Acquisition-Hungry Sapphire Systems Powers Ahead with US Expansion

U.K. systems integrator Sapphire Systems has made inroads into North America with the appointment of a new U.S. general manager.

New GM Vince DeLuca says Sapphire plans to grow both organically and through acquisition.

Sapphire Systems’ Vince DeLuca

“We see the U.S. market as critical to helping us reach our strategic goals. We will be investing and combining the power of scale and deep knowledge to deliver a portfolio of capabilities.”

Earlier this month, Sapphire extended its U.S. footprint through the acquisition of Arizona-headquartered SAP Business One partner, Pioneer B1.

DeLuca says plans include growing Sapphire’s customer base across key hub cities in its East, West and Central regions. It is also investing in its portfolio of solutions and increasing its U.S. employee base.

The former Logicalis US chief said Sapphire will be “positioned to capture growth in a very fast changing marketplace.”

“This company momentum speaks to significant market opportunity and demand for the solutions and services delivered by Sapphire,” he said.

“We see the U.S. market as critical to helping us reach our strategic goals,” said Ian Caswell, CEO of Sapphire Systems. “Vince’s leadership qualities and the wealth of experience he brings will make a significant contribution as we seek to accelerate our growth.”

Extending Into Digital Operating Environments

DeLuca said the firm will “establish and strengthen paths” for customers around its portfolio. This includes enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions and its digital operating platforms (DOP).

“Sapphire’s ambition is to extend its current pure-play enterprise software focus into the digital operating platform space,” said DeLuca. Sapphire will do this “by tying together multiple parts of the enterprise software ecosystem to create more joined-up business and digital operating environments.”

The company wants to develop its services portfolio in areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). It is also looking at expanding organically robotic process automation (RPA).

Separate to the B1 deal, Sapphire this month announced the acquisition of U.K.-based ServiceNow partner, ITOM Solution. The firm’s ‘buy and build’ strategy is backed by Horizon Capital.