Why NTT DATA Business Solutions?
- High level of skill in SAP environment
- Use of synergy effects through services from a single source
We have been relying on NTT DATA Business Solutions since 1996, and they came through for us yet again during our recent reorganization of our general ledger. With scalable services and jointly planned project coordination, we made our processes ready to go with SAP New GL in preparation for the future conversion to SAP S/4HANA.
Dirk Löffler Vice President Global Finance & Accounting, BENTELER Automotive
Products: Components & modules for undercarriage, body, motor and exhaust systems as well as solutions for electric vehicles
Employees: approx. 30,000 (2019)
Turnover: 7.713 BEUR by the BENTELER Group (2019)
Website: www.benteler.com
Challenges and Benefits
Challenges
- Need for conversion of the general ledger as preparation for the SAP S/4HANA conversion
- Required shortening of downtime to minimize business impact
- Parallel implementation on four deployment environments
Benefits
- Detailed system analysis & master data harmonization
- New design of finance-based business processes
- Migration cockpit for simple master data migration
- Set-up of sandxox systems for safe testing of new applications
- Assurance of high system availability
- Decreased burden on IT through transfer of tasks
Solutions
- Migration to SAP New General Ledger as preparation for the SAP S/4HANA conversion
- NextGen Application Management Services
- Managed Cloud Services – Safe management of applications in IT service provider’s Private Cloud
- SAP Fiori Developments
- SAP Maintenance
Read how BENTELER Automotive made with scalable services and jointly planned project coordination their processes ready to go with SAP New GL for the future conversion to SAP S/4HANA.
About the Project
BENTELER Makes It Happen.
BENTELER is a company with a global presence that develops, produces and sells products, systems and services for the automotive, energy and mechanical engineering sectors. Approximately 30,000 employees at 100 locations in 28 countries offer first-class manufacturing and sales expertise – passionately and close to the customer. BENTELER makes use of its size and international character to work with its partners and shape the market in an agile way. The BENTELER Automotive and BENTELER Steel/Tube divisions are organized under the umbrella of the strategic management holding company BENTELER International AG, headquartered in Salzburg, Austria. With technological excellence and strong in implementation, BENTELER develops solutions that make a difference – for customers, employees and society. All that, since 1876.
An Engine for SAP S/4HANA.
Anyone planning to convert to the SAP S/4HANA solution in the future should be aware early on what organizational measures this entails. With this goal in mind, BENTELER started its preparations with NTT DATA Business Solutions. Since the introduction of SAP S/4HANA, the new general ledger SAP New GL became a requirement rather than an option. It closely inter-connects internal and external accounting and offers a number of advantages. Thanks to its introduction, BENTELER can take advantage of new innovative functions for finance-based processes, which can now be managed in a more targeted way. Real-time integration of controlling into financial accounting is a great advantage for the company since the reduced coordination effort helps simplify the generation of monthly financial statements. The project is a big step toward agility and seeks, like the future SAP S/4HANA conversion, to streamline existing business processes.
NextGen AMS and Managed Cloud
The introduction was perfectly supported by the NextGen Application Management and Managed Cloud Services of NTT DATA Business Solutions. In addition to updates, upgrades and hardware optimizations, support was also provided for the implementation of the migration cockpit. This makes it easy to migrate the master data. Sandbox systems were also set up for validation of new processes, and detailed performance analyses were carried out in order to avoid bottlenecks in performance. During go-live, additional computing capacities and temporary infrastructure optimizations ensured that downtime was shortened, meaning the business impact was reduced to a minimum. 24/7 on-call service also provides a basis for smooth project coordination.
New Momentum for the Future.
At BENTELER, conventional ways of thinking are called into question and new trends are anticipated by means of innovative technologies. With Fiori, SAP presented a modern user interface, meaning processes are sped up considerably. The further development of the user interface is full of potential, with which BENTELER also secures a head start in IT and contributes to the motivation of its employees. The Bielefeld-based IT service provider played an essential role in the company’s software development by installing patches and SAP Fiori Developments. Another highlight: By using Robotic Process Automation, a bot developed by BENTELER itself supported the comparison of more than a thousand lists and thus saved time-consuming coordination activities during the migration. BENTELER is thus leading the way within the company as a whole as well as on the market.
Other Success Stories
Secure system operation in the NTT DATA Business Solutions data center and fast response times to SAP requests are just some of the many benefits. In addition to the usual core business, the further development of SAP applications outside of day-to-day business is also sought.
With the decision for NTT DATA Business Solutions as a long-term partner in the area of Application Management Services, SAP challenges are now mastered with flying colors.
Application Management Services not only relieve the workload of Elektror employees, but also make use of economies of scale.