Sony Latin America transforms business with SAP

At Sony Latin America, each separate country organisation reported directly to Sony headquarters in Japan. There was no system in place to capitalise on the economies of scale that 18 organisations could benefit from when dealing with suppliers.

As part of an SAP implementation project in Latin America, the CEO of Sony Latin America envisioned a centralised business model in that region. This went beyond a straightforward SAP implementation and required business transformation expertise.

Sony Latin America engaged IBM Business Consulting Services for the SAP implementation and to act as a change agent and facilitator for the business model transformation. The solution consisted of a single SAP instance for all 14 countries in three languages. Ongoing production support (managed through a five-year contract) is provided by IBM Application Management Services.

There have been several tangible benefits as a result of the consolidation of Sony's Latin American region, and the SAP implementation that supports the new business model, including large scale reductions in inventory, better demand planning and supply forecasting, improved information from suppliers and shortened transportation times (inbound and outbound).

Sony Latin America has also improved its customer relationship management to its dealers, improving service to its traditional large dealerships and enabling it to expand its direct business with smaller and more numerous dealers.