Diageo, the renowned producer of premium beverages, including Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, has recently announced a five-year business transformation program in collaboration with SAP and IBM. This initiative, aimed at improving Diageo’s processes across the 180 countries it serves, is the largest investment in technology and services by the company to date.
The program, which is fully global in nature, is expected to revolutionize Diageo’s IT environment by introducing market-leading technology-powered intuitive processes to provide more information for quick and informed decision-making. This transformation will enhance Diageo’s business resilience in light of a constantly evolving external landscape, improve its customer service, and enable the company to adapt better to a fast-changing consumer base.
The program involves moving to RISE with SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, with IBM Consulting’s support. This cloud-based model will help simplify and support Diageo’s IT infrastructure in a unified way. IBM Consulting, known for supporting client transformations and migrations to the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud platform, has been selected to lead the project.
The five-year program comprises several elements designed to transform Diageo’s finance operations in several areas. Advanced workflow solutions will facilitate more effective customer engagement and better customer service. By moving to a single operating platform, Diageo will simplify its technology support model and IT landscape, making it easier for the company to do business and evolve amid changing consumer trends and market needs.
The program will also transform Diageo’s performance reporting capabilities, providing the company with better insight into trade and growth opportunities. Finally, the digitization of controls and compliance will make the business more robust, resilient, and adaptable to changing market conditions.
Lavanya Chandrashekar, the Chief Financial Officer at Diageo, stated that “this partnership with IBM and SAP demonstrates our continued investment in digital transformation. It will enable greater agility in how we respond to our global consumer and customer needs. It will provide us with world-class actionable insights and enhanced data capabilities to support growth while allowing us to be more efficient in our day-to-day operations.”
According to Scott Russell, the Executive Board Member for Customer Success at SAP, “success in today’s disruptive consumer goods industry lies in navigating unpredictable supply chains, managing ongoing macro-economic volatility and staying one step ahead of ever-shifting customer demands. Through our continued partnership with Diageo, we’re proud to support them in building a more resilient business that is enhancing the customer experience and can adapt to rapidly changing market pressures, realizing its vision to revolutionize the consumer goods industry.”
Rahul Kalia, the Managing Partner at IBM Consulting, UK & Ireland, added that “IBM is proud to partner with Diageo and SAP to bring our global business and digital transformation experience on this exciting journey.”
In conclusion, Diageo’s latest five-year business transformation program, in partnership with SAP and IBM, is set to revolutionize its IT environment and enhance its business resilience while improving customer service and adapting to changing consumer trends.