Tell us about your current role, the applications you worked with prior to SAP and how they compare?

I am currently working as the ERP Program Manager for RPC Technologies, a small multinational Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing business. When I started in 2016, RPC were in the middle of a stalled NetSuite and third partner applications solution implementation. The challenge we faced is that we are a vertically integrated supply chain utilising project costing and discrete manufacturing across six subsidiaries in five countries to deliver value added engineering and manufacturing solutions.

Our legacy system was based around NetSuite, with a multitude of costly third party applications to integrate and perform functions not available in the cloud ERP. A post go-live survey indicated we were spending too much time reconciling data between systems to close end of month, data integrity was compromised by the integrations and the cost of maintaining the systems became untenable.

After reviewing the business requirements we went to market looking for a cloud-based solution that would meet both our project costing and manufacturing business objectives whilst enabling us to report from a sound, financial digital core in a consolidated manner. SAP S/4Hana Cloud Essentials was the only solution to meet our objectives. In just over 12 months we have achieved the following milestones: 

Achievements:

• Apr 2019: SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain, Projects, SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud in parent company, RPC Technologies and subsidiary RPC Singapore (15 weeks)
• Aug 2019: SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain & Projects Financials and Projects in RPC India and RPC Malaysian Subsidiaries (4 weeks)
• Aug 2019: Winner of SAP #thebestrun Award for Excellence in SAP Analytics
• Sept 2019: Group Reporting and Consolidation across parent and subsidiaries. SAP Success Factors Payroll Go Live – Australia & Singapore
• Feb 2020: RPC Pipe Systems Subsidiary Go Live – SAP S/4Hana Cloud Financial Core, Supply Chain, Discrete Manufacturing Processes, Quality Management, Enterprise Asset Management (15 weeks)

Upcoming Milestones:

• July 2020 SAP Concur Expense Management Go Live
• Sept 2020 SAP Success Factors Go Live with integration to SAP S4HC Essentials
• May 2021 SAP S4HC RPC Indonesia Subsidiary Go Live
  

What is the best thing about working in SAP technology?

The best thing about working in SAP is the worldwide community of support and knowledge. As more and more businesses leverage best practices and streamline their business model to cloud, the focus shifts from capital heavy IT infrastructure to lean best practice businesses who enable their people and processes utilise new technology like RPA (robotic process automation), predictive learning, data analytics and IoT to grow the business in maturity and agility to respond to the market.

This year I have been appointed to the SAP S/4 Hana APJ Product Advisory Council to provide feedback to SAP S/4Hana Cloud on the technology roadmap for cloud and provide feedback on product development to meet the requirements of the local Asia-Pacific Region. RPC Technologies was the winner of the Data & Analytics Category in SAP Australia’s 2019 #TheBestRun Awards for our outstanding Projects Forecasting Model. This model allows our 25 project managers, spread across the APAC region the capability to review Project vs Budget vs Forecast using real time API data from S/4Hana. This has been a huge advantage to our company during the isolation of the COVID-19 crisis as we can review our 200 monthly projects forecasts in an hour via Teams Meeting real time with 100% accuracy and confidence.

SAP S/4Hana requires leaders with an ability to bring people’s vision to life, empathy to the everyday struggles of getting the job done, and communication skills to drive vision into results. These are all areas that women have shown to be strong leaders and collaborators. The long-established SAP community thrives on diversity and the sharing of knowledge. In my view, the more you contribute the more you get out of it

What advice would you give you to women working in the SAP ecosystem and looking to advance her career?

My advice to women working in the SAP ecosystem is to be empathetic listen to your customers, peers and employees. Each person you meet, has a message for you. The post implementation survey I did after the NetSuite go live could be viewed as failure by some. Instead, I took the power in the words of my peers to drive change and build a system that has enabled continuous digital transformation.

What female inspiration have you had in your career?

Listen, Share and Collaborate to inspire more women into working with SAP. I am particularly inspired by Paula Kensington, CEO of CFO Conversations. She has moderated many CFO breakfasts that I have been invited to. Paula has an incredible positive energy, which highlights the achievements and journeys of inspiring change-makers. She has the motto of the three jobs you must do – Your job to your company, your job to manage your personal brand and your job to the environment and sustainability. A great concept of value, integrity and self-worth!

SAPTURE, feature women working in SAP and making it happen. To be featured, or to nominate someone to be featured, contact danielle@sapture.com.au