Uniformity required
BMT’s journey to become a more data-driven company started with the introduction of an SAP information management system. This SAP S/4HANA-based system spans all core domains of the BMT Group: from sales to facilities, from HR to production. “The platform centralizes all data in the cloud and enables clear and uniform reporting. This uniformity used to be a challenge for BMT,” adds Pieter Delaere, analytics consultant at delaware. “For example, the definition of a long-term employee absence differed from office to office, ranging from longer than a month to around 6 months. This resulted in nonharmonized – and useless – data points. The solution was to harmonize data definitions.”
The shift from fragmented to centralized and unified data management brought many benefits to BMT. “More transparency, cost savings, improved efficiency, high customer satisfaction and a direct impact on P&L,” lists Stijn. “The platform answers the who, what, where, how and how many, but also the why. Is the turnover generated by X subsidiary lower than it was last quarter and why? It’s easily possible find the cause via the SAP data platform and to view a detailed analysis of the data.”