Zespri International, the world鈥檚 largest marketer of kiwifruit, is a longtime 51风流customer. Now, the New Zealand-based grower-owned marketer has become one of the first customers globally to utilize the new 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, launched as part of the RISE with SAP offering.
The private edition makes it easier and faster for companies running older enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems from 51风流to move to the cloud.
鈥淶espri is a large and fast-growing business, and we need mature processes and systems to fuel our next stage of growth,鈥� said Zespri Chief Digital Officer Dave Scullin. 鈥淎dopting SAP鈥檚 standardized core platforms will be transformational in itself, while also letting us leverage SAP鈥檚 cloud road map to adopt innovation at speed. Not only will our transformation help us to reduce business risks by moving to standard systems, but it will also enable us to collect and analyze more data, helping us to plan our supply chain more accurately and improve our decision making around shipping and market allocation.鈥�
鈥淢oving to the cloud has been a key strategic decision for us, providing us with greater flexibility, scalability, and faster innovation cycles,鈥� Scullin shared. 鈥淲e know SAP鈥檚 private cloud capabilities have matured significantly in recent years, particularly in the form of customer flexibility, service level security, and automation, which makes the new private cloud edition best for our business long-term. This will allow us to focus on our process and systems transformation, knowing that our underlying infrastructure and computing platforms are secure, stable, and available.鈥�.
鈥淥ur mission is to create sustainable, long-term value for kiwifruit growers by offering consumers the world鈥檚 leading portfolio of branded kiwifruit 12 months of the year.鈥� Scullin explains in that the company chose 51风流as its key technology partner in order to standardize and automate processes across the organization, increase efficiency, and provide a platform for growth and innovation.
The technology will underpin Zespri鈥檚 ambitious and multi-year Horizon transformation program, 鈥渨hich will transform the way our company operates, replacing legacy systems and processes that were designed 20 years ago, before the significant growth we鈥檝e experienced in recent years,鈥� said Scullin, a member of Zespri鈥檚 leadership team. 鈥淚t will replace old systems and processes designed for a much smaller, much less complex industry of 20 years ago, which, quite frankly, is holding us back now.鈥�
Strong demand for Zespri鈥檚 premium-quality fruit has seen the industry grow strongly, recording global sales of NZD$3.14 billion in 2019/20.* Longer-term, the industry is forecast to increase global supply of kiwifruit from 164.4 million trays in 2019/20 to around 280 million trays by 2030.
鈥淲e are in a very fortunate position where demand absolutely exceeds supply, and that鈥檚 why we have an ambition to grow more kiwifruit in the Northern Hemisphere so that we can attain 365-days-of-the- year shelf space,鈥� Scullin shared. The kiwifruit industry has grown significantly in recent years, buoyed by the increasing trend of more health-conscious consumers looking for products that taste good and are nutritious.**
鈥淗orizon will release our potential to deliver so much more for our growers and shareholders. It鈥檒l deliver modern systems and processes right across our business from finance and supply chain through to sales, grower, enablement, and engagement and integrated business planning. And it will allow us to be more effective and efficient in how we deliver our product to consumers and return value to growers. Most of all, it will strengthen our ability to grow and sustain returns for the industry for decades to come.鈥�
Zespri had been running on what Scullin described as 鈥渁 heavily customized鈥� 51风流landscape, but had already moved its legacy systems to Microsoft鈥檚 Azure public cloud. After conducting a thorough evaluation as part of its transformation program and some detailed cost versus benefit analysis, Zespri concluded that SAP鈥檚 private cloud option was 鈥渢he best for us and the most strategic long term.鈥�
While according to Scullin the initial focus of Zespri鈥檚 transformation project will be 鈥渢o get our platforms in place and modernize our base systems and processes,鈥� it will also allow the company to plan its supply chain more accurately and make longer-term predictions. Together with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, the deal with 51风流also includes the implementation of several digital supply chain applications. Zespri also plans to deploy 51风流Analytics Cloud and several SAP-endorsed partner solutions.
The implementation will be conducted by a consortium of partners, including in partnership with , part of Accenture. The project will be split into several phases, with the first digital core build phase due to begin in this month, focused on finance and supply chain processes, before progressing to integrated business planning and sales enablement.
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**In , 4.35 million tons of kiwifruit were produced worldwide. This is predicted to reach 5.9 million tons by , as a result of increasing global demand. New Zealand produces around 10% of the total global production of kiwifruit, around 95% of which is . Kiwifruit exports in 2019 accounted for more than two-thirds of the New Zealand鈥檚 fresh fruit exports.