Bosch: Unifying and modernizing finance operations with help from SAP Services and Support
Bosch transforms finance operations with help from SAP
When technology, services, and consumer products giant Bosch needed to upgrade its enterprise-wide finance system, it looked for guidance from SAP Services and Support. Now, it has a unified system landscape with the SAP S/4HANA Finance solution, which is helping harmonize global operations.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Cross-industry | Gerlingen, Germany | 417,900 employees |
central finance system.
process harmonization (2,500 processes consolidated to 1,500).
reduction in amount of ERP systems.
Global Budget-to-Perform Process Owner, Bosch
Embarking on a large-scale finance transformation
Bosch is a worldwide leader in mobility, industrial technology, consumer goods, and energy and building technology. With business activities around the globe, Bosch automation, electrification, digitalization, and connectivity products and innovations shape and enhance nearly every aspect of modern life.
But partially outdated systems made it difficult to get a clear picture of enterprise-wide finances. Multiple tools, including disconnected accounting and controlling, limited financial visibility, and disparate, manual processes and reporting often resulted in duplicate structures across legal entities. Outdated templates also made it difficult to tackle increasingly complex localization requirements for compliance reporting.
The Bosch team knew it was time for an upgrade. But embarking on a large-scale ERP and analytics transformation is no simple feat. To guide a successful project, Bosch needed the right technology and services partner.
Lead Enterprise Finance Architect, Bosch
Finding the right solution and the right partner to help put it in place
To transform finance operations and reporting, Bosch chose the SAP S/4HANA Finance solution. As SAP has been a longtime, trusted IT partner, Bosch also turned to SAP Services and Support for guidance on the planning, rollout, and deployment.
Bosch chose an SAP MaxAttention engagement and worked closely with the Business Transformation and Architecture team, including project managers and architects Michael Benz and Matthias Bitterberg, who provided a central point of contact as well as strategic guidance throughout the project. Bosch also had access to line-of-business consultants and product development experts, who helped establish requirements, set best-practice principles, and evaluate custom developments while maintaining a clean core.
Lead Enterprise Finance Architect, Bosch
Unifying and harmonizing finance operations and reporting
Thanks to the strategic transformation approach to its deployment of SAP S/4HANA Finance, Bosch was able to effectively manage everything from defining target finance architecture and design principles to implementation and governance. Finance processes were consolidated from 2,500 to 1,500, and the amount of Bosch’s finance ERP systems was reduced by almost half.
Now, Bosch has one central finance system, including a new chart of accounts, universal journal, and unified receivables management and real-time financial reporting. One central procurement hub means that sourcing and supplier management can be integrated with other shared services. As part of the current transformation, a process standardization is taking place, which in turn contributes to a high degree of automation and digitalization. Plus, with cloud-based ERP and reporting, the entire Bosch enterprise is now implementing a single source of financial truth.
Global Representative Budget-to-Perform Process Owner, Bosch