North American integrated construction solutions company Graham Construction aims to establish an intelligent enterprise with SAP by leveraging the industry cloud solution, ETM.next, developed by global business consulting firm BearingPoint.
Graham Construction has been continuously growing since its founding in 1926 to become one of the leading and fully-integrated construction firms in North America. With the implementation of ETM.next in its operations, the company has further strengthened its relationship with SAP following its recent growth through larger projects in new regions.
Matt Gramblicka, Vice President of IT and Enterprise Applications at Graham Construction, explained that when it comes to bidding on construction projects, inflation and supply chain interruptions have raised the risk for any company using construction supplies. He further added that consistent performance across the board is achieved by adhering to well-defined protocols, standards of excellence, and a clear understanding of what’s required of everyone involved in a project.
Meanwhile, in terms of the company’s partnership with the German enterprise software giant, Gramblicka said:
“We’re on a transformational journey with SAP that will help us connect data for visibility across the business including labor, equipment, material, and subcontractors.”
SAP and its partners place their primary emphasis on developing industry-specific solutions that assist in the optimization of end-to-end processes and the development of new business models that are differentiated from existing ones. ETM.next is one of the most up-to-date industrial cloud solutions, and it makes use of cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to digitalize and automate business processes while also enabling the creation of engaging user experiences.
Building an Intelligent Enterprise with SAP Solutions
Furthermore, Gramblicka stated that Graham Construction required a platform that was powerful enough to manage its expanding operations, particularly in terms of integrating its financial core into its staff, payroll, and machinery.
“SAP has consistently added capabilities that are more user-friendly and efficient process-wise. We needed a fully integrated system where people complete tasks once, and that information flows all the way through to finance, HR, procurement, and the field who can use it for reporting and insights supporting that project and the business overall,” he revealed.
The following are some of the key objectives of Graham Construction’s SAP transformation project:
- Assist employees in tracking the availability of equipment based on their proximity to a site, which will help keep shipping costs down.
- AI and advanced analytics can be used to digitalize and automate operations, which can then replace manual, paper-based record keeping.
- Through the collection of data in real-time, relevant information for billing management can be displayed.
According to Gramblicka, the company now intends to increase its efficiency gains across other project locations. This is after successfully handling its back-office processes using SAP’s intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) system SAP S/4HANA and managing its e employees utilizing SAP SuccessFactors human resources (HR) solutions. Commenting on how leveraging ETM.next has so far helped the business, he added:
“Using ETM.next, we can better manage our internal supply chain network. We can quickly identify how to get each project up and running efficiently, making sure sites have the required equipment to get the job done. Over time, we’ll keep our utilization up so equipment isn’t sitting idle anywhere.”
