The migration from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) to SAP S/4HANA for digital transformation, which was completed in September 2020, has brought about significant benefits for Australian renewable energy producer Hydro Tasmania.
Despite another tough year underscored by the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Hydro Tasmania has achieved significant breakthroughs and has transformed the company for long-term growth. In October, Guy Barnett, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, stated in a press release that the government business enterprise has delivered a strong dividend return for Tasmania. Supported by the favourable trading conditions in the National Electricity Market, the annual report revealed that Hydro Tasmania generated a profit of $217 million, which was 20% higher than the corporate target of $180 million.
With more than 1,100 employees, Hydro Tasmania is the country’s largest producer of renewable energy that manages a massive asset portfolio of 30 power stations and 50 major dams. After many years of relying the management of financial activities on the German tech giant’s on-premises enterprise resource planning (ERP) system SAP ECC, the organisation shifted to SAP S/4HANA — SAP’s intelligent, real-time ERP solution —to minimise manual accounting processes and lay the groundwork for future innovation by creating an intelligent, data-driven platform.
According to SAP, Hydro Tasmania has reaped significant benefits during the one-year period following the completion of the project. Aside from enhanced customer experience, the remarkable results also include faster system response times, which have decreased IT concerns and enabled employees to devote more time to value-added functional improvements in processes.
Commending Hydro Tasmania’s digital transformation program, SAP Australia and New Zealand (SAP ANZ) President and Managing Director Damien Bueno stated:
“Since converting its ERP solution to SAP S/4HANA just over 12 months ago, Hydro Tasmania has reaped the benefits of building intelligence into the core of its organisation. Its employees are empowered to work more collaboratively and with greater visibility of the organisation’s operations, with time and resources delivered back into the business.”
Migrating to SAP S/4HANA to Accelerate Digital Transformation
Moreover, Bueno believes that the SAP S/4HANA project is more crucial than ever in the country’s renewable energy industry, which is growing more competitive and focused on cost-saving measures. He went on to emphasise that Hydro Tasmania’s digital transformation will also serve as a foundation for more potential benefits to be realised this year and in the future.
Meanwhile, Tristan Coleman, Manager of IT Solutions at Hydro Tasmania, explained that they initially looked for an “innovative and reliable” tech partner to simplify existing processes and lay the groundwork for an extensive digital transformation. On the benefits the organisation has obtained since moving to SAP S/4HANA, he further shared:
“In the year since we converted to SAP S/4HANA, the platform has continued to enhance the user experience for staff and streamline business processes. Our employees have faster, more transparent data visibility, which is helping them to work more efficiently and collaboratively with integrated cloud solutions such as SuccessFactors.”
“They have mobile access to the platform anytime and anywhere, even if we have someone located remotely in the field with poor mobile reception,” Coleman added.
Proud to be chosen as the strategic partner to back Hydro Tasmania’s SAP S/4HANA migration project, Nick Mulcahy, Chief Executive Officer at Zag (part of Accenture), expressed delight in witnessing how the transition to SAP S/4HANA has had a positive impact on employees and the wider business operations.
Last year, the Tasmanian renewable energy producer also became a finalist in the Best Run SAP Intelligent ERP Enterprise category of the SAP Best Run Awards for ANZ. Hydro Tasmania’s digital transformation program, which undertook a remote implementation process for 10 months, has so far allowed them to achieve the following benefits and outcomes:
- Increased visibility into accounting processes.
- Made access to data analytics more efficient.
- Streamlined processes that were once operated manually off a spreadsheet.
- Provided a more intuitive user experience.
- Delivered better interface, higher availability, and faster performance for frontline employees.
