Zespri International: Transforming business operations from orchard to retail
Explore Zespri’s journey with SAP
Zespri International is embracing a digital-first approach to an industry grounded in the reality of agribusiness. To stay ahead of disrupted supply chains and ever-changing customer demands, this global leader in kiwifruit knew it was time for an upgrade. It chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition to create a digital foundation for core business—and then bring invoicing, supply chain, and more into the cloud.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Agribusiness | Mount Maunganui, New Zealand | 900 employees | Accenture |
trays of kiwifruit delivered through processes on SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
hours saved every year during invoice processing.
days faster to pay invoices.
Chief Operating Officer, Zespri International
Creating sustainable growth with a fresh approach to ERP
When shoppers reach for kiwifruit at their favorite grocery stores, chances are, they’re choosing ripe, fresh produce from Zespri International. The New Zealand company works with licensed growers in more than seven countries to create a strong supply chain that can stand up to disruption.
However, Zespri knows it isn’t enough to have the best farmers. It also needs strong business processes and integrated enterprise software if the company is going to understand and fulfill growing customer demands from orchard to retail.
Specifically, the agribusiness leader wanted to be able to scale its processes and continuously innovate using the cloud. But its cloud ambitions were nipped in the bud by an inefficient legacy infrastructure that couldn’t effectively mitigate risks, integrate diverse systems, and automate processes. The company’s core ERP system even relied on 75% customization. All this limited Zespri’s operational efficiency and ability to innovate.
Chief Operating Officer, Zespri International
Enabling scalability and innovation with a move to the cloud
Zespri chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition because the cloud-based ERP software is rooted in creating a robust core for business. It could fuel the company’s data-driven ambitions and unlock the potential of the Zespri ecosystem spanning customers, growers, and dedicated employees.
Zespri knew it would need to quickly implement SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition across 51 countries of operation, as well as integrate its new foundation for core business with a landscape of existing and planned solutions. This new digital foundation for business spanned Zespri’s entire offshore supply chain from shipment to distribution, integrating financial systems with enhancements for tax compliance. The company also implemented many new SAP solutions, including the SAP Integrated Business Planning (SAP IBP) solution.
To further smooth business processes, Zespri selected the SAP HANA database. The enhanced database empowers Zespri to make use of massive volumes of data from across the enterprise for improved decision-making.
For enhanced upgrade and update management, Zespri utilizes the SAP Readiness Check toolset to assess the impact of ERP upgrades on business operations. Through SAP Cloud Application Services offerings, Zespri gets additional support with project planning and coordination, dependency analysis, compatibility checks, and more.
Accenture provided Zespri with implementation support and helped make the company’s digital transformation with its new SAP solutions a success.
Chief Operating Officer, Zespri International
Strengthening a foundation for core business operations
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition has kicked off Zespri’s digital-first strategy. Now, the business is prepared to lead in the future of agribusiness with data-driven insights and emerging technology such as AI.
Today, Zespri has a comprehensive view of operations, which has significantly enhanced the company’s ability to make strategic decisions that secure supply chains and exceed customer expectations. The new technology has strengthened Zespri’s operational foundation and enabled scalable growth—without a substantial increase in cost. This major transformation continues to streamline business processes, such as invoicing, which has saved the company significant time and resources. Enhanced security and stability across operations are helping Zespri maintain its competitive edge, too.
Migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enabled Zespri to implement powerful new SAP solutions that are changing the way the company does business. For example, SAP IBP has taken the business from manual, centralized planning to an automated, market-responsive approach to managing the supply chain.
Zespri realizes that timely adoption of innovations through regular updates is a key element of a cloud mindset and a prerequisite for optimizing the benefits of the move to the cloud. The business uses a clean core approach and embraces a continuous upgrade strategy to stay current with the latest release of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. That way, Zespri can take advantage of innovations such as AI while supporting secure and compliant operations as well as avoiding costs introduced by custom code.
Head of Supply Chain, North America, Zespri International
Expanding a digital-first strategy for employees, customers, and growers
Thanks to Zespri’s ongoing transformation with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, the company can quickly deploy new software and technology as the industry evolves and business needs change. Solutions from SAP and partners including OpenText, Tricentis, and Syniti are digitalizing business processes and improving everyday experiences for employees across the company.
By improving employee experiences, Zespri knows it can improve customer experiences. The company is expanding its use of SAP Customer Experience (SAP CX) solutions, which help the company’s CX experts tackle important moments across the customer lifecycle. Zespri has already started using the SAP Commerce Cloud solution to empower customers with self-services for product claims through an intuitive customer portal. By integrating with and tapping into data from other systems, SAP Commerce Cloud creates better experiences for customers and improves outcomes for the business. For Zespri, this has automated claim validation to cut down on fraudulent and erroneous claims, standardized claim approval globally, and much more.
So far, Zespri has saved US$700,000 after reducing approved claims by 1%. It also expedited claims processing by 60%. Zespri hopes to continue boosting these outcomes by delivering on its digital-first strategy with SAP solutions.
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Accenture empowers the world’s leading businesses to build their digital cores to stand up to growing challenges across industries. The SAP partner helps businesses use SAP technologies to drive comprehensive transformations that support their goals, including revenue growth.