In a bid to future-proof its operations, Winning Group — an Australian provider of third-party logistics services for retailers across appliance, bedding, fitness, and furniture categories — has recently upgraded its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system by deploying SAP on GCP (Google Cloud Platform) in its distribution centre in New Zealand.
In July, SAP and Google expanded their strategic partnership as part of RISE with SAP — the German enterprise software giant’s latest initiative to accelerate SAP S/4HANA migrations. With this, a growing number of SAP customers are realising the potential of the entire Google landscape of technologies that they can integrate with various SAP applications. A slew of new clients have joined the marketing push for the newly defined SAP and Google alliance, including global automotive supply chain and distribution firm Inchcape plc, which implemented RISE with SAP to migrate its SAP ECC systems to GCP, and appliances business Winning Group, which piloted SAP on GCP in its newly launched operations in New Zealand.
During a session titled SAP Modernisation: The Gift That Keeps On Giving in the Best of Industry Summit held by Google Cloud, Winning Group Chief Technology Officer John Hanna explained that the conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic led the company to rethink its long-term plans. He said that Winning Group’s strategy is centered on future-proofing the operations, maximising technological investments, and growing the business by scaling across different geographies and regions.
“What we have seen over the past 18 months is a significant surge in online and that’s expected. It has been a great experience for us. The market hasn’t changed around legendary care and service, which introduces the critical factor around employees and customers,” he added.
Deploying SAP on GCP Drives Digital Transformation in Winning Group’s NZ Operations
According to Hanna, an ERP overhaul is one of “three or possibly four programs of change” that the business is pursuing across the board. Winning Group, well known for its Appliances Online e-commerce store, successfully inaugurated a distribution facility and third-party logistics service in Auckland last July. Furthermore, Hanna said that the SAP deployment on GCP has allowed the company to test two key priorities in scaling operations in New Zealand given the new ERP environment, which is the first for its business strategy.
Aside from the SAP on GCP project, initiatives such as end-to-end supply chain modernisation, e-commerce, and data infrastructure are also in place. Hanna maintained:
“I’m pretty confident that what we’ve done in the past six months with the SAP implementation on GCP, [we can look at] how we are going to expand that offering potentially over the next two to three years aligned to our strategic programs of change.”
Additionally, the company is focused on utilising the tools and use cases from Google, SAP, and other services that are currently available in order to drive data maturity as a retailer both online and in-store. Hanna stated that any data infrastructure implemented in the business operations will need to “evolve over time,” involving input from a variety of internal functions as well as partners such as SAP and Google.
Moreover, Deloitte NZ was the chosen implementation partner for the project, revealing in a presentation titled Your SAP S/4 Cloud Digital Core Journey and our Customer Stories during NZSUG’s event in July that the ERP system used was SAP S/4HANA. The consulting firm’s slide deck also cited Winning Group CTO Hanna’s description of the program, noting that:
“This is seen as a lighthouse project for the Winning Group, providing a group-wide platform that will future-proof the Australian operations.”