Amongst many others, one of the key differentiators, which is believed to be becoming more and more important, is customer service. Not in the traditional sense though, but rather as the client base becomes more aware of the financial issues affecting them, and so have become more aware of the choices they have.

In many instances, this is an issue which is only being recognised now. However, many micro-lending organisations are clinging to their legacy IT systems that generally do not provide the functionality required to effectively manage their customer relationships and to help them to adapt to a changing marketplace.

Says Paul Wilde, marketing and business development manager at Izazi Solutions - a business and IT solutions provider for the financial sector: With the myriad of older systems, a micro-lenders ability to create a variety of products which begin to distinguish him from his competitors is severely limited. Typically, micro-lenders are from very small to medium-sized enterprises, which do not have a specialised IT department, have limited IT budgets, and very often, do not see the value that technology can add as a business enabler.

As an SAP channel partner with a key focus on the Tier-2 and Tier-3 banking industry, including micro-lenders, Izazi partners proactively with SAP to deliver the SME-tailored mySAP All-in-One Solution. The Izazi-tailored mySAP All-in-One Banking Solution allows financial services companies, irrespective of their size, to successfully and cost-effectively implement and run SAP software.

By partnering with Izazi, SAP is able to offer the SME financial services industry integrated solutions which encapsulate a high degree of industry-specific functionality delivered as a templatised, pre-configured solution, explains Wilde.

Izazi is the only SAP channel partner in Africa handpicked for its expertise in servicing this micro-vertical, and, together with SAP, has developed and implemented best practice banking templates on the tailored mySAP All-in-One Platform. The time is right now for the smaller financial institutions to take advantage of the cost-effective technology that is commonly available today, and realise tangible return on investment, concludes Wilde.