Hospital Sírio-Libanês: Making integrated IT systems the beating heart of a technology-forward organization
A far-reaching transformation at a healthcare leader
For more than a century, Hospital Sírio-Libanês has been a beacon of innovation in Brazil and beyond. That tradition is set to continue thanks to a new IT landscape based on SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba solutions, SAP Business Technology Platform, and SAP’s industry cloud.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Healthcare | São Paulo, Brazil | 9,900 employees | EY ifb |
fewer days to close vacant positions.
reduction in monthly financial closing cycle.
fewer days to process benefits.
CIO, Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Harnessing future-oriented IT to enable efficiencies and insights
Ranked one of the world’s best hospitals by Newsweek and Statista in 2023, Hospital Sírio-Libanês has long deployed cutting-edge technology to support its exceptional medical practice. For example, the private hospital has established telemedicine initiatives that not only help its own patients but also improve healthcare access across the wider community of healthcare professionals and public patients.
As an institution that values technology, Hospital Sírio-Libanês saw the time had come to rebuild its IT landscape. The hospital’s legacy ERP system posed numerous challenges in day-to-day operations. A lack of integration between modules prevented real-time information flows, led to manual work, caused bottlenecks in accounting and financial closing, and hindered compliance, control, and traceability.
On the HR front, employees and managers had to navigate through various departments and contacts to access information about themselves and their teams, amend records, propose salary increases, or conduct simple tasks such as transferring people between departments. The hospital lacked a platform for attracting and training talent, and it had to handle performance evaluations manually.
Hospital Sírio-Libanês set out to embrace cloud-based IT solutions that would enhance the quality of master data and enable synergies among business units in different geographical locations. The right software would help the institution revamp administrative and financial controls and align them with modern governance standards. And it would free managers from administrative work, granting them more independence and letting them focus on effective management of people and business.
HR Manager, Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Integrating diverse functions through cloud-based solutions
Hospital Sírio-Libanês quickly understood that an integrated IT environment based on SAP solutions was the best way forward. It knew the software could help it enhance services from supply chain to financial and people management as well as IT infrastructure, security, systems, architecture, and development.
Key advantages were the availability of SAP solutions in a cloud environment, a comprehensive update road map, an audit trail facilitating end-to-end process traceability, robust security features, smooth integration, and real-time processing with high availability. Another deciding factor was SAP’s track record of successfully implementing its software in other major healthcare service providers.
The hospital chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition to provide tailored-to-fit cloud ERP that delivers the specific capabilities it needs. The private edition would also integrate smoothly with the planning capabilities in the SAP Analytics Cloud solution to support confident, informed decision-making.
To create a unified HR platform for different aspects of people management, the institution also decided to deploy the following SAP SuccessFactors solutions:
• SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central
• SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting
• SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding
• SAP SuccessFactors Compensation
• SAP SuccessFactors Learning
• SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development
• SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals
On the spend management side, the hospital wanted to support end-to-end prospecting-to-payment processes. To achieve this, it decided to implement the SAP Ariba Contracts, SAP Ariba Sourcing, SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, and SAP Business Network Commerce Automation solutions.
And it used SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to bring together data and analytics, AI, application development, automation, and integration in one unified environment.
The hospital worked with the SAP Activate methodology during its transformation. In addition, implementation partner EY offered critical support. This assistance included helping integrate SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition with the hospital’s third-party system for managing electronic medical records. EY also used SAP Analytics Cloud for planning to build an extension on SAP BTP called “Workforce Plan” to aid collaboration and reduce the time spent on people planning, contributing to industry cloud solutions for the healthcare industry.
IT Manager, Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Optimizing processes and aiding smart decisions
Hospital Sírio-Libanês now has a tightly connected, high-performing IT landscape that fits the hospital’s technology-savvy outlook. High-quality master data underpins accurate, reliable data, while smooth integration enables immediate access to this information. Business users benefit from intuitive reporting and analytics, enabling speedy decision-making that supports the hospital’s strategic growth plan. Meanwhile, enhanced governance of access profiles reduces risk by helping eliminate potential auditing issues.
Diverse processes across the institution are more efficient and transparent. Invoice entry is automated, and the hospital has reduced the monthly financial closing cycle. Robust alignment between accounting and accounts payable teams means staff no longer have to manually track down and explain invoicing discrepancies, and the monthly accounts payable cycle is now a day shorter. Similarly, in controlling, automated e-statements have eliminated the need to manually import around 60 statements every day, saving 20 hours a month.
Furthermore, a modern, integrated HR platform that applies healthcare-specific standards and protocols has transformed people management and reduced risk. The hospital benefits from streamlined and collaborative recruitment, comprehensive training management, transparent and precise performance reviews, clear salary assessments, and agile digital self-services for more than 150 transactions. Employees, managers, and HR personnel who previously relied on other departments and contacts for information now have much greater autonomy to make smart decisions for their areas and teams.
Previously time-consuming HR tasks now take just a few clicks, remotely and online, improving the manager and employee experience. For example, a job requisition involves five steps, down from 11; an employee transfer involves four steps, down from 11; and a termination involves six steps, down from nine. And, as a result of the changes, the hospital needs six fewer days to process terminations.
Financial Superintendent,, Hospital Sírio-Libanês
Looking ahead to another century of innovation
Now, Hospital Sírio-Libanês can further develop its newly integrated IT landscape while taking advantage of the latest innovations and best practices enabled by SAP software.
Planned initiatives include using AI and machine learning to continuously gather and analyze employee feedback, propose relevant improvements, and measure these initiatives. This will not only improve the employee experience but also help free up HR professionals and managers to focus on developing talent, managing change, and making strategic decisions that grow the business.
These plans are just the start. The future-oriented foundation provided by SAP solutions will help Hospital Sírio-Libanês use technology to support its outstanding levels of care for many years to come.
Featured partner
Employing 400,000 people across its assurance, consulting, strategy and transactions, and tax service lines, EY ifb helps clients capitalize on new opportunities and assess and manage risk to deliver responsible growth. EY’s deep experience in the hospital segment, expertise in digital healthcare, and knowledge of SAP solutions helped the firm play a pivotal role in Hospital Sírio-Libanês’s digital transformation.