see our team size double in the next year, setting the stage to acquire other companies and grow with our clients.”
