At a recent forum hosted by the Thailand SAP User Group (THSUG), Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited and Namsiang Group — two notable SAP Thailand customers — emphasized that cloud computing and digital transformation will remain key priorities in terms of driving business growth and fostering resilience against potential economic downturns.
As digital transformation becomes an increasingly important priority for businesses across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, SAP is doubling its efforts to engage with partners and provide them with the tools and resources they need to enable their customers’ success. In 2020, the German tech giant enabled its partners in Thailand to deliver cloud solutions and services, supporting them as they help their customers navigate the ever-changing landscape of enterprise technology.
As organizations across the globe revisit their budgets in light of the economic headwinds, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited and Namsiang Group have shared their transformation stories at the “Thailand SAP User Group Forum: Journey to Sustainability Development & Best Run Awards Ceremony”. These companies have made great strides in increasing their resilience against these challenges, setting a strong example for others to follow.
SAP Indochina Managing Director Atul Tuli stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the urgency with which businesses in Thailand must undergo digital transformation if they are to improve their responsiveness, speed, and ability to make data-driven decisions. He added:
“SAP has been at the forefront of leading our customers through the pandemic and I look forward to empowering our Thai customers and enriching technology ecosystems for creating sustainable growth.”
Teaming Up with SAP Thailand and Accenture
In 2020, integrated petrochemicals corporation Indorama Ventures worked with SAP and Accenture on the IVL Olympus project, with the goal of becoming a future-ready intelligent enterprise and saving $600 million by 2023. The objective of the company’s move to replace over 70 IT systems with a unified enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform is to create synergistic benefits for our businesses through a more comprehensive understanding of data and information.
During THSUG’s event, SK Agrawal, President and Program Director of Global ERP and Digital Transformation at Indorama Ventures explained that the speed with which new acquisitions can be integrated can be increased by implementing standard processes, master data, and streamlined reporting across all business activities. As planned, Indorama Ventures has become a dominant player in the high-value surfactant market after completing this year’s acquisition of Oxiteno, a Brazilian chemical solutions manufacturer.
With the recent purchase, Indorama Ventures has increased its potential for growth by entering the extremely lucrative markets of Latin America and the United States, with future expansion into Europe and Asia being a distinct possibility. Meanwhile, its “Vision 2030” strategy centers on strengthening the company’s position as a leader in the sustainable development sector.
“With our integrated business platform, we were able to increase recycled content in accordance with our sustainability goals while maintaining high package performance standards,” Agrawal revealed.
“We will continue to enhance a strong management information system and use an advanced digital platform where we can access real-time monitoring and reporting, allowing us to be more analytical in decision making and building business plans,” he further added.
Driving Digital Transformation with SAP Solutions
On the other hand, Namsiang Group, another distributor of chemical products, collaborated with SAP and Netizen two years ago to begin a thorough digital transformation project across all four locations in Thailand. The company’s ability to support the entire chemical supply chain—from trading to manufacturing to wholesale and retail—thanks to SAP S/4HANA’s single core ERP platform has allowed it to boost the accuracy of its financial analyses, the efficiency of its document processing, and the speed with which it handles transactions.
Even if an economic downturn is on the horizon, Namsiang Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) Chaiwat Klangvijit believes digital technologies will be critical in assisting the business in making necessary course corrections to pursue alternative sources of revenue growth. He stated that in the future, the company plans to boost its investment in digital technology and automated process solutions to increase efficiency and productivity in support of its expansion into the ASEAN market.
Discussing Namsiang Group’s partnership with the German tech giant and SAP Platinum Partner Netizen for the digitization efforts, Klangvijit remarked:
“The collaboration with SAP and Netizen has proved that digital transformation provides a valuable opportunity for core business functions. NSG achieved significant results in productivity, speed of document management up to 40% and data financial analysis accuracy more than 35%.”
