SAP Customer Success Story

We have codeveloped solutions with SAP Consulting before and recognized that with its offshore delivery model we could take advantage of a very competitive price for high-quality resources.
John Giroux, Head of the Asia-Pacific Shared Services Organization, Colgate-Palmolive

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE
SAP SYSTEM CONSOLIDATION PROVES THE BENEFITS OF AN OFFSHORE DELIVERY MODEL AT A GLANCE
Company Colgate-Palmolive, Asia-Pacific region www.colgate-palmolive.com Industry Consumer products Key Challenges Consolidate the companys different releases of SAP software across Asia to improve efficiency Investigate the benefits of an offshore delivery model Implementation Highlights Approximately 75% of the work occurred offshore Consolidation went live on time and within budget with no issues

Colgate-Palmolive is a $9.9 billion company that operates in more than 200 countries. This leading consumer products company is committed to using technology to create products that improve the quality of life for consumers wherever they live. Colgate-Palmolive operates on an SAP infrastructure with SAP R/3 as the core software (SAP R/3 functionality is now available in mySAP ERP). In the late 1990s, when the SAP software went live in Asia, there were a number of reasons why a single version of it could not be used throughout the region. First, tax structures within India are extremely complex, so separate functionality was added within the SAP software for India. Second, Chinese could not be used with another complex language like Thai on the same SAP system. As a result, the AsiaPacific region had three SAP systems that could not be integrated: one for India, one for China, and one for the rest of Asia. For global companies like Colgate-Palmolive, it has become increasingly important to harmonize systems and processes worldwide. Colgate-Palmolives customers, such as major retailers, are expanding across country boundaries and expect to have their requirements managed consistently from region to region. Colgate-Palmolive also has facilities that manufacture goods for worldwide markets. Managing global supply chains is more difficult when systems differ from country to country. In addition, development and maintenance work has to be duplicated on each individual system.

Key Benefits A cost-effective delivery model Access to a global network of experienced resources Reduced total cost of ownership Consolidation of existing business processes Hardware IBM Operating System AIX

Implementation Partner SAP Consulting, part of SAP Customer Services Network Solution and Services Offshore consulting services provided by SAP Consulting Existing Environment SAP R/3 (functionality available today in mySAP ERP) SAP Business Information Warehouse, part of the SAP Business Intelligence component of SAP NetWeaver SAP Enterprise Buyer, a mySAP Supplier Relationship Management component mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) SAP Advanced Planning & Optimization (SAP APO)

Colgate-Palmolive decided that the time had come to investigate the consolidation of its SAP software in Asia. The company also recognized that this would be an ideal project on which to test out the benefits of the offshore delivery models.
COST-EFFECTIVE QUALITY

global account management personnel helped with the complicated language issues involved. SAP used partner resources whenever it was beneficial. To ensure that everything performed as expected, SAP Active Global Support also part of SAP Customer Services Network used SAP EarlyWatch services to provide postconsolidation analysis at the end of the project. The first step for the joint SAP and Colgate-Palmolive team was to review and analyze the differences between the main Asian system and the Indian system. SAP provided some excellent tools to carry out this analysis, says Giroux. Following the

Colgate-Palmolive evaluated several companies before deciding to engage SAP Consulting. John Giroux, head of the Asia-Pacific Shared Services Organization at Colgate-Palmolive explains: There is a strong partnership between SAP and ColgatePalmolive. We have codeveloped solutions with SAP Consulting before and recognized that with its offshore delivery model we could take advantage of a very competitive price for high-quality resources. We knew that SAP Consulting has developed work protocols, as well as communication and project management methodologies that ensure the physical location of resources is not an issue. Colgate-Palmolive was keen to use SAP Consulting both to access areas of SAP expertise and, through the offshore delivery model, to leverage Indian software developers from both SAP and other companies. Colgate-Palmolive believed this would reduce costs and, if successful, would act as a model for a new way of working.
BRINGING TOGETHER A WINNING TEAM

The Indian integration went live with no issues, on time and on budget. All the documentation provided was excellent and covers any future scenario, such as analysis of the system by external auditors or application support.
John Giroux, Head of the Asia-Pacific Shared Services Organization, Colgate-Palmolive

analysis, it was possible to determine the work that needed to be done before consolidation could occur. The Indian integration went live with no issues, on time, and on budget, says Giroux. All the documentation provided was excellent and covers any future scenario, such as analysis of the system by external auditors or application support. Approximately 75% of the work involved in this project happened offshore, providing an excellent proof of concept for the SAP Consulting offshore delivery model.

The software consolidation was a complete end-to-end project, starting with an evaluation and scoping exercise and ending with postconsolidation analysis and support. It involved bringing together people with a variety of different skills. The project team was led by the international consulting group within SAP Consulting, with expert input from ColgatePalmolive. SAP Consulting Asia provided project management resources, solution experts joined the team from SAP Consultings system landscape optimization team, and SAPs

Once the Indian consolidation had taken place, it was a far simpler process to execute the Chinese consolidation. ColgatePalmolive felt confident that it had the skills necessary to complete this autonomously, although they will keep in close contact with SAP Consulting and use its resources where necessary.
ENERGETIC TEAMWORK PAYS DIVIDENDS

focused on thorough planning and was very open to working as a team and sharing information. They were an energetic and hardworking group of people who put in the effort required to make things happen.
A MODEL OF FLEXIBILITY

Our goal was to achieve the consolidation without disrupting our user community, and we achieved this, says Nancy Cassiere, the Colgate project manager. Dealing with multiple languages is always difficult and this was coupled with the fact that we had to interface to our other SAP components. However, because Colgate-Palmolive is a pure SAP environment, we had plenty of expertise available to us, and those challenges were met well. Colgate-Palmolive is already seeing benefits from the Indian consolidation. Customer service has been harmonized across the region. Supply chain integration provides seamless movement of products across countries, and the integration of financial solutions means accounting information, such as profit and loss reports, is unified. Total cost of ownership (TCO) of the IT infrastructure has dropped. There is one less system to support, and maintenance and hardware costs are reduced. And whenever new IT solutions are introduced, they are added to one harmonized system, so implementation times have significantly improved. The cost-effective solution provided means Colgate-Palmolive expects to receive payback on the consolidation within one year. The company also has concrete proof that the SAP Consulting offshore delivery model provides real benefit. Through the offshore delivery model, we were able to leverage the global infrastructure of SAP and the excellent partner network of SAP Consulting for optimal consulting support on a very important business initiative, says Giroux. SAP Consulting

Colgate-Palmolive is divided into three regions for IT provision: the Americas, Europe-Africa, and Asia-Pacific. There are two other stand-alone systems in the Americas and Europe-Asia that Colgate-Palmolive would like to consolidate. Giroux would not hesitate in recommending SAP Consulting for these projects. We plan to leverage SAP Consulting further, and in particular, to look at how best to use the benefits of the offshore delivery model in Colgate-Palmolives shared services organizations. It provides an excellent, cost-effective way for us to flex our resources to meet the needs of the business, he concludes.

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