Across industries, an effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is recognized as an important driver of business success. Without a robust ERP solution, large organizations cannot fully align strategy with execution, optimize productivity or maximize their ability to serve customers.
Here is how Mindtree implemented an SAP ERP solution for the engineering division of a leading conglomerate headquartered in the Middle East. By doing so, we improved market reach and effectiveness while reducing costs.
The challenge
The customer had progressively lost market share to its competitors in recent years; and was unable to recover lost ground due to legacy IT systems. A range of disjointed applications did not offer the necessary functionality, flexibility or scalability required by the enterprise to win in the market. Specific challenges included:
- Poor market reach due to ineffective prospect and lead management
- High turnaround time for service call closure due to lack of a 360-degree view
- Inability to handle large call volumes (over 3,000 in peak season)
- Lack of monitoring and control resulting in schedule and cost over runs
- Time consuming reconciliation process owing to a plethora of standalone systems
- High inventory costs due to lack of visibility of stock and requirements
- High replacement costs due to improper recording of warranty information
- Inefficient tracking of receivables resulting in reduced cash flow
- Noncompliance with IFRS (international financial reporting standards)
- Inefficient workforce utilization
Our solution
Mindtree collaborated with the customer to implement an SAP-based ERP system encompassing multiple modules. Core processes streamlined included order to cash; and opportunity to cash for contracting, product sales and service contracts for all product variants.
Our implementation methodology optimized templates to document ‘as is’ processes and prepare the business for ‘to be’ processes through the accelerated SAP (ASAP) methodology. The team also ran pilots to enable better system adaptation. Other solution highlights included:
- Deployment of best practices and Engineering, Construction, and Operations (EC&O) templates
- Re-engineering processes in accordance to industry benchmarks
- Ensuring low support costs by minimizing customization
- Optimizing data migration strategy, weeding our duplication and providing templates for seamless transfer of legacy data
- Deployment of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools for effective call handling and preventive maintenance
- Ensuring a strong governance model with effective communication between stakeholders
Business impact
- 80% increase in market reach
- 80% reduction in call turn-around time
- 20% inventory reduction anticipated over four years
- 20% contract cost reduction anticipated over three years
- Effective resource utilization and greater capacity to handle customer calls
- Shortened sales cycle
- Reduction in overall IT support costs
