Diageo, the maker of Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, announced its partnership with SAP and IBM for a 5-year business transformation program.
This new initiative, which marks the company’s most significant ever investment in technology and services, will redesign and improve Diageo’s processes across 180 countries. Diageo did not reveal its investment in IT.
Benedetto Conversano is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Diageo responsible for the IT investment strategy.
Diageo reported net sales of £9.4 billion (+18.4 percent) for six months ended December 31, 2022. Diageo invested £0.4 billion of Capex in supply capacity, sustainability, digital capabilities and consumer experiences in the first six months of its financial year.
“We are investing in world-class brand building, digital and data capabilities and our ambitious 2030 sustainability plan to create a stronger and more resilient business for the long-term,” Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive Officer of Diageo, said earlier.
The IT spending program will revolutionise Diageo’s IT environment by introducing intuitive processes, powered by market-leading technology, to provide more information to enable the company to make better and quicker decisions.
This transformation will enhance Diageo’s business resilience in a constantly evolving external landscape, improve its customer service offering and help the company adapt to a fast-changing consumer base.
The program involves a move to RISE with SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, with the support of IBM Consulting. Diageo’s implementation of the new cloud-based model will ensure its IT infrastructure is simplified and supported in a unified way.
IBM Consulting, which has been selected to lead the project, has a proven track record in the consumer sector and supporting client transformations and migrations to the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud platform.
Diageo will simplify its technology support model and IT landscape, making it easier for the company to do business and evolve amid changing consumer trends and market needs.
The program will transform Diageo’s performance reporting capabilities, giving the company better insight into trade and growth opportunities.
The digitisation of controls and compliance will make the business more robust, resilient and adaptable to changing market conditions.
“This partnership with IBM and SAP demonstrates our continued investment in digital transformation. It will enable greater agility in how we respond to our global consumer and customer needs,” Lavanya Chandrashekar, Chief Financial Officer, Diageo, said in a news statement.
“It will provide us with actionable insights and enhanced data capabilities to support growth whilst allowing us to be more efficient in our day-to-day operations.”
