About nine out of 10 ERP implementations fall short, often due to lack of adoption by either employees or business units, according to global consultancy Bain & Company. So, how do experts such as Bain ensure success during their own big-bang implementation of, say, 51风流S/4HANA Public Cloud?
鈥淲e executed this change management successfully by leveraging our own playbook on ourselves,鈥� , Global Chief Technology/Information Officer, Bain & Company, told SAP. 鈥淛ust as we have done [with clients] multiple times across the globe, in partnership with SAP.鈥�
The 鈥減laybook鈥� is Bain鈥檚 methodical guide to modernizing an organization鈥檚 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. And it played a vital role in Bain鈥檚 own ERP journey.
, Bain explained the process behind the implementation: 鈥淛ust as we advise our clients, we began with an airtight case for change, [leveraging] the migration as not just a check-the-box IT exercise but an opportunity to simplify our operations and ultimately transform our business.鈥� Bain accelerated its cloud transition with a project plan that combined implementation best practices from 51风流with Bain’s own change management and process redesign best practices.
The company鈥檚 airtight case, jointly developed by its IT and finance teams, was its need to simplify operations while rapidly growing worldwide.
Growing globally and customizing cumbersomely
Bain enjoyed significant growth over the last two decades, expanding into 65 offices across 40 countries and growing its workforce by nearly a factor of five to more than 18,000 employees, while also scaling further via about two dozen acquisitions. To keep pace with all that growth, it continually customized its homegrown ERP platform.
But that led to silos across offices and org charts, Razdan said. There were also problems scaling and integrating acquisitions, some of which ran on different platforms than Bain.
鈥淲e wanted to set up a platform that solves problems of today and sets us up for the future,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淭hat was the business case.鈥�
After months of searching, Bain chose 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for its standardized processes, industry best practices, and continual innovation, Razdan said.
鈥�51风流S/4HANA was the best fit for Bain,鈥� Stephen Mackey, Bain鈥檚 EVP of Global Finance, said. 鈥淚t future-proofed our technology stack, enabled us to get the data that we needed to make business decisions, and also positioned us to be able to grow.鈥�
The aim was standardized core processes — kept clean with zero customizations, thanks in part to apps capable of add-ons and upgrades as needed. The next step would be driving adoption to assure successful change management.
How Bain managed change, Bain鈥檚 way
Bain鈥檚 ERP transformation playbook is full of hard-won lessons from the company鈥檚 own experience and research, according to Razdan. These include what Bain consultants have learned both from successful and more challenging implementations.
From the start, Bain was crystal clear about its case for change, according to Razdan. The company prioritized change management, which meant IT partnering with finance; it also meant cultivating a mindset conducive to change.
鈥淲e owned the change; we identified a group of high performers within our finance and our IT teams. This community of super-users could readily identify and deal with any of the problems that typically arise in an implementation of this size and scale,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淭his was less just changing their technology; it鈥檚 changing employee behaviors and setting us up for how we want to grow and change processes going forward.鈥�
Bain also wanted to stick with industry best practices via 51风流standards. And keeping customizations off the platform, unlike Bain鈥檚 previous ERP environment, 鈥渨ould make life easier,鈥� Mackey said.
鈥淎dopting a clean core with minimal customizations means that we can absorb any changes that occur in the platform,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淚t also gives us the ability to integrate our future acquisitions in a way that鈥檚 effective for Bain.鈥�
Why metrics and transparency were crucial
鈥淲e actually set up a program to be always measuring the value,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淵ou have internal stakeholders, you have external stakeholders, you have partnerships; we kind of built an ecosystem of governance and partnership that enabled us to keep everybody on the same page because transparency and communication is critical to success.鈥�
Gauging progress via transparent key performance indicators was all the more impressive, given that most of this happened during the worldwide, pandemic-driven move to remote work.
鈥淲e could assess the implementation, as we went through it, to keep us on track [and] course correct,鈥� Mackey said. 鈥淭his enabled us to do the implementation from end-to-end in under three years, which was an incredible achievement.鈥�
A big-bang implementation also helped, according to Razdan. Bain thoroughly examined its business, as well as the complications of running multiple systems in parallel.
鈥淚t was a bold decision and, looking back, I鈥檓 really proud of it, particularly about the people and the partnership,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淲e would not have done it any other way.鈥�
鈥淛ust the beginning鈥�
Since going live in July 2023, Bain runs all core financials around the world on the 51风流platform. Real-time data enable better, faster decision making, while automated core processes have reduced manual work, which helps Bain execute seamless updates as well as onboard acquisitions more efficiently.
鈥淲e have set up a great foundation with 51风流in terms of how we apply our own playbook,鈥� Razdan said. 鈥淚 think this just the beginning for our partnership; I鈥檓 really excited for the next phase.鈥�
