ERP System Success Stories

 An enterprise application (EA) is a computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organisation by integrating the computer systems that run all phases of an organisation’s operations. Organisations that use EAs are businesses, schools, charities and governments. There are various EAs, in this blog we’ll be focusing on ERP systems.

“Think about all the core business processes needed to run a company: finance, HR, manufacturing, supply chain, services, procurement, and others. At its most basic level, ERP systems helps to efficiently manage all these processes in an integrated system” (SAP, 2023).

Source: Brightpearl

Now that we understand what ERP systems are let’s take a look at three companies that have successfully used them to support their business strategies and models.

1.      National Basketball Association (NBA)

The NBA is a professional basketball league in North America comprised of 30 teams featuring the best basketball players in the world. The NBA primarily makes money through television, sponsorships and ticket sales. The NBA has specifically focused on expanding viewership to Europe and China. This means that they need to improve visibility and control of their financial operations.

The NBA decided to use an ERP system provided by SAP called RISE with SAP. This allows them to streamline planning operations and improve forecast accuracy. RISE has given NBA the stability and flexibility it needs to take global financial operations to the next level.

Today, the NBA’s financial operations are tightly integrated globally. Business staff benefits from real-time reporting and real-time cash analysis. They can make faster and better-informed financial decisions. Greater automation saves the entire business valuable time.

 

2.      Chipotle

Chipotle is an American chain of fast-casual restaurants that emphasises on quality, fresh ingredients, sustainability and efficiency.

With the help of PwC, Chipotle switched to Oracle Fusin Cloud ERP, a system that allows for financial forecasting, procurement and supply chain management. Carlos Londono the vice president of supply chain, stated that “using automation to generate forecasts is a huge time-saver”. Before implementing the system, his team could only provide a couple of forecasts a week. Now they’re providing forecasts for all their suppliers in a day. Chipotle’s need for fresh ingredients requires a responsive supply chain. With Oracle they can monitor everything throughout the chain, from farms to distribution centres and their restaurants all over the world. Oracle helps Chipotle stay true to its brand values.

3.      Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public broadcast channel owned and operated by the British state. As part of their public remit the company has to report their diversity targets to OFCOM. This was a very time-consuming and complicated process. Channel 4 decided to go with Sage and their system Sage People. Channel 4 now has a single source of truth for all its staff data, including information on its diversity goals, thanks to Sage People. It’s now more easier and quicker to gather this data and report it to OFCOM with reports now being created in hours as opposed to weeks.