B+N Referencia Zrt.: Committing to business transformation and best-practice processes in facility management
Transforming operations with SAP Cloud ERP
With a 30-year history, B+N Referencia Zrt. has become a leading facility management service provider in Central and Eastern Europe. It wished to standardize business processes across its 14 member companies to keep pace with its rapid expansion. The fit-to-standard approach in the SAP Activate methodology helped the company deploy SAP Cloud ERP capabilities.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Budapest, Hungary | 23,660 employees |
operational efficiency and reduced costs.
visibility for faster, data-driven decision-making.
compliance processes and risk management.
Deputy CEO, B+N Referencia Zrt.
Reengineering business processes to support growth
B+N Referencia Zrt. provides cleaning, healthcare cleaning, facility management, and fit-out services across Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. The 14 companies in the B+N Group employ more than 20,000 people and manage 17,000 locations, with activities ranging from security guarding to car rental.
As a fast-growing business, it wanted to enhance operational efficiency by streamlining and unifying its member companies’ business processes, particularly in areas such as finance, service, and logistics. B+N believed it could boost productivity and reduce operational costs by using industry-standard best-practice solutions.
As its legacy processes couldn’t keep pace with its accelerated growth, the company embarked on a business process reengineering project. It sought a cloud-based ERP system that would allow it to modernize, scale, and support data-driven decision-making as well as compliance and risk management.
Deputy CEO, B+N Referencia Zrt.
Migrating to cloud ERP with the help of a fit-to-standard approach
B+N replaced the SAP Business One solution with SAP Cloud ERP in four of its 14 companies initially. The project scope included areas such as finance, accounting, controlling, asset management, inventory management, purchasing, sales, service, and group reporting.
The solution was implemented using SAP Activate methodology with the fit-to-standard approach, and the preconfigured solutions, best practices, and guided configurations allowed B+N to accelerate the project timeline. The methodology reduced the time spent on the initial system setup and handover to key users and enabled the project team to focus on specific business needs, delivering a faster time to value. The structured approach included detailed risk-management processes that helped the company identify and mitigate risks and reduce the likelihood of costly delays or reworks. Experts from SAP in Hungary supported B+N by conducting regular reviews, quality checks, and governance throughout the deployment, which took only nine months.
B+N used SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation technology to develop digital robots to handle high-volume, manual, and repetitive tasks involving functional location identities and delivery notes as well as purchase requests. SAP Preferred Success services supported the project and SAP Business Technology Platform created an even stronger foundation for the company’s business transformation.
Deputy CEO, B+N Referencia Zrt.
Enhancing operational efficiency, control, and customer satisfaction
SAP Cloud ERP helps B+N improve its data-collection capabilities and cost insights while lowering in-house IT and server operating costs. Administrative resources and time are also decreased. At present, 136 employees use the solution, and another 200 employees are expected to follow suit within the next two years.
Replacing redundant processes with best-practice processes has increased management control and transparency of daily operations. And providing relevant, real-time data to the right people results in faster and more-efficient reporting. It also facilitates better decision-making, as management can access accurate information tailored to their areas of responsibility. The greater visibility into operations, which can be communicated to customers and stakeholders, reinforces trust and demonstrates the company’s commitment to excellence.
As B+N operates in a highly regulated industry, it’s relying on SAP Cloud ERP to provide robust controls and compliance checks to minimize risks associated with financial reporting and data security. In parallel with the implementation, B+N is undergoing a company-wide restructuring and redefinition of positions and responsibilities to increase operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The new divisional structure creates a simpler, more logical operating model in an industry that’s increasingly focused on speed and accuracy. B+N hopes that synchronizing the implementation and the restructuring will reduce cost and disruption and maximize ROI, compared to carrying them out separately.
Deputy CEO, B+N Referencia Zrt.
Creating a landscape characterized by clean data
B+N plans to include more functionality in SAP Cloud ERP and to roll out the group template to its 10 other Hungarian subsidiaries and its Polish subsidiary. As part of its business transformation, the company is looking to improve warehouse management and human capital management (HCM), with the help of the SAP SuccessFactors HCM portfolio.
Planning and budgeting processes at B+N may benefit from the SAP Profitability and Performance Management application. And the company hopes that the SAP Sustainability Control Tower solution might better support local environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, reporting regulations and enhance corporate sustainability compliance for a greener future. The ultimate goal is for B+N’s IT landscape to comprise clean data, structured business processes, and reduced complexity.