Amara Raja Group Unlocks Digital Transformation Journey with SAP® S/4HANA

·         Rolls out S/4HANA solution across 6 group companies and 14 business verticals

·         Go-Live enabled by innovative remote collaboration tools during the lockdown period

June 17, 2020: Amara Raja Group has deployed an intelligent enterprise platform on SAP® S/4HANA to drive the digital transformation across all six of its group companies and 14 business verticals to support their future growth plans. Amara Raja collaborated with Accenture for this implementation, marking the completion of the group’s migration from legacy ERP systems to a nimble, future-ready enterprise platform.

The project was completed amidst the nationwide- lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic by leveraging innovative remote collaboration tools and new ways of remote working. For instance, the User Acceptance Test (UAT), end user training and the cutover transition from older IT systems were entirely executed remotely with minimal business disruption, steered by Amara Raja’s IDEA project team consisting of business leaders, functional and subject matter experts and software professionals and supported by the leadership team.

The deployment will enable Amara Raja Group to automate and harmonize business processes, and seamlessly integrate data across the group. It will also enable easy and timely access to analytics-driven business insights for rapid and informed decision making.

The project will enable the group to automate core business processes including production planning materials and inventory management, quality control, plant maintenance, finance and accounting, human resources, sales & distribution and customer service functions including warranty management. In addition to implementing all the core modules of SAP S/4HANA, Amara Raja has also implemented the latest HANA modules like SAP Transport Management, Extended Warehouse Management, Vendor Invoice Management, SAP Analytics Cloud, Export-Import Solution, SAP Governance and SAP Risk and Controls to automate and integrate processes across multiple businesses and functions.

Jayadev Galla, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, Amara Raja Group said, “The SAP S/4HANA deployment is a key milestone in our technology modernization journey and will help us drive innovation in our business processes to be a digitally enabled environment.  This is not just an IT transformation project but is a business transformation lever for the group that will make our decision-making process more agile and support strategic growth plans. Driven by virtual collaboration tools, this project is also a testament to the resilience demonstrated by our teams in the face of the adversities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“In a world where enterprises and business models are constantly being disrupted by the rapid pace of innovation and dynamic market trends, we believe that leading-edge technology can prove to be a game changer.  We are confident that our new intelligent enterprise platform on SAP S/4HANA will help us build a strong digital core and support our future business requirements. We have been ably supported by Accenture in this project, and value the technology and domain expertise that they brought to this journey,” said Kishore Hirani, Chief Information Officer at Amara Raja Group.

“The adoption of digital technologies is setting the stage for future innovations in this new normal while ensuring business continuity.” said Sajith Simon, Vice President & Head of Sales, South India and Sri Lanka, SAP India Subcontinent. “With the move to SAP S/4HANA, Amara Raja Group has laid the foundation to stay ahead of the digitization curve and provide better customer experiences.”

“In a highly disrupted market, agility and speed are crucial to business success,” said Kanwar Mohan Singh, who leads Technology for Accenture in India. “This implementation will enable Amara Raja to transform critical enterprise functions from finance and supply chain to sales and customer service, and enable businesses to transact, analyze and predict in real time in an increasingly unpredictable world,” stated in the press release.

About Amara Raja Group is amongst India’s leading business conglomerates with interests spanning verticals from the production of lead-acid batteries (AMARON brand), power conversion products, sheet metal products, precision components, electronic manufacturing services, Infrastructure Development, industrial services to food processing. Amara Raja Group of companies with their flagship company Amara Raja Batteries Ltd are one of the largest manufacturers of Automotive and Industrial batteries in India. Amara Raja Group employs a workforce of more than 16,000 people. Ends