Global automotive distribution business Inchcape plc has recently selected RISE with SAP to accelerate its digital transformation and business growth strategy. The company is one of the first UK-based businesses to run the SAP RISE program on Google Cloud in a bid to streamline global operations and enhance automaker and consumer experiences.
RISE with SAP, a Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering from the German enterprise software giant, reflects the company’s commitment to delivering flexible and scalable products and services that meet the evolving needs of customers and partners. Harnessing the power of the cloud to drive innovation and business transformation, the subscription-based SAP RISE program continues to gain traction globally and has recently added multi-brand automotive distributor and retailer Inchcape plc to its roster of customers.
As a leading player in the automotive services sector, Inchcape runs its entire business by working closely with automotive manufacturers in more than 35 countries spanning Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, and South America. Since its establishment over 150 years ago, the company operates throughout every phase of the post-factory automotive value chain for its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, aiming to deliver an efficient, customer-focused service to the market.
With the global COVID-19 pandemic pushing the trend towards omnichannel experiences where customers seek more flexibility, Inchcape needed to ensure that it had the capabilities to remain on top of data trends and that its services addressed changing customer expectations for a seamless digital experience. Acknowledging the rapidly changing economic environment, Michiel Verhoeven, Managing Director SAP UK and Ireland, stated that businesses need to optimise business and operational models and innovate to achieve future success. He explained:
“The automotive market is at an important crossroads as it is primed to take advantage of the digitalisation that is happening across industries. Inchcape is setting off on an exciting cloud journey, one where it can expect to significantly reduce tech infrastructure maintenance and operating costs, and improve financial efficiency and employee experience, globally.”
“SAP is the right partner to support Inchcape’s mission to move to the cloud,” Verhoeven emphasised.
Inchcape Selects SAP RISE Program to Migrate its Data to Google Cloud
Furthermore, Inchcape relies on SAP for many aspects of its global operations including logistics and finance, having worked with the German tech giant for several years now. As part of its latest digital transformation and business growth strategy, the company has announced that it will be moving its business-critical workloads to Google Cloud through the RISE with SAP offering.
The migration of Inchcape’s SAP systems to Google Cloud aims to help automate and create new efficiencies within the business operations, while also transforming the purchase and ownership of cars for millions of customers globally. Mark Dearnley, Chief Digital Officer at Inchcape, said that Google Cloud’s close relationship with SAP and its established technical knowledge in the field were key advantages for the company.
“Ultimately, we wanted a headache-free RISE with SAP implementation and to unlock value for automakers and consumers in all our regions, while continuing to have the choice and flexibility to modernise our 150-year old business in a way that works for us,” he detailed.
Additionally, Inchcape will also expand its SAP services to include SAP SuccessFactors, a global cloud human experience management (HXM) solution. SAP SuccessFactors will assist the company in making more informed decisions based on the data insights gathered from the solution in order to provide experiences that recognise employees’ value and consistently motivate them to achieve peak performance levels.
Moreover, this latest customer deal reinforces SAP and Google Cloud’s partnership and puts an emphasis on the two companies’ commitment to delivering convenient and cost-effective data management and analytics to major companies all over the world. Dominik Wee, Managing Director Global Automotive, Manufacturing and Energy at Google Cloud, said:
“Technical services from RISE, as well as migration services from Google Cloud and our partners, will help to eliminate technical barriers to cloud migration providing Inchcape with a foundation to digitally transform services. We are committed to providing a smooth path to the cloud for SAP and RISE customers, and we will continue to invest in infrastructure capabilities and services for them.”
