Celebrating 10 years of Embridge Managed Services: 10 stories of support, innovation, and impact

Embridge Managed Services (EMS) is proudly celebrating its 10-year anniversary, marking a decade of empowering organisations through expert managed services and tailored ERP support services. What began in 2015 as a response to a clear gap in the market has since evolved into one of Embridge Consulting’s most valued offerings in the ERP managed services space, transforming how customers experience ongoing ERP support and optimisation.

The idea for Embridge Managed Services was first sparked back in 2009, when it became clear that customers were struggling to recruit and maintain the specialist skills needed to support their ERP systems after go-live. The concept took shape over the following years, and in 2015 it became a reality when the first customer put their trust in Embridge to deliver a new kind of ongoing support. EMS was created to bridge the gap between traditional vendor support and the practical, day-to-day expertise organisations needed – a complementary, value-add service designed around real customer challenges.

As we celebrate this important milestone, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the impact of our managed services team across Embridge Consulting and within our customers’ organisations. In this special anniversary feature, we hear directly from the people who make Embridge Managed Services what it is today – from the EMS experts delivering hands-on support every day, to colleagues across Embridge whose teams collaborate closely with them. Together, they share their experiences, insights, and stories that show how EMS has evolved over the past decade, the difference it continues to make, and why it remains such an integral part of the Embridge customer experience.

How Embridge Consulting’s Managed Services began

To truly understand the success of Embridge Managed Services, we went back to where it all started, with our Founder and CEO, Emma O’Brien, and Chief Financial Officer, Jane Dobson. The concept for Managed Services began with Emma in 2009, when her first customer exposed a clear need for a new kind of support model long before it became common practice in the ERP industry. Having seen first-hand how difficult it was for customers to recruit and retain the right skills after system go-live, she set out to create a solution that would bridge the gap between traditional vendor support and the hands-on expertise organisations really needed. Although it would be several years before a customer was ready to take the leap, that early insight laid the foundations for what eventually became Embridge Managed Services in 2015.

Turning an idea into a trusted solution

Jane Dobson has been part of the EMS story since the very beginning. Before joining Embridge, she worked at the organisation whose challenges first sparked the idea for Managed Services. During that global ERP rollout, she saw first-hand the issues Emma had identified: the difficulty of recruiting the right skills, the risks of single points of failure, and the pressure on internal teams to support a complex system without the necessary expertise. When Jane later joined Embridge, she brought that experience with her. Her understanding of customer-side challenges, combined with Emma’s vision for a new kind of support model, helped shape EMS into the service it would eventually become. Together, they turned a shared problem into a pioneering approach to ongoing ERP support.

As the concept took shape, it became clear that it needed the right moment and the right customer to put it into practice, which finally came in 2015 when a long-standing Embridge customer, already confident in the team’s work from a successful implementation project, became the first to adopt the new service. Once they saw the benefits of having expert support available to guide, advise and continually optimise their system, the value of the model was proven in real terms. From there, EMS grew steadily through trust, recommendation and genuine customer need, with more organisations turning to Embridge for a sustainable way to support their ERP. This focus on close partnership has remained central to EMS ever since.

As Valter Vieira, Support Team Lead, explains, “We don’t see ourselves as just a pure support team, we like to give more value to our customers. I think that’s what differentiates us from the rest of the market, being close to the customer.”

The evolution of ERP Managed Services

Becky Quinn, Head of Customer Success, has been with Embridge for eight years and has seen Embridge Managed Services evolve significantly in that time.

“When I started at Embridge, Managed Services was a relatively new team. I think it had been in place for about two years, and it was very small. Since then, we’ve grown the number of customers that we’ve got, and we’ve grown the team quite considerably. We’ve just expanded our customer base and the knowledge that we bring to the team.”

For Becky, what makes Managed Services special is the difference it makes to customers every day.

“I think one of the biggest differences Embridge makes is through the impact we can have by getting to know our customers. We’ve got a team of really great support consultants who have all been on the other side – they’ve worked as customers, they understand the challenges people face, and they really just care. They want to help our customers get the best out of their system. It’s all about making a difference and building those relationships.”

Jon Simmonds, Managed Services Team Leader, has worked at Embridge for almost ten years and has seen EMS evolve into a service built on strong, long-term partnerships.

“Customers say we feel like an extension of their internal team rather than an external supplier, and I think that level and that relationship at a people level is really important.”

Collaboration that powers customer success

As Embridge Managed Services has grown, so too has its collaboration across the wider team. The EMS team doesn’t work in isolation, they connect closely with consultants, technical specialists and integration experts to deliver seamless support that spans both functional and technical expertise.

Technical Solutions Consultant Dave Whybrow, who has been with Embridge for over eight years, is one of those experts. Working closely with EMS, he supports the team with more complex technical requests and LEO platform integrations, ensuring customers receive well-rounded, end-to-end support.

“It’s that personal touch. The team are not just professional, they’re friendly, trusted advisors. It’s not just break-fix support; it’s advice and guidance rolled into one really amazing package.”

This joined-up way of working means EMS customers benefit not only from the team’s specialist ERP knowledge, but also from the collective strength and shared values of the wider Embridge Consulting community. That spirit of collaboration and care is what truly defines Embridge: a culture built on teamwork, trust, and doing the right thing for every customer.

Culture at the heart of Embridge Managed Services

Principal Finance Consultant Vasi Vasikaran joined Embridge relatively recently, but his connection with the organisation goes back years. Having first worked with the EMS team as a customer, he saw first-hand their professionalism, collaboration and commitment to customers. The way the team operated perfectly reflected the wider Embridge culture: supportive, people-focused and always striving to do the right thing.

Vasi said, “I’m so proud of the EMS team because I used to be a client of that team, so I know how hard they work and how well they do it. One of the reasons for me joining Embridge was because of how well that team operated, it kind of speaks to Embridge as an organisation as well. Because of the great job they’ve done with their clients, it’s encouraged people like me to think, actually, Embridge might be a great place to work, and then you join and realise it is… it really is a great place to work.”

The next chapter for Embridge Managed Services

Over the past decade, our EMS team has become a trusted extension of our customers’ internal operations. They don’t just resolve issues raised through the helpdesk system; they help customers understand and unlock the full potential of their software. By offering remote consultancy, ongoing knowledge sharing and ERP optimisation advice, EMS ensures that the support delivered drives meaningful outcomes rather than simply fixing symptoms.

Our commitment to knowledge sharing and continuous improvement has become the hallmark of Embridge Managed Services. Through tailored workshops, small-scale consultancy engagements, and proactive product insights, the EMS team helps organisations evolve and adapt without the need for large-scale projects. Their dedication to challenging assumptions, sharing best practice, and identifying opportunities for improvement continues to set the standard for managed services excellence, and with 99% positive customer feedback over the past 12 months, it’s clear that this approach truly makes a difference.

Alongside the people, what has really shaped EMS over the years is the way the service itself has matured. Today, our ITIL-aligned service desk provides the dependable, day-to-day support customers rely on, while our consultants focus on continuous optimisation – reviewing releases, offering practical recommendations and helping teams get more from their ERP investment. EMS has also become increasingly future-focused, giving customers early insight into upcoming vendor changes and helping them explore innovations such as automation, AI-powered tooling and intelligent integrations through LEO and the Unit4 Extension Toolkit. This blend of dependable support and forward-looking guidance is what ensures our customers are not only supported in the moment but also positioned for what comes next.

As we celebrate ten years of Embridge Managed Services, we’re incredibly proud of the team’s achievements, their unwavering commitment to our customers, and the collaborative culture that underpins everything they do. EMS has not only transformed how organisations experience ongoing ERP support, it’s also shaped who we are as a business. Here’s to the next ten years of innovation, partnership, and continued success.

For ten years, Embridge Managed Services has been helping organisations achieve more with their ERP systems. Let’s talk about how we can do the same for you.