SAP NEWSBYTE – April 22, 2021 – SAP in Switzerland celebrates its customers at the SAP Quality Awards 2021. Winners of the Gold award are: JT International S.A., the global division of Japan Tobacco; the Department of Finance and the IT Office of the Canton of Zurich; and Partners Group AG, an international private markets investment management company headquartered in Switzerland. Since 2008, SAP Switzerland has presented annual awards to customers who have achieved excellence in their implementation projects. This year’s winners were unveiled at the virtual SAP Now Switzerland 2021 IT and business conference.
Project planning excellence and emphasis on rapid, cost-effective deployment following SAP standards are the hallmarks of successful SAP implementations. The jury looks at ten quality principles that SAP recommends customers follow for better outcomes when implementing its standard software. The aims here are for projects to achieve measurable business value, shorter implementation cycles, and faster time to value. Through the awards, SAP honors customers whose outstanding performance on SAP projects has sparked wider interest. The awards also help create a community of thought-leaders and strengthen cooperation between customers and partners.
In 2021, SAP Switzerland presented Quality Awards in three categories. The Business Transformation category recognizes major projects that are for more than 500 users and take more than six months and 900 person days to complete. The Rapid Time to Value category is for small and medium-sized projects that are for up to 600 users and require fewer than seven months and 1,000 person days from start to finish. The Digital Pioneer category recognizes projects of any size that use SAP software in an innovative way, such as in the context of artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, robotic process automation, or blockchain.
This year, SAP Switzerland honored nine projects delivered by companies in Switzerland whose achievements best met the award criteria.
This year’s SAP Quality Award winners in the Business Transformation category are:
- Gold: JT International S.A. completed a major transformation project in which it migrated its global SAP accounting system to SAP S/4HANA. It also upgraded its SAP Business Warehouse applications and replaced its SAP Supplier Relationship Management solution. The jury selected this project for the standard of its leadership, its emphasis on change management and communication, and the highly motived team behind it. The project’s global scale also impressed the jury. SAP was closely involved as JT International’s implementation partner.
- Silver: WWZ Energie AG, which provides power, telecommunications, and water to the Canton of Zug and the surrounding region, replaced the SAP R/3 system it had been using for more than 20 years with SAP S/4HANA and the industry solution IS-U. It also implemented SAP Sales Cloud, SAP Marketing Cloud, and SAP SuccessFactors. This project stood out because its main aim from the very start was to adopt the business processes in the standard SAP system in the most efficient way possible. It was also recognized for being a well-managed project in a complex environment. Working with partner Innflow, WWZ Energie completed the work in 18 months.
- Bronze: Cornèr Banca SA implemented SAP S/4HANA as part of the transformation of its central accounting system, and subsequently rolled out the new software to more countries. The jury chose this project because of its clearly defined and measurable KPIs and how it prioritized risk and change management. Cornèr Banca SA partnered with Deloitte.
The winners of the SAP Quality Awards in the Rapid Time to Value category are:
- Gold: Partners Group AG implemented SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting and made full use of the solution’s extensive potential. Having already impressed the jury with the submission of its first set of documents, the private markets investment management company further wowed with the business benefits it had achieved and its exemplary HR management. As one of the first to adopt this new solution, the winner of the Gold award actively sought a close collaboration with SAP’s product management and development departments. SAP led the project, serving as implementation partner.
- Silver: Chain IQ Group AG uses SAP Business ByDesign and SAP Business Technology Platform for finance, procurement, project management, travel and expense management, and employee time management worldwide. In this project, the jury was particularly taken with the fast implementation of only six months and the coaching approach to teach the users the system. The company implemented the solutions itself, and Agilita AG supported the project as implementing partner.
- Bronze: In just six months, BACHEM AG successfully implemented SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing at its locations worldwide. The streamlined project aligns closely with SAP standards and is geared toward defined business goals. The jury was also impressed by its professional and consistent project management. SAP partner CNT Management Consulting AG supported the project.
And the winners of the Digital Pioneer category are:
- Gold: Department of Finance, IT Office of the Canton of Zurich, which, in just two weeks, automated its process for handling short-time working applications using SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation. The previous process had to be massively simplified to respond rapidly to the sharp increase in applications for short-time working as a result of COVID-19. The jury was particularly impressed by the business benefits the IT Office achieved. These included 100% automation of the process, reducing resources by 85% and lowering the average processing time of applications from 25 minutes to 30 seconds. SAP supported the project in a consulting capacity.
- Silver: BenLink AG provides global maintenance services for industrial food production sites. Its offering is built on a new platform that comprises the cloud solutions SAP Field Service Management, SAP Extension Factory, and SAP Commerce Cloud. According to the jury, the project particularly stood out due to its uncompromising focus on the business benefits. Equally noteworthy was the company’s use of brand-new SAP solutions and technologies. Sybit GmbH supported this project as a partner.
- Bronze: City of Zug: As part of its Smart City digitalization program, Zug created Kolin the robot, which uses conversational AI. Kolin greets visitors and residents when they make a phone call and connects them to the city hall employees with whom they have made an appointment. The city administration is also using SAP Qualtrics to evaluate customer feedback. The jury was particularly impressed by the fact that this innovative solution is being implemented for the wider public to use. SAP supported the implementation of the project.
The gold award winners in Switzerland automatically qualify for the regional SAP Quality Award competition. The winners of the European competition will be announced in 2022.
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