To better organize its internal processes, collaborate more efficiently worldwide, and prepare for further growth, The Ocean Cleanup is implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition.
The step is part of the digital transformation needed to support the organization’s global mission.
The Ocean Cleanup focuses on reducing plastic pollution in rivers and oceans, operates internationally, and is growing rapidly. To date, the organization has already removed more than 40 million kilograms of waste.
However, its ambitions go further: by 2040, The Ocean Cleanup aims to have removed 90 percent of floating ocean plastic and cleaned up plastic pollution in 90 river cities. This represents a major scale-up of the work, with more activities and installations in rivers and oceans worldwide.
Flexible growth
To properly manage global processes and support international activities, The Ocean Cleanup urgently needed a modern and scalable system. The Dutch nonprofit organization chose to replace its existing system with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition.
The modern ERP platform enables The Ocean Cleanup to achieve its growth ambitions: the system is easily scalable and can be flexibly adapted as processes, projects, or international activities expand.
A strong foundation for global collaboration is essential. For example, financial teams must work closely with fundraisers to optimally distribute donations across international projects while project teams, engineers, and data analysts coordinate daily on technology, planning, and budgets for initiatives in rivers and oceans worldwide.
“Perfect coordination between teams is essential; we hunt plastic together as a pack,” Aurelia Ferraro, senior partnership manager at The Ocean Cleanup, shared. “The system helps us with that collaboration, allowing us to respond quickly to new challenges.”
“We are growing exponentially, and our internal processes have become increasingly complex, with operations spanning multiple countries,” Ferraro further explained. “SAP S/4HANA is the ideal system to manage that complexity.”
She emphasized that the transformation is about more than just technology: “Change and innovation are always complex, but our organization is accustomed to change. We invest a lot of energy in communication and training, which ensures smooth SAP adoption.”
Fast implementation and configuration
Joost van Lankveld is a strategic advisor at Scheer Nederland, The Ocean Cleanup’s implementation partner. He added: “Together with The Ocean Cleanup, we are following a phased implementation. SAP’s 80-20 fit-to-standard approach allows us to implement quickly, after which we configure specific processes in SAP according to The Ocean Cleanup’s needs.”
The implementation began with financial administration and purchasing modules for five Dutch entities. The upcoming phases will include project management and logistics modules that provide insight into The Ocean Cleanup’s complex river and ocean projects. The organization expects to complete the transition to SAP S/4HANA by the end of 2025.
Patricia Bueters is a senior integrated communications manager at SAP Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg).
