Centrient Pharmaceuticals modernizes and simplifies IT infrastructure and supply chain planning with SAP

Dutch-based pharmaceutical company Centrient founded in 1869 as ‘Nederlandsche Gist- en Spiritusfabriek’, continues to invest in digital technologies to modernize its business with SAP solutions.

Centrient faced new challenges brought on by supply chain issues, regulatory compliance, and cost pressure. The manufacturer sought an IT services provider capable of optimizing its IT infrastructure, processes, and compliance requirements to help with these challenges. In the second half of 2021, Centrient selected Atos as its IT services partner.

Atos relied on its extensive SAP expertise to design and implement a robust model to address Centrient’s concerns and needs. Leveraging Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud for SAP, Atos implemented a series of solutions and services, including:

• End-to-end single global IT infrastructure
• Optimized and integrated core business processes
• Global support services
• IT governance services
• Hybrid cloud-based Atos Adaptive Workplace (Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365)
• Migrating systems and upgrade to HANA (in 2020, Atos already migrated business warehouse and solution manager landscapes to Azure).

As a result, Centrient now has a flexible and scalable digital core that meets regulatory compliance requirements. Business processes have been standardized and harmonized, offering more accurate reporting across the SAP landscape while IT costs have significantly reduced and end-user satisfaction has increased.

To continue its digital transformation with SAP, Centrient also deployed SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP) in November 2021. The manufacturer chose to engage with Flexso, an SAP Gold Partner with +300 SAP consultants, for this project. Before SAP IBP, Centrient was leveraging Excel for its supply chain planning. It chose IBP due to its “user-friendly Excel-like interface” and integrated well with its SAP ERP environment. Its production planning and knowledge sharing are now more reliable, and it will continue to invest and test in forecasting simulations to better predict production, demand, customer deliveries, and more.

More businesses are standardizing, simplifying, and optimizing their ways of working. Multiple data sources and a complex application environment can lead to high costs, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities. According to PAC’s CxO 2020 – Investment Priorities Survey in the Netherlands, 33% of businesses sampled want to reduce the number of different business applications across their estate, while another 23% said their existing business applications landscape does not align with their digital strategy. Therefore, companies are looking for IT service providers such as Atos to bring greater agility to their business while simultaneously cutting costs.