Avantra’s Next Chapter: Rebuilding for the Long Run with Purpose, Precision, and People

For most companies, the close of a private equity deal marks the end of a journey. For John Appleby, CEO of Avantra, it signaled the start of a new one.

After Avantra’s September 2024 acquisition by Resurgence Technology Partners, Appleby declared 2025 a year of “remodeling.” And not just metaphorically. “When you sell the house and then you remodel it,” he says, “that’s where we are.” But for Appleby, remodeling isn’t cosmetic—it’s foundational, deliberate, and future-looking.

At the heart of this transformation is a three-part strategy to renovate product, reinvigorate go-to-market execution, and rewire the back office. Together, these pillars support a bold ambition: to position Avantra as the platform of choice for long-term SAP operations automation in a market that is anything but fast-moving.

Explore related questions

Ask SAPi

what is this?

“SAP’s S/4HANA adoption is increasing at 1% a quarter,” Appleby explains. “It’s going to take another decade, maybe more. We’re designing Avantra to be relevant not just now, but all the way to that end state—and every step in between.”

Appleby doesn’t buy into every hype cycle. He’s seen technologies rise and fall—SAP Vora, for example, “never got off the ground.” So when SAP’s DataSphere emerged as a potential game-changer, Avantra watched carefully before committing.

“We’re extremely intentional and careful about what we build,” says Appleby, who recently promoted Brenton O’Callaghan to Chief Product Officer and is hiring a new CTO to help architect this future. “We need to support customers along the entire journey—not just when they switch to S/4, but in operating it with excellence over time.”

This measured approach stems from a core belief: automation for SAP environments is not a one-and-done migration task—it’s an ongoing challenge. And Avantra is doubling down on operational automation, where customers will need continuous support, not fleeting tooling.

“We deliberately chose to focus on the long tail of operations, not just migration. That’s where the recurring value is. That’s where we can be indispensable.”

Appleby is candid about where Avantra has room to grow. “If there’s one thing I wish I’d nailed in the last cycle, it was sales and go-to-market,” he admits. “We did well despite it.”

Now, with seasoned leaders like CSO Steve Randall and new CMO Liz Blackman in place, Appleby is making up for lost time. “We’re already closer to getting it right than we’ve ever been,” he says.

Crucially, that includes a more nuanced strategy to balance Avantra’s enterprise and service provider customer bases, and a sharper focus on the U.S.—which already represents 28% of revenue but should be closer to 50%, by Appleby’s math.

Avantra is also transforming internally, shifting to NetSuite and Salesforce as part of its biggest back-office revamp to date. “This is about preparing for $60 million in revenue,” Appleby explains. “You want to get all of this done early in the investment cycle—so you’re driving value later, not bogged down by growing pains.”

It’s a rare moment when infrastructure, product vision, and go-to-market muscle align—and Appleby knows it. “It’s not glamorous, but it’s the work that matters.”

As Avantra scales, culture isn’t an afterthought—it’s a compass. Appleby rejects the myth of the CEO as culture-creator.

“Even as CEO, I didn’t create our culture. I’m just its custodian,” he says. “My job is to help the organization discover it, and then protect it.”

Avantra’s values—Challenge, Curious, Caring—aren’t HR wallpaper. They shape hiring decisions, performance conversations, even exits. “My last call before this one was an interview,” Appleby shares. “And we talked about all three values.”

The “Challenge” value isn’t about being difficult—it’s about challenging yourself. “Curious” means being information-hungry, always seeking new ideas. And “Caring”? That’s the glue. “It’s unusual how much people here genuinely care about one another,” he says.

Avantra won’t be rushed. While flashy startups claim to revolutionize SAP migrations with AI, Appleby remains skeptical. “Some of these tools sound promising, but they solve a one-time problem,” he says. “We’re focused on problems that never go away.”

And that’s what may make Avantra uniquely resilient in a tech world obsessed with short-term wins. The company’s measured strategy, deeply rooted values, and long-term focus reflect Appleby’s leadership philosophy: don’t chase every trend. Build with purpose. Serve with persistence. And let the results speak for themselves.

What this means for SAPinsiders

Put a face on this with tangible customer stories. Gordon Food Service (GFS) faced issues with invoices getting stuck between SAP Ariba and S/4 systems, leading to payment delays and manual interventions. Avantra implemented custom checks to monitor financial statuses within SAP Ariba, including alerts for negative amounts and payment failures. Results included saved approximately 330 hours per month, achieved nearly $200,000 in annual savings, reduced operational costs by 25% monthly. Migros, Switzerland’s largest retailer needed to manage complex SAP infrastructures across various stores and countries. Avantra provided a unified platform to monitor and manage SAP systems, enabling efficient operations. Results included, server updates reduced to under two hours, system copies completed in just three minutes, and new system monitoring set up in 30 minutes.

In SAP systems monitoring space, Avantra is armed for bear. Avantra is built specifically for SAP landscapes, supporting ECC, S/4HANA, SAP Business Suite, and hybrid/cloud models. It uses either agent-based or agentless monitoring that provides real-time insights into system health, performance, and automation opportunities with minimal configuration. Its automation engine automates daily checks, patching, system refreshes, and start/stop sequences, reducing reliance on manual, repetitive admin tasks and enables self-healing workflows that trigger actions automatically when predefined thresholds or conditions are met. Avantra’s platform enables real-time monitoring across infrastructure, application, and business process layers and uses predictive analytics to forecast capacity issues and performance degradation before they impact operations. There is also a flexible custom check framework that allows IT teams to build domain-specific logic into their monitoring processes, enabling automated responses to niche issues (e.g., custom code errors, invoice queue blockages, integration failures). And Avantra boasts an open and extensible architecture, with REST APIs, webhooks, and integrations with platforms like ServiceNow, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc., provide extensibility, along with compatibility with NetWeaver, SAP Basis, and non-SAP tools to centralize IT ops.

Get ready for IT-wide AIOps. The integration of Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) into SAP environments is accelerating, driven by the need for enhanced automation, proactive monitoring, and efficient incident management. In this context, companies should be mindful of few key considerations when investigating these platforms: First, look at integration complexity. Ensure seamless integration with existing SAP and non-SAP systems to maximize benefits from AIOps. Second, don’t overlook data quality. High-quality data is essential for effective AI-driven insights, and organizations must prioritize data governance. And third, remember skill requirements. Implementing AIOps solutions may require upskilling IT teams to manage and interpret AI-generated insights effectively.