Applications
Vodafone in final stages of global SAP ERP rollout
Our ‘largest ever business transformation,' says telecoms giant
By Leo King | Computerworld UK | Published 00:30, 19 May 11
Vodafone has announced it is in the final stages of a global SAP enterprise resource planning system rollout.
The mobile operator told delegates at the SAP World Tour conference that the company’s Evo ERP project was its “largest ever business transformation programme”, covering finance, human resources and its supply chain.
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“It’s not an IT programme for the sake of it; it’s sponsored by the chief financial officer to deliver broad benefits. It’s a case of IT delivering a major strategic transformation,” said Marcus Cotes, Vodafone’s head of ERP.
The project was vital because it enabled Vodafone to “operate on a global basis with common processes and systems”, he said at the event, held at the Twickenham rugby stadium.
“It’s a key part of our strategy and we’re getting lower transaction costs, a more efficient back office and global procurement.”
The Evo programme began in 2007, and will be complete this year. “We’re over 70 percent of the way through,” Cotes said.
In 2008, the first modules of SAP went live at Vodafone, covering its financial shared services centre in Hungary, a procurement centre, and the Hungarian and German markets. A year later, Portugal and the Netherlands went live.
Last year, Vodafone switched on SAP in its other functions in its London headquarters, as well as in its Spanish and African markets. This year, the remaining markets go live, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, New Zealand, Egypt and the Czech Republic.
The news comes as the company said its revenues for the year to 31 March rose 3.2 percent to £45.9 billion.
