ENGIE Services a.s. to use state-of-the-art cloud-based ERP solution
Comprehensive and fully integrated access to strategic information, better integration of processes within the company, and also with customers and more automation options – all this was acquired by ENGIE Services a.s. by deploying the SAP S/4HANA system. The state-of-the-art cloud-based ERP solution makes it much easier for the Slovak branch and its parent company to take the right operational decisions and increases the efficiency of business processes. GD-TEAM took care of its implementation.
The standards of the solution were defined by the headquarters of the company in France using the existing components of the SAP solution in the German ENGIE. This brought great demands on the communication and coordination of consultants during all project stages. Nevertheless, it was possible to manage the entire implementation without limiting the normal activities of the employees of the Slovak branch. In addition, the deployment of cloud-based SAP S/4HANA was remote due to the pandemic.
Security for many years
“It is a very robust and advanced system that has guaranteed support and can be easily scaled according to the needs of end-users. The customer is sure that he will have the state-of-the-art and powerful solution on the market for many years,” explains Radoslav Majerský, Sales & Delivery Manager from GD-TEAM. The core of SAP S/4 HANA has been preserved; local adaptations mainly related to the business specifics of ENGIE Services in Slovakia and necessary integrations to third-party operating systems. “This approach is unique in our conditions; the customer tried to adapt to corporate standards, and this saved his time and money in the whole process.”
However, these are not the key benefits. These primarily consist in a guarantee that all financial information that the company obtains from the system is correct, reflects the actual situation and corresponds to international standards. Reporting outputs are customized and available not only to local but also to global management, thanks to data consolidation.
“They are automatic and online, which makes it easier to make immediate decisions at the company’s management level. At the same time, we eliminated a lot of manual work and filling in data into tables,” explains Michal Trnovský, Innovations and Development Director, ENGIE Services. “At present, only one entity from the ENGIE group in Slovakia uses the system, but in the future we are considering a gradual deployment in other subsidiaries. Associated with this are the consolidation of accounting, reporting and deeper integration with the processes of the parent company, for example with the central procurement process.”
Thanks to the use of the cloud, ENGIE Services in Slovakia no longer has to worry about the system environment and hardware. They use the capacities that the company has in Germany.
Cloud means less worries
A major challenge was the very robustness of the project implementation. “Such a comprehensive implementation of the SAP S/4HANA system was perhaps the first of its kind in Slovakia. It presented major challenges for the entire team, both on the side of the client and on the side of the implementation partner in the professional field, but mainly in the ability and competence of communication with the workers covering the existing implementation processes in France and Germany,” explained Róbert Strnad, Project Manager of GD-TEAM. “Nevertheless, the whole process was extremely smooth,” confirmed Michal Trnovský, who coordinated the project on the part of ENGIE Services in Slovakia.
The shift from the original system to SAP S/4HANA was very fast. “With such a big change, companies often encounter opposition on the part of their own employees. We did not have a similar problem, key users understood that the new system would be beneficial for them. And that made the work much easier for us and the implementer,“ says Peter Lempeľ, CFO and Member of the Board of Directors of ENGIE Services. That is also why the whole process of involving people and capacities from three countries took place in just seven months.
Implementation managed by GD-TEAM covered six key SAP S/4HANA areas: FI (Finance), AM (Asset Management), CO (Controlling), PS (Project System), MM (Material Management), SD (Sales and Distribution) and basic settings in the field of HR (Human Resources).
“SAP S/4HANA is a modern ERP system, the undeniable advantage of which is the high availability of support on the market and easy placement in the cloud. It will bring us further streamlining and standardization of business processes and automation of reporting activities towards superior organizational components. Similar to ISO certification, the implementation of SAP S/4HANA standards confirms the reliability of the company in the eyes of our customers. It is the possibility of better integration of processes with customers using SAP systems that will enable us to automate activities related to ordering and the acceptance of deliveries of our services, without the need for further paper communication,” adds Peter Lempeľ.
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