Why Bain Chose SAP S/4HANA for its ERP Cloud Transformation
Approximately nine out of 10 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations fail to meet expectations, often due to inadequate adoption by staff or business units, according to global consultancy Bain & Company. The firm recently faced this challenge whilst implementing SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud across its global operations.
“We executed this change management successfully by leveraging our own playbook on ourselves,” says Ramesh Razdan, Global Chief Technology/Information Officer at Bain & Company in an article for SAP, “just as we have done multiple times across the globe, in partnership with SAP.”
How Bain & Company applied its client methodology to internal transformation
The consultancy’s implementation approach began with what they term “an airtight case for change” that positioned the migration as more than an IT exercise but an opportunity to transform operations. Bain combined SAP implementation practices with its own change management and process redesign methodologies to accelerate its cloud transition.
The business case emerged from significant organisational growth. Over two decades, Bain expanded to 65 offices across 40 countries, growing its workforce nearly fivefold to more than 18,000 employees, whilst completing approximately two dozen acquisitions. This expansion led to continuous customisation of its homegrown ERP platform.
“We wanted to set up a platform that solves problems of today and sets us up for the future,” Razdan explains. “That was the business case.”
The growth created operational silos across offices and organisational charts, according to Razdan. Integration became problematic as some acquisitions operated on different platforms.
After months of evaluation, Bain selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, citing standardised processes and continuous innovation as deciding factors.
“SAP S/4HANA was the best fit for Bain,” states Stephen Mackey, EVP of Global Finance at Bain. “It future-proofed our technology stack, enabled us to get the data that we needed to make business decisions, and also positioned us to be able to grow.”
Bain & Company prioritises change management from project inception
The company maintained focus on standardising core processes without customisations, relying instead on applications capable of extensions when required. Driving adoption became the next critical phase.
Ramesh notes that Bain’s ERP transformation playbook incorporates lessons from both successful and challenging implementations. From the beginning, the firm established a clear case for change, with IT partnering closely with finance and cultivating a mindset receptive to change.
- Build an "airtight case for change" that positions migration as a business transformation opportunity rather than a technical exercise
- Create a "community of super-users" from high performers across both finance and IT teams who can identify and solve implementation problems
- Maintain a "clean core with minimal customisations" to absorb platform changes and simplify future integrations
- Establish transparent performance metrics and governance structures to measure value throughout the implementation process
“We owned the change; we identified a group of high performers within our finance and our IT teams. This community of super-users could readily identify and deal with any of the problems that typically arise in an implementation of this size and scale,” says Stephen. “This was less just changing their technology; it’s changing employee behaviours and setting us up for how we want to grow and change processes going forward.”
The firm committed to following industry practices through SAP standards. Keeping customisations off the platform represented a departure from Bain’s previous ERP environment.
“Adopting a clean core with minimal customisations means that we can absorb any changes that occur in the platform,” Stephen explains. “It also gives us the ability to integrate our future acquisitions in a way that's effective for Bain.”
SAP S/4HANA implementation completes despite global pandemic disruption
Value measurement formed a central component of the programme. “We actually set up a program to be always measuring the value,” says Ramesh. “You have internal stakeholders, you have external stakeholders, you have partnerships; we kind of built an ecosystem of governance and partnership that enabled us to keep everybody on the same page because transparency and communication is critical to success.”
The implementation progressed with transparent key performance indicators, which proved valuable as the project continued through the pandemic-driven shift to remote work.
“We could assess the implementation, as we went through it, to keep us on track and course correct,” Stephen says. “This enabled us to do the implementation from end-to-end in under three years, which was an incredible achievement.”
Bain opted for a “big-bang” implementation approach after examining its business operations and the potential complications of maintaining multiple parallel systems.
“It was a bold decision and, looking back, I’m really proud of it, particularly about the people and the partnership,” says Ramesh. “We would not have done it any other way.”
Since going live in July 2023, Bain runs all core financial processes globally on the SAP platform. Real-time data supports faster decision making, while automation of core processes reduces manual workloads. The platform enables seamless updates and more efficient integration of acquisitions.
“We have set up a great foundation with SAP in terms of how we apply our own playbook,” Ramesh says. “I think this is just the beginning for our partnership; I’m really excited for the next phase.”
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