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CASE STUDY
SAP S/4HANA

A well of opportunity

Water treatment company gets new digital foundation for growth with SAP S/4HANA system.

5-MINUTE READ

Call for change

A water treatment products and services company in Italy was growing very quickly and needed to standardize its financial systems and business processes. The company provides home and business water treatment products and services and needed to move with greater agility and speed to expand its business. It still used manual processes to collect and validate financial and operational data. Automated data reporting and robust digital enterprise performance capabilities would help reduce costs and improve service and efficiency throughout the company. Standardized, automated processes would also help improve financial procedures and provide a comprehensive view of financial data.

But its legacy systems weren’t up to the job, and the company found it difficult to connect new software that would help it better serve customers. Because it serves both consumers and business-to-business customers, it had a complex IT landscape and set of needs. It also lacked a scalable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for acquisitions. Its supporting IT systems needed to be updated with a new solution. The company required a new ERP platform integrated with other manufacturing and client-facing software—like customer relationship management applications—to increase sales and revenue. How could it quickly implement new technology to create a more dynamic, agile business and hit the ground running?

When tech meets human ingenuity

The company teamed with Accenture to implement a new digital core based on SAP S/4HANA that connects seamlessly with its existing manufacturing systems and front-office solutions.

The SAP S/4HANA cloud and central finance solutions are helping to transform the enterprise. The solutions lay a robust foundation for innovative technologies like the Internet of Things and analytics that will help usher in the next phase of growth. Our approach—starting with a standardized public cloud multi-tenant implementation and no customization—helped the company accelerate delivery to generate value quickly.

The solution is being implemented with a modified hybrid agile approach in Italy and is being rolled out worldwide. In only eight weeks, the Italian team mapped all business-to-business and business-to-consumer processes involved and simplified them according to industry best practices. Ten months later, the team completed the solution template and blueprint for Italy and went live. The scalable solution receives regular updates for new functionalities, helping the company adapt to new market models and trends.

We also implemented an additional solution layer so that other European countries not yet on the new platform can have an overview of financials and connect to the front-office for seamless customer service. This will help prepare the company for the broader rollout.

A valuable difference

With the new standardized solution, the water treatment company is ready for innovative new technologies. It now has an accurate and consistent view of financial data at its fingertips to inform decision making and increase competitiveness. Dynamic, advanced analytics crunch broad and varied datasets to yield continuous market, customer, operational and financial insights. It rapidly collects, structures, shares, analyzes and visualizes data to inform strategies, plans and budgets. The simplicity of the new system also lowers costs and makes it easier to maintain.

As a result of these efficiencies, financial and month-end processing is faster. Streamlined, automated processes have improved global operations, helping to enhance product visibility, supply chain efficiency and customer service. Reduced manual interventions free up employees’ time for more strategic activities.

The highly adaptable solution makes it easier to add and integrate cutting-edge customer, manufacturing and even Internet of Things solutions. The future-ready solution is helping the company scale its business, innovate and be more responsive to the market. It can add even more sophisticated capabilities, such as advanced analytics, and even richer visualization. As the company grows, it can also easily integrate new businesses. Thanks to the new solution, the water treatment company is transforming its core business with integrated processes and systems to create a well of opportunity.

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