Leading Beverage Firm: Business Process Transformation

Accenture helped this leading beverage firm develop a five-year vision to create a single, global organization across 180 countries. Accenture then helped standardize global processes on SAP, and assumed responsibility for the maintenance and support of the application. This continuing collaboration has reduced costs and has set the client firmly on the road to high performance.

The client and Accenture came up with a five-year vision that would transition the company's business and operating systems from a local orientation to a global focus. The first step was to define a global operating model that would leverage scale in the back office, while retaining the flexibility of the front office. The model was to establish common processes and data on consistent systems using a global SAP architecture.

The next task was to replace legacy systems with SAP in five markets, and migrate core back-office processes to the client’s in-house shared services organization in Budapest, Hungary. Then the team extended the SAP footprint to the client’s supply and logistics operations in Scotland and Amsterdam.

After those successes, the client decided to outsource project delivery and global application maintenance to Accenture. We developed an operational services model for the client that would secure globally consistent support and smooth the company’s passage toward global shared services and high performance.

Having established the core business model across most of its organization, the client then embarked on a series of rapid global capability deployments. The first of these was a global manufacturing footprint, which was rolled out to the client’s three main global supply centers in within six months.

This initiative was swiftly followed by an innovative implementation of an SAP-enabled, front-, middle- and back-office treasury functionality, which was accomplished in conjunction with a transfer of high-value roles to the Budapest shared service center. Finally, the transaction data generated by common standardized systems was rapidly converted into information that could enhance the quality and consistency of management decision making.

Common processes for 80 percent of the business are providing the client with unprecedented access to standardized data. These processes also provided the client with the business platform flexibility it needed to re-configure its business network. Common, integrated back-office processes are also supporting the businesses that comprise more than 80 percent of the client’s turnover. Moreover, shared services handle most finance processes.

Fully aligned and integrated functions and processes also allow the client to leverage scale. Sales of the company’s leading beverage brands already are enjoying double-digit growth in China. The standard business model is steadily rolling out to other emerging markets.

Not least, of course, is the impact of the client’s global operating model on its bottom line. Outsourcing, combined with a common template and standard business system, has reduced both the company’s enterprise solution costs and its development costs by 30 percent. The Budapest shared services center is saving £8 million (US$15.76 million) annually.

As well as designing, building, testing and implementing the client’s global operating model. Accenture also took responsibility for application maintenance and support through the Accenture Global Delivery Network. As a result, the client has realized run-cost savings of 40 percent. Approximately 12,000 employees now use SAP, compared with just 3,000 before.