CO-OP Islami to implement SAP to maximise business performance

Set to go live on January 1 2006, the SAP platform is expected to decrease Co-op Islami's operational costs, standardize business processes and spearhead its regional / national growth.

Co-op Islami will implement SAP ECC5.0 covering the entire departmental processes from Finance and HR to Plant Maintenance. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Infotech Limited, one of the globally reputed firms, have been selected as the implementation partners for the project. Termed as PROJECT EDGE (Enhance and Develop the Growth of Excellence) by the Co-op Islami CEO himself, a team of 14 key users have been identified for successfully implementation of the processes.

The selection of SAP is a result of Co-op Islami's philosophy to invest in knowledge management and the belief that innovation, speed and efficient operations can provide it with a common platform and standard technology for managing business processes.

Talking about the new ERP, Mr. Sushil Kumar P, Strategic Information Systems Manager at Co-op Islami, said: "We have a well-defined vision and strategy to be the pioneer and global leader in the food industry and the five-year strategic plan encompasses the need for better IT infrastructure as an enabler for fuelling this growth. SAP would be one of the key enablers for us by bringing in a new culture of best practices and thoughts. It would also help our employees in building competencies which are required for being competitive and innovative."

Factors that contributed to Co-op Islami's move to SAP were a need for real time, online information backed by a more robust, current technology. SAP will be implemented in all Co-op Islami locations across the UAE over three phases. The first phase will cover all the operational modules while the second and third phases will cover BW, SEM, CRM and SRM modules, which would be rolled out over a period of 2-3 years.

By choosing SAP to implement a single, integrated technology platform across the Group, Co-op Islami can more rapidly achieve the benefits of the combined organization and provide with a strategic and competitive advantage going forward.

Talking about Co-op Islami's decision to implement SAP, Phil Blower, Sales Director, SAP Arabia, said:

"Co-op Islami joins the list of corporates that have chosen to employ a solution that is seamlessly integrated. SAP will help the group re-engineer its business processes across various modules to enhance customer relationships, boost partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP ERP will help Co-op Islami set up efficient tools to support various departmental processes from execution to accounting, analysis besides sales and distribution as a whole and of each individual office."