ESL

Employees: about 500 (2020)

Turnover: MEUR 100 (2019)

Founded in Cologne in 2000 and evolved into the world’s largest company in the field of Electronic Sports (eSports): The ESL Gaming GmbH operates top-class international brand leagues, tournaments, and events, for example the biggest European league for computer games, the Electronic Sports League (ESL). At the time the company was founded, the inventors already had many years of expertise in the gaming environment.

Having started with the vision of developing an international ladder and league system with the Electronic Sports League, ESL’s website is now one of the most popular portals in Germany with more than ten million visits per month and over two million registered users. And ESL is not only a pioneer in the field of eSports – the international company has also taken a quantum leap in the IT sector as well.

Let the Games Begin – With the Introduction of SAP S/4HANA Cloud

As an early adopter, the eSports operator is alreadybenefiting from the game-changing SAP S/4HANA solution, and not only within the on-premise variant, but directly in the public cloud at SAP.
Thanks to the introduction by the experienced IT service provider NTT DATA Business Solutions, ESL can now not only enjoy significantly enhanced performance, but also quick data access in real time. The regular release upgrade ensures that the solution is always up to date and innovations can be used immediately. These include intelligent functions that are based on machine learning algorithms.

The enhanced data quality allows monthly and quarterly financial statements to be prepared with even greater ease. The processes are automated, making day-to-day operations easier. As a recipient of the SAP Quality Award in the Fast Delivery category, ESL is now a player in the top IT league.

A Future-Oriented Solution for a Global Player – Level Rollout

Seven countries are already benefiting from the versatile functions of the cloud solution. The successful introduction of SAP as a replacement for the DATEV software used previously was divided into three phases. Following the introduction at five ESL entities in Germany, the solution was rolled out in England, Spain, and Poland in the second phase. After a trial implementation using a standardized rollout template, branches in France, America, and Australia are also enjoying the functionalities of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

A consolidated financial statement across all entities was therefore recorded for 2020. One clear advantage resulting from the rollout is that all countries access just one central global system, which offers improved control capabilities.

A Triumph for IT – Entering the New Era in Enterprise Resource Planning

In constructive cooperation between ESL and NTT DATA Business Solutions, the complex project was completed successfully on time and within budget, so that the first go-live could be announced after just 3.5 months. Redundant manual processes are a thing of the past. Today, the future-oriented company is benefiting from innovative digital business processes that will continue to be enhanced in the future.

By further addition of a system-based order-to-cash process, which describes the order creation up to billing to the customer, ESL is entering the Digital Age. This process is to be carried out via EDI and with electronic documents in the future. The eSports operator can thus embark on its journey to the digital era as a crowned victor and is already prepared for the end of the maintenance period of its ERP predecessor in 2027.

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