British American Tobacco Accelerates Results & Insights with Data
We felt that Syniti’s readiness assessment accelerated what we needed to achieve in evaluating our next steps for extending our SAP investments. It gave us the confidence to present our leadership team structured, achievable options for moving to SAP S/4HANA."
Company Background
British American Tobacco (BAT) is a global company with over 200 brands sold in more than 200 markets. With around 50,000 people employed across the globe, BAT produces the cigarettes chosen by approximately 1 in 8 of the world’s one billion adult smokers. BAT’s global cigarette brands include Dunhill, Kent, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike and Rothmans and the Group is also developing a portfolio of alternative nicotine products, including the vaping brand, Vype.
Executive Summary
British American Tobacco had just completed a five-year process to bring the entire company onto a single instance of a global SAP template. To plan the best path forward with the system and maximize its investment for long-term results, BAT sought to determine the benefits and logistics of moving to SAP S/4 HANA. The company specified an in-depth assessment to analyze its current system, evaluate the business benefits of SAP S/4 HANA and outline the different options for moving forward. BAT required the assessment process to provide senior management detailed options with the information they needed to make decisions about moving forward.
The ability to gather and analyze information quickly and objectively, and offer options focused on our needs, makes Syniti an established partner.”
Why Syniti
BAT selected Syniti based on its proven S/4 HANA readiness assessment process. BAT saw how the Syniti roadmap templates could accelerate the assessment process and development of detailed scenarios. Syniti also offered the ability to leverage its expertise in S/4HANA and overall SAP strategy to customize scenarios using a value framework that identified benefits alongside costs.
With the existing budget cycle driving the timeline, BAT aimed to accelerate the process of completing the assessment, including identifying roadmaps, without sacrificing the level of detail senior management required.
Syniti conducted 25 workshops to gather information about BAT’s SAP system and the areas of business involved in the project: finance, manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, procurement/sourcing, security risk and control, and human resources. Syniti culled information using a value framework to assess the benefits and costs of moving to S/4 HANA across all lines of business.
Using its knowledge, templates and framework, Syniti gathered, verified and assimilated this information, working to set timelines. That provided more time on the back end to develop roadmap scenarios customized to BAT’s specific requirements. In the end, BAT found that by using Syniti’s Data Readiness Assessment enabled it to access and act on the details within their required tight timelines while leveraging information technology management step-by-step options and clearly outlining costs and benefits along the way
“We felt that Syniti’s Data Readiness Assessment accelerated what we needed to achieve in evaluating our next steps for extending our SAP investments,” says Russ Cornick, Head of Enterprise Architecture at British American Tobacco (BAT). “It gave us the confidence to present our leadership team structured, achievable options for moving to SAP S/4HANA.”
Accelerating conversations among BAT IT leadership was just the beginning. Thanks to scenarios that detailed logistics alongside costs and benefits, BAT’s IT leadership was able to appreciate both the value case and the benefits of S/4HANA, as these messages were supported by the right level of detail. “The ability to gather and analyze information quickly and objectively, and offer options focused on our needs, makes Syniti an established partner,” says Cornick.
Why Syniti was Selected
BAT had developed an established partnership with Syniti in their migration to a single SAP system. Knowing that ever-changing technology may enhance a company’s competitive edge in the marketplace, BAT wanted to assess when and how to make the move to SAP’s next-generation S/4 HANA suite.
BAT believed an in-depth readiness assessment would benefit them in three key ways
- Leverage its existing investment in SAP technology
- Detail the benefits a move to S/4HANA would have across all areas of its business
- Provide the roadmap and sophisticated due diligence they needed to move forward.
BAT selected Syniti based on its proven data readiness assessment process. BAT saw how the Syniti roadmap templates could accelerate the assessment process and development of detailed scenarios. Syniti also offered the ability to leverage its expertise in S/4 HANA and overall SAP strategy to customize scenarios using a value framework that identified benefits alongside costs.
Implementation Highlights
- Synthesized SAP sales collateral in accordance with set timescales
- Compared multiple roadmaps, enabling all stakeholders to understand available options
- Conveyed key information at both business and technical levels across the organization
- Maximized re-use of the existing investment in SAP
- Reduced risk by leveraging other enterprises’ experiences in moving to S/4 HANA
Results
How Syniti Helped Build a Unified, Trusted Data Foundation
BAT found that the Syniti’s data readiness assessment was an approach that provided the following for BAT:
- Short-, medium-, and long-term (2, 4, and 5+ years) roadmaps showing how SAP S/4 HANA will evolve and affect BAT’s organization
- Benefits matched to potential costs for stakeholders to quickly understand
- Accelerated conversations with all parties through comprehensive, detailed information