ERP<\/a> transformation rested on demonstrating how inconsistent processes and the lack of standardized best practices hindered the organization\u2019s ability to respond quickly and remain competitive in the market.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen we went to the Board to secure the budget for the digital transformation, we didn\u2019t start by talking about technology,\u201d Sian sharedi. \u201cWe started by discussing what the business needed to achieve its strategic objectives faster. Then, we listed the obstacles preventing that progress along with the technology capabilities required to remove those barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n
By translating technical challenges and opportunities into business language, Siani helped Ipiranga\u2019s leadership understand that innovation without a strong foundation would not take the business to the level of efficiency required.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy identifying these root causes, we were able to avoid a common trap,\u201d she explained. \u201cInstead of investing in new technology without fixing the foundation, we shifted our strategy. We refocused on\u00a0 tools to process integration, governance, and operational discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting approval for a big investment<\/p>\n
Ipiranga partnered with SAP to assess critical processes across operations, finance, and commercial operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSAP brought in business experts to pinpoint how a heavily customized ERP system was slowing decision-making and limiting visibility and innovation,\u201d Siani said. Rather than focusing on SAP functionalities, they asked fundamental business questions: What does your financial process look like? How does your order-to-cash process work?\u201d<\/p>\n
Armed with these insights and a clear understanding of what was slowing decision-making, Siani returned to the board with a clear message: \u201cFix the foundation, or transformation will fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, she got approval to implement a new ERP system, driven by business value and ROI. What ensued was a massive integration effort, with a targeted go-live scheduled for December 31, 2026.<\/p>\n
With support from Accenture and SAP, Ipiranga adopted a clean core strategy, ensuring minimal customization and long-term scalability. Overall, 104 legacy systems were analyzed, 64 systems will be integrated and 40 decommissioned, and over 750 interfaces are being built. Of course, all developments had to pass strict governance gates to guarantee the clean core.<\/p>\n
People driving change<\/p>\n
Technology may enable transformation, but people make it successful. Over 350 professionals from a variety of business and technical teams are involved in the ongoing project. Crucially, leadership played a direct role. With executive sponsorship and transparent communication, resistance to change has been minimal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were careful not to impose change, but to explain the impacts clearly and discuss them with a multidisciplinary team,\u201d said the IT expert, who is also a rowing champion. \u201cWe made sure to prepare teams early and embed change management at every phase.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team prioritized initiatives with the highest return on investment (ROI) and paused non-essential projects. They also selected world-class partners\u2014including Accenture as the implementation partner and Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the hyperscaler\u2014to help ensure a high-quality, successful transformation.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s transformation is now in the middle of a critical milestone (SIT1). The expected ROI is over $40 million, but more importantly, the company has built something far more valuable than a new system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will have a solid operational foundation, integrated, scalable ,and efficient processes, and a culture that understands how transformation goes beyond technology. Technology is simply the path,\u201d Siani said.<\/p>\n
Ipiranga\u2019s journey offers a powerful reminder that digital transformation is not about tools; it\u2019s about assertive fundamentals. RCA can reveal issues technology alone cannot fix. It demonstrates that preparation is as important as execution, and that clean core strategies reduce long-term complexity. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn effect, the path to successful transformation doesn\u2019t start with innovation. It starts with clarity, discipline, clear goals that together determine the correct technology,\u201d Siani concluded.<\/p>\n
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive news, highlights, and updates from the SAP News Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Digital transformation is often associated with cutting-edge technologies like AI. But according to Mirela Siani, real transformation starts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21036],"tags":[27919,8521,2619,2241,9695],"class_list":["post-66659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sap","tag-and-energy","tag-digital-transformation","tag-gas","tag-oil","tag-sap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}