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Case study

The challenge

After a series of acquisitions, a North American specialty manufacturer of tubular technology for gas and oil wanted to integrate and streamline the operations it inherited to reduce IT costs and improve suboptimal processes. The primary challenge was to tie together the various enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems it had acquired. The client also wanted to automate its paper-based business activities to free up staff to take on strategic activities. To tackle these challenges, the manufacturer turned to Cognizant.

Our approach

Benchmarks to improve the quality of the manufacturer’s processes were set. Our experts then visited the company’s five North American facilities, studied its operations and reviewed its documentation to better understand its processes. We used our "Quadra D" (define, discover, deep dive and deliver) framework, which includes an as-is analysis, updated business cases, functional and technical architecture, budget and plan, and a roadmap execution plan.

Our oil & gas technology experts devised a strategy based on our investigations that would consolidate the company’s four existing ERP systems. Because the manufacturer also wanted to reduce IT costs, we suggested an upgraded SAP-based architecture.

SAP-based architecture to consolidate four ERP systems

We designed an SAP-based architecture to decrease IT costs using a two-tier ERP solution and by decommissioning multiple custom applications. Our proposals are now under consideration for the company’s future strategy.

Identified

65% savings in IT operations costs

Advised

on how to improve suboptimal processes

Recommended

automation as a strategy to free staff for strategic activities