EPI-USE Acquires a Majority Equity Interest in Afonza, an AWS Advanced Partner

EPI-USE, a leading independent SAP specialist, today announced that it acquired a majority equity interest in Afonza, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in tailor-made cloud solutions for their clients, based on Amazon Web Services (‘AWS’).  

The combined services of EPI-USE and Afonza will provide clients with a broadened range of technology deployment options to support their cloud and digital transformation strategies. These services include migrations of on-premise systems to the Cloud, re-architecting solutions for the Cloud, organizational assessments, virtual desktops and transformations to support cloud services, including the establishment of ‘DevOps’ capability. These auxiliary services enable hybrid strategies that leverage entrenched, business-critical systems, whilst allowing for agility through lightweight application deployments.   

Afonza allows EPI-USE to better position itself to take advantage of a substantial cloud migration opportunity inherent in its client base. According to a recent PBS documentary in which Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS was interviewed, only 3% of current spend in the IT market is in cloud computing.  In addition to AWS Cloud migrations, Afonza allows EPI-USE to offer a range of new services including AWS ‘Desktop as a Service’, AWS ‘Well-Architected Reviews,’ and AWS ‘Managed Support.’  Given AWS has infrastructure around the world, EPI-USE’s multinational clients can rapidly deploy IT systems globally.

“The AWS Cloud is a seismic shift in how organizations consume and operate IT infrastructure. Gone are the days of organizations needing to live with slow, capital-intensive IT deployments.  EPI-USE’s clients can now easily procure AWS-related services through Afonza, benefiting security, operational efficiency, global expansion and rearrangement, and flexible utility pricing,” said Carel Bekker, President and Co-founder of Afonza.

“We are delighted that Afonza is now part of our Group, and look forward to leveraging the myriad AWS-related services on offer, for the benefit of our clients. Carel Bekker started his career with EPI-USE, so it’s particularly pleasing to be part of his return to our Group, after a 12-year absence during which he established Afonza,” said Walter van den Heever, a partner in EPI-USE and parent firm groupelephant.com.   

About EPI-USE

EPI-USE is part of groupelephant.com, which employs close to 3,000 people across 32 countries. It is best known as the world’s largest and most experienced independent SAP HR/Payroll specialist, designing, building and implementing Cloud-based, hybrid and on-premises HR/Payroll systems for large, complex multinational corporations. Through organic growth and the acquisition of leading SAP specialist G3G, the Group has emerged as a leader in managing SAP S/4HANA migrations and implementations, with specialized proprietary accelerators for several industries.

groupelephant.com has an unconventional approach to philanthropic activity. Rather than deploying a traditional corporate social responsibility program and simply donating funds to charities, in ‘Beyond Corporate Purpose’ it has a multi-zoned operating model (comprising for-profit, nonprofit and impact investment zones) that provides it with a professional, institutionalized delivery capability in the area of nonprofit activity and impact investment. Primary focus areas are the preservation of at-risk Elephants and Rhinos in the wild, through the economic upliftment of rural People in areas adjacent to the threatened species, or another definition of ‘ERP,’ if you will.

Please visit epiuse.com, groupelephant.com, and erp.ngo for more information.

About Afonza

Founded in 2017 by Carel and Stefan Bekker, Afonza is a born-in-the-cloud company with a focus on enabling and assisting organizations to migrate to AWS or to manage AWS infrastructure already in use.  As an Advanced AWS Partner, Afonza has a close relationship with AWS, allowing for tailor-made solutions for businesses that need reliable, managed cloud infrastructure. Afonza offers highly-redundant and scalable AWS-based solutions to effectively manage the use of cloud infrastructure, for almost any technology application. Afonza also offers pure advisory services for migration to AWS, optimization, and delivery of secure, robust, reliable, and scalable support for an organization’s AWS-related needs.

Press Contacts
EPI-USE:
Wendy Emery
Director, Client Engagement
Wendy.emery@us.epiuse.com
+1-877-403-6326

Afonza:
Carel Bekker
President/Co-Founder
carel@afonza.com
+1.404.216.5201