Introduction to the BCX S/4HANA Transformation Journey

AFSUG, through the SAP S/4 HANA Special Interest Group, hosted a knowledge sharing and case study webinar with presenters Ravi Govender, Senior Manager: Programme Management at BCX and Shamit Maharaj, Executive Director at EY presenting the BCX SAP S/4 HANA Transformation Journey.

BCX is an Enterprise cloud end-to-end digital partner for corporate and governments across the African continent and also a SAP Gold Partner, SAP Approved hosting partner, SAP Value Added Reseller, SAP Approved Hosting Partner, SAP HANA Services Operations Partner, SAP Partner Centre of Expertise (PCoE0 and Premium supplier for SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. BCX is busy with a SAP S/4 HANA implementation with EY as the implementation partner.

Ravi explained that the business case was presented because BCX, through its acquisition of various BCX subsidiaries, ended up with multiple disparate ERP platforms across the BCX Group.   Through a oneERP alignment strategy, they formulated a business-led program to standardize, optimize, simplify and transfer their business, providing a foundation that enables BCX’s growth strategy and identifies initiatives in a sustainable and forward-looking manner. The ultimate goal for the oneERP program is to enable business transformation through seamless, streamlined processes while also allowing for scalability.

Shamit took us through the BCX journey and implementation, with the oneERP solution journey officially kicking off in April 2020. The project is currently in preparation phase and this should be ready for implementation at end of June 2020.

A myriad of workshops were conducted across the business and stakeholder platforms to understand the requirements and the scope of oneERP, with key considerations such as solution scope, data, IT Strategy and business strategy being examined.

Lessons learnt were also shared by the team and included:

• Early strategic alignment
• Constant stakeholder alignment
• Early design principles definition
• Committed and engaged leadership
• Business and IT led
• Detailed business case

BCX and EY are looking forward to the mutual benefits of rolling out an informed strategy and agree that SAP S/4HANA is the approach to take for this business case.

​ “At this time of the COVID-19 pandemic when many organisations are turning the coin over twice, it is truly remarkable to see South African organisations wade through the rapids and white water of large scale Project Change Management, in deploying SAP S/4HANA technology, immersing themselves uncompromisingly, life-guarded in this instance, by the implementation partner and in so doing, reshape the roadmap on the path to success, and create a technology state of readiness when the business cycle picks up.  Heartful thanks BCX and EY for sharing the experience to date, and most of all, for sharing the knowledge. Truly appreciated.” –  Koosh Panday, Chairman of the S/4HANA Special Interest Group.