IBM > Case Studies > Operational Outsourcing: A Catalyst for Asahi Beverages' Business Growth

Operational Outsourcing: A Catalyst for Asahi Beverages' Business Growth

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Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Event-Driven Application
  • Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
Applicable Industries
  • Consumer Goods
  • Food & Beverage
Applicable Functions
  • Maintenance
  • Procurement
Use Cases
  • Inventory Management
  • Leasing Finance Automation
Services
  • Data Science Services
  • System Integration
About The Customer
Asahi Beverages is a leading beverage company formed in 2014 when it announced plans for the commercial integration of the operations of the Schweppes Australia and Asahi Premium Beverages businesses. Later that year, it extended the integration to include Independent Liquor in New Zealand. Today, the group employs more than 2,500 people across Australia and New Zealand, with manufacturing facilities and sales teams in both countries. The company relies mainly on SAP solutions to manage its extended non-alcohol business processes, from manufacturing through to sales and distribution. Asahi Beverages has expanded throughout the Australian & New Zealand region over the past few years, adding to its portfolio with new brands and businesses.
The Challenge
Asahi Beverages, a leading beverage company in Australia and New Zealand, faced a significant challenge when it acquired several Australian beverage businesses. The enlarged group needed to streamline and optimize operations even as further acquisitions joined the family. The company relied heavily on SAP solutions to manage its extended non-alcohol business processes, from manufacturing through to sales and distribution. However, with several new companies joining the group over the past few years, the Asahi Beverages team was keen to reduce system administration effort and maintenance costs. They wanted to use the savings to invest in new business applications and services. The challenge was to cut the number of IT incidents, accelerate the time for resolution of those incidents, and release valuable time for the technical teams to focus on innovation and business development.
The Solution
Asahi Beverages decided to outsource support and maintenance of its business-critical applications to IBM® Global Business Services®. The company and IBM reviewed the existing application management services contract and built a plan based on reduced incident numbers, increased innovation, and enhanced business processes. The new contract was designed to cut system maintenance fees, increase application flexibility, and accelerate development cycles. As a result, Asahi Beverages could further enhance the solutions that were rolled out to their customers, such as online services based on the SAP solutions landscape. The company also planned to leverage the SAP HANA® platform to provide additional near-real-time data analytics. IBM continued its drive to cut the number of incidents and reduce the time to resolution across all systems, generating intelligent reporting and analysis to help improve performance.
Operational Impact
  • The outsourcing of support and maintenance of business-critical applications to IBM has brought significant operational benefits to Asahi Beverages. The company has been able to sharpen its focus on business development and customer service excellence. The new ways of working provide for regular governance meetings, problem management reviews, root cause analysis reviews, and much more, all within the framework of reducing total costs. The portal greatly reduces back-office paperwork, making it significantly easier for customers to buy from and stay loyal to Asahi Beverages. By eliminating paperwork and integrating customer data with the core SAP solutions, the company gains greater insight into customer behavior, preferences, and value. The partnership with IBM has also ensured continuous coverage for critical applications, maintenance, database, and much more, at a lower cost than insourcing.
Quantitative Benefit
  • 24/7 application management support ensures that business-critical SAP solutions run smoothly at all times
  • Reduces operational costs through shared services
  • Enables expansion into new markets

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