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Vitramax, one of the largest digital transformation projects implemented in Turkey in 2020, has brought Eczacıbaşı building materials to the agenda of technology leaders. SAPinsider, which has close to half a million members from 103 countries, shared the secrets behind Vitramax's success with those who guide technology in the business world.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.
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ISTANBUL (TR) - The pandemic, which triggered change in many areas, also paved the way for digital transformation. A study last year by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed that more than 80% of companies plan to accelerate their digital transformation, largely in response to the pandemic. Eczacıbaşı building materials (EYAP), which decided to meet its business goals with technology before the pandemic, entered the agenda of World technology leaders with its digital transformation project, which it completed in 13 months and was launched at the beginning of this year, despite its remote working order. SAPinsider, which is a member of 83% of IT leaders in Fortune 500 companies, shared the secrets of Eyap's successful digital transformation project called Vitramax with the leaders of the technology world in the latest issue of its magazine, which it has published for 20 years. The magazine commented that Eczacıbaşı Vitra, which has grown its international distribution network in the field of building products with intensive purchasing activities for many years, has adopted digital transformation with its big picture vision to be more agile and increase the customer experience.

The biggest SAP project of 2020

Speaking to SAPinsider, Eczacıbaşı Building Products IT Director and Digital Leader Alp Güldür said the following about the Vitramax project, which went live this year: “We undersigned the biggest SAP project of our country in 2020. We chose SAP S/4HANA to benefit from a holistic program that optimizes and digitizes key business processes from planning to production. In addition to 19 different modules of Smart ERP, we have deployed 5 cloud-based modules that will transform our customer contact points. We increased customer and employee satisfaction by using SAP Fiori to standardize processes and create user-friendly screens. In addition, SAP's new generation field management solution was commissioned for the first time in Turkey within EYAP.”

Despite the pandemic, it was done in 13 months

Pointing out that in order to be successful in digital transformation, it is necessary to deploy a modern technology architecture and data platform shaped according to the needs of the business lines, Güldür said, “As the IT team, we only played an enabling role. The owner of the project was the business lines at Eczacıbaşı VitrA. Another important factor in the success of the project was that it received full support from the senior management. Vitramax was completed in a short period of 13 months as a result of the Eczacıbaşı team of approximately 250 people working with a consultant team of 100 people from 5 different contractors, namely SAP Turkey, Vektora, Felece, Improva and GoLive. Inputs were collected from 5 different companies in 4 locations: Turkey, Germany, England and France. Throughout this process, the studies were carried out successfully in 4 different languages ​​with individuals from different time zones. This showed us how important planning and organization is for the success of digital transformation.”

Requirements map was drawn in 4 months

Stating that they looked at themselves in the mirror and decided where they wanted to go, Güldür also touched upon the preparatory work of the project: “We worked with Deloitte and SAP Turkey for 4 months to draw up our requirements map. We asked all project stakeholders about their 3-year visions. We gathered the opinions of expert users in the logistics, sales, e-commerce and finance teams. At every stage of the project, we made adjustments based on the feedback we received from the lines of business and project teams.”

Shipments increased by 30%

Stating that they increased their production and shipping output without the need for additional human resources after taking the digital transformation project live, IT Director Güldür drew attention to the 30% increase in shipments and said: Our ability to meet offers and deliver orders to customers has increased. While we were able to ship 300 thousand pieces per month before Vitramax, we increased this figure to 430 thousand shortly after the project was launched, without increasing human resources.”