When a medical technology company is dedicated to bringing innovations to market faster to improve patient care, every business process must reflect that same commitment to excellence.
That’s why TOP Medical, a sales company and distributor of specialized medical devices in the Benelux region, chose to implement SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. With its TOP philosophy – to optimize performance in everything they do – the company partnered with NTT DATA Business Solutions for a remarkably smooth 4-month implementation that went live on January 2nd, 2025. The result? Enhanced customer service, streamlined workflows, faster order processing, and all in all, a system that supports the stellar TOP Medical team in bringing life-saving innovations to patients when they need them most.
For TOP Medical, excellence isn’t just a goal. “TOP stands for ‘To Optimize Performance’”, explains Jan-Willem Hendriks, the company’s owner. “We implement this philosophy in every aspect of our daily practice.” The commitment extends to its entire business. From the impressive facilities – with a keen eye for detail in design and setup – to the team’s strategic approach to medical innovation.
The company specializes in finding promising startups for medical devices and accelerating their growth, bringing life-saving innovations to market faster and adding value to hospital care. “Our driver is to advance the tempo of these innovations reaching the Benelux region, helping hospitals solve previously unsolvable problems in heart and vascular disease care.”
“We operate in the capillaries of the medical innovations market. We proactively seek out opportunities at the earliest stages of development to support them with studies, marketing, and sales. We firmly believe that if a company has to go looking for a distributor like us, we haven’t done our job,” says Hendriks.
‘We help hospitals to solve previously unsolvable problems, innovatively’
In the medical device industry, trust is key. Traceability plays a big part in that. TOP Medical’s ISO 13485 certification shows that they take quality management seriously. This internationally recognized standard makes sure every product or batch can be tracked from the manufacturer all the way to the patient. That kind of clear accountability is something hospitals and healthcare providers rely on. Hendriks: “Our ISO 13485 certification gives our partners confidence that we meet the international standards for medical device distribution.”
The SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud system helps TOP Medical maintain their ISO 13485 certification. With built-in tracking, quality management tools, and real-time documentation, the system makes it easy to keep full oversight of every product. From batch numbers to expiry dates and handling steps – all the important info is recorded in the system and easy to access. This structured way of working doesn’t just meet the certification requirements, it helps TOP Medical go a step further by offering customers transparency and reliability.
With 13 employees across key functions including finance, purchasing, sales, and logistics, SAP doesn’t sound like a logic choice as an ERP backbone. Especially not SAP ECC, which was the legacy system TOP Medical used beforehand, which it purchased with just 3 employees at that time. However, here’s where the TOP philosophy comes into play once more. Hendriks states: “The majority of our customers use SAP. If you strive to offer the best of quality, you need a system that supports you to deliver that quality.”
With SAP’s 2027 deadline for ECC support approaching, TOP Medical knew it needed to act now rather than rush later. “We decided to go all-in with the public cloud. Although we were a bit hesitant at first, as we had concerns about data control, the benefits in speed and cost – particularly for a company of our size – were compelling. And, it has proven to be the right decision,” Hendriks says.
‘If you strive to offer the best of quality, you need a system that supports you to deliver that quality’
The decision to implement SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud wasn’t taken lightly. The TOP Medical team evaluated available options and ultimately chose the Public Cloud for its standardized approach and automatic updates. Moreover, while SAP ERP systems are often perceived as only being suited for large enterprises, the scalable nature of the Public Cloud makes it an ideal fit for small and medium-sized businesses such as theirs as well.
The implementation timeline was impressive by any standard: just six months from purchase to go-live, with only four months dedicated to the actual implementation. The consultants from NTT DATA were involved on a part-time basis, contributing just one to two days per week, which is something that is not always typical in such projects. TOP Medical went live at 9 AM on January 2nd, and by 2 PM the same day, the team had already successfully processed their first sales flow – from sales order to delivery and to invoice.
TOP Medical’s dedication to the project is truly commendable. The company made the bold decision to relieve Joy Houben, Manager of Operations, of 95% of her regular responsibilities, allowing her to fully dedicate herself to the implementation project. This level of commitment would benefit any project, yet few companies are willing – or in the position – to make such a choice. This dedicated approach, combined with NTT DATA’s “pressure cooker” methodology, proved to be highly effective.
“It was a result-oriented and, for us, a very practical approach,” Houben explains. “One day a week, the consultants from NTT DATA and our team came together to work on the implementation, so there was no waiting around or mailing back-and-forth for adjustments. You could see changes directly in the system, test immediately, and resolve issues on the spot.”
Every Wednesday, the team saw tangible progress, which saved them precious time, and of course the immediate pay-off felt very rewarding.
The team maintained a strong focus on scope definition, bringing together the most essential people to clearly determine what was essential and what wasn’t. TOP Medical remained flexible, choosing to stay within standard functionality wherever possible and avoiding customizations that could lead to complications later on.
‘We made changes directly in the system, test immediately, and resolve issues on the spot. This practical approach worked great for us’
The transition to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud delivered immediate improvements for TOP Medical. Houben explains:
“The look and feel of the new system is far more user-friendly. The old ECC setup felt old-school. With the current dashboard, it’s more like using a smartphone. The underlying processes are still familiar to ECC, but in S/4 everything is faster and much easier to navigate.”
The transition from ECC to S/4HANA Public Cloud brought a significant transformation in user experience. “It’s much more streamlined,” says Houben. “Everything is now accessible through a single app, whereas before, managing an order required several different screens. You open an order and immediately see if it has been delivered, with the option to drill down further if needed. It’s truly insight to action.”
The improvement in workflow efficiency has been especially noticeable. The system now offers customized workflow tiles for each department, called TOP Sales, TOP Finance, TOP Warehouse, TOP Purchasing, and TOP Master Data which makes navigation easier and processes more streamlined.
Most importantly, the customer experience has improved significantly. “Our customer service has gotten much better, and our customers are positively surprised about our new way of working,” says Houben. “We can correct pricing or order details more easily, leading to fewer correction flows, fewer returns, and fewer credit notes. Thanks to improvements in order confirmations, errors are detected earlier.”
‘Customers are positively surprised about our new way of working’
‘With the new system we truly get insight to action’
Both Houben and Hendriks are content with the technological aspect of the implementation, but for them, the critical success factor lies in the human side of the project. According to them, much of the project’s effectiveness came down to the individuals involved. With NTT DATA, in this case project lead Daan Fessl and his team, they experienced a highly accessible and hands-on approach.
Throughout the project, TOP Medical valued NTT DATA’s transparent and honest communication. Issues did arise, but these were always addressed openly and resolved quickly. For Houben and Hendriks, this ability to tackle challenges constructively and maintain trust was essential. As they put it, “you can have problems, but there should always be openness.” That mindset, combined with shared ownership, kept the project on track.
With the new system firmly in place, TOP Medical is now looking ahead to leverage the analytical capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud.
“What we’re not yet fully capitalizing on is in the system’s analytical capabilities,” acknowledges Houben. “We need to make better use of the available data to optimize our operations. Dead stock analysis, margin insights by product and sales rep, order fulfillment metrics: These are the kinds of insights that will help us set clearer goals and continuously improve quality.”
The team sees moving towards a more data-driven approach as critical to their ongoing goal of delivering the TOP promise to their customers: Optimizing the performance of the companies they work with, bringing innovations to the market faster, and most importantly: solving unmet patient needs in cardiovascular care.
Hendriks concludes: “When customers no longer have to wait, and when you can anticipate needs before they become issues because you can work more accurately and faster… that’s when the system truly helps us to optimize processes and deliver on our mission.”
‘We strive to keep delivering on our TOP promise: optimizing the performance of the companies we work with’
Looking back on their SAP journey, Houben and Hendriks gladly share their insights and tips with other CFOs and project managers preparing for their own implementations:
TOP Medical specializes in bringing innovative medical technologies to the Benelux market, focusing on heart and vascular disease solutions. Their mission: help customers solve unsolved problems and optimize the chain from product idea to patient treatment.
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