Like performing open heart surgery on an awake patient
With freight moving 24/7 all over the world, the message from DSV, one of the world's largest transport and logistics companies, was clear: The upgrade of its vital and global SAP platform had to be completely smooth and hassle-free.
Whether you need to fly lions from Korea to the USA, transport 385,000 tons of concrete parts through the streets of Copenhagen, or ship sensitive equipment to Alaska, DSV is ready to help you. Since 1976, DSV has grown from a group of small hauliers to one of the world's largest transport and logistics companies.
Like any large and global company, DSV manages its day-to-day business finances from an enterprise resource platform. Such platform ensures that all data and financial management rest in one place.
Digitalisation is key to DSV, entailing always to ensure that the finance platform is prepared for the future. Thus, last year, DSV reached out to Deloitte for assistance with a technical upgrade of the platform to SAP S/4HANA.
Timely delivery
DSV allocated approximately 200 people to the project to test that everything worked according to plan. At the same time, Deloitte established a team of 35 dedicated SAP and IT consultants in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, as well as a group of migration experts in Portugal who worked alongside the DSV IT team throughout the project.
"Upgrading might sound simple. But it is not like upgrading an app on your iPhone. It is like upgrading the operating system of your iPhone. For DSV, it is the main financial system used globally," elaborates Palle Juhl Andersen, Partner in Deloitte.
The first step was to draw a road map of who should do what – and when. Then the consultants began digging into the technical parts, touching DSV's most fundamental data. And on 12 February 2022, the new SAP S/4HANA solution was ready to go live.
After the platform was live, the consultants stayed on for a couple of months to ensure that the system worked during the monthly and quarterly reporting.
"One of the keys to this success was the DSV top management, who was actively involved in the project to ensure that the right decisions were made at the right time. This involvement enabled us to pursue an ambitious timeline and follow it," explains Palle Juhl Andersen, Partner in Deloitte .