SAP Hears Good Things in The UK

News about SAP implementations in the UK has been coming steadily, and for the most part it has been promising.

Of note, Premier Foods implemented an SAP system in 2006, and is reportedly pleased with how the platform is helping them improve processes. Premier Foods’ goal was to seamlessly integrate the front and back offices, and almost four years into their implementation SAP is working well to that end. From now until 2012, Premier Foods is planning to use the solution to streamline and cut costs for back office operations. Premier, which produces Hovis bread and Mr. Kipling apple pies (among other food items), stated they already had a pretty lean back office, and that with SAP they’re hoping to reduce the number of duplications.

The other SAP-UK news item from this week describes an SAP partner implementing SAP financials for United Stationers, to help manage distribution and product lists. All in all, the news is not much for a company like SAP—a software giant with many implementations globally, but it is a good sign. Given the recent departure of Leo Apotheker and the company’s subsequent return to the co-CEO model—and of course the barrage of bad press they received for steep prices and slow implementations—it’s definitely good to hear customers singing SAP’s praises.

When it comes to a company of SAP’s size and stature, making guesses as to the effect of certain problems is tricky. SAP’s products may seem outdated, but to see a company satisfied with a 6-year deployment process does suggest that SAP isn’t doing everything wrong.

Tags: SAP