VanRijsingengreen, a well-known supplier of healthy and fresh foods for 50 years, made the switch to SAP S/4HANA. The main driver? Improving current soft and hardware and implementing process improvements to make it easier to respond to new developments. Thanks to the flexible working method, expertise and knowledge of Sabaas and Quinso, vanRijsingengreen is now able to start the digitization process. This gives the company a future-proof production process and lays the groundwork to continue the mission they have.
VanRijsingengreen owes the company’s success to its short-cycle working method of automating and digitizing as many manual processes as possible. But how best to maintain that efficiency and speed in the face of constant developments on the SAP side, and how to ensure continuity of the production process? Those same questions had Fred van de Water, functional SAP administrator at vanRijsingengreen, for Sabaas and Quinso, SAP expertise partners.
A future-proof production process for vanRijsingengreen
A key driver for vanRijsingengreen’s move was to improve its current software and hardware. Thus Fred van de Water explains: ‘Both our hardware and software components were outdated and needed to be replaced. In doing so, we wanted to be ahead of the deadline for phasing out several SAP ERP systems in 2025.’ The company’s employees were also keen to implement new process improvements and make maximum use of the ERP system to optimize vanRijsingengreen’s unique business model. Therefore, on the advice of Sabaas and Quinso, the customer chose for a conversion from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. An innovative and future-proof ERP solution that makes it possible to work faster and respond more easily to new developments. The result? Flexibility and speed in business process.
Switch to SAP S/4HANA and choose the cloud
Companies today need to respond increasingly quickly to digital changes in the market to differentiate themselves from competitors. To support companies in this, the leading enterprise software vendor has introduced SAP S/4HANA. With this innovative ERP solution, companies are able to easily and quickly test and realize new ideas and greatly reduce time-to-market. Consider the collection, processing and application of real-time data in business processes, as well as a simplified architecture and user-friendly interface.
For vanRijsingengreen, the migration to a cloud environment was also the right moment to make the switch to S/4HANA. Allowing future developments to take immediate advantage of the latest SAP developments. By choosing S/4HANA, vanRijsingengreen has more time to spare for developing new business. Especially given the possibilities offered for example by Azure or IoT applications and can rationalize the existing reporting landscape on SAP. Time to create a plan!
The route to success with a customer-specific roadmap
A standard part of Sabaas and Quinso’s approach is to clearly and correctly identify the customer’s requirements, the business vision and how it can be supported with the latest technologies from SAP. A key question to answer is to what extent S/4HANA can meet customer requirements and how a conversion should be handled. In this, Sabaas and Quinso complement each other seamlessly.
Quinso provides the functional expertise regarding business process optimization and Sabaas provides the technical expertise for conversion. For vanRijsingengreen, this way of working was especially advantageous: “For a seasonal company like vanRijsingengreen, the added value of the roadmap for us as a customer lay in the fact that our specific business model could be taken into account at an early stage,” Fred explains. “This allowed the conversion to take place off-season and we didn’t have to stop work or incur additional costs.
Cost comparison
The conversion to SAP S/4HANA for vanRijsingengreen also required investment in new hardware. The data center in use at the time could only accommodate them after a large investment. As part of the business case, Sabaas prepared a cost comparison for vanRijsingengreen that compared managing S/4HANA on-premises with the Microsoft Azure Cloud platform. It quickly became clear that Azure was the better solution for vanRijsingengreen. Not only to save costs, but also because of Azure’s flexibility and capabilities into the future.
As a next step, the technical and functional projects were started for the conversion to S/4HANA. In the process, the technical team migrated the existing SAP systems to Azure in preparation for the conversion and the functional team started preparations in the ERP system and informing and training users. Indeed, a key change was the new business partnership model for suppliers and customers. Which already had to be realized in ERP before the conversion could start.
In addition to the new business partner model for vanRijsingengreen, the new general ledger in S/4HANA was also an important component that had to be prepared in a controlled manner. The conversion required a new way of working with master data and financial transactions. During vanRijsingengreen’s off-season, the project team performed and tested the conversion several times. This allowed the conversion process to be refined both technically and functionally, and successfully migrated vanRijsingengreen’s entire production system in just one weekend.
Here’s to the next 10 years for vanRijsingengreen!
Thanks to a flexible approach, expertise and extensive knowledge of Sabaas and Quinso, vanRijsingengreen is now able to enter the digitization process based on the latest technology from SAP. For example, Fred van de Water notes that all accounts receivable and accounts payable are now under one partner. Allowing vanRijsingengreen employees to spend less time on standard maintenance tasks. For each application, the company can explore and implement new S/4HANA capabilities entirely within vanRijsingengreen’s wants and needs. In short, the groundwork has been laid to continue the mission of vanRijsingengreen, allowing the company to move forward with the growth they envision for the next 10 years!
Are you considering switching to SAP S/4HANA? If so, please note the following points
The knowledge, expertise and several years of experience with cases such as vanRijsingengreen’s has taught Sabaas and Quinso a number of things. Points customers can look out for during the conversion to S/4HANA that help ensure a worry-free process.
- Planning is key, therefore allocate sufficient time and work with a specific roadmap
- Listen carefully to the wants and needs of the end users. After all, they will use the new software and/or hardware to achieve business goals
- Include master data preparation in the process
- If capacity is lacking, make use of temporary server capacity on a Cloud platform such as Azure, for example
- Always perform multiple test runs so that the conversion is flawless
- Be sure to monitor scope and involve key users in test runs for successful conversion
- Support end users by providing training and answering questions
Do you have a challenge similar to vanRijsingengreen’s? Or would you like to learn more about how Sabaas and Quinso can help you transition from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA? If so, feel free to contact us.