Lagom Professional Services: Unifying finance and project-staffing processes with cloud ERP and project and resource management capabilities
Strengthening efficiency and control in finance and staffing
Lagom Professional Services wanted to replace its fragmented system landscape with a unified ERP. Implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and the SAP Project and Resource Management solution has helped harmonize its finance and project-staffing processes. Lagom now has better financial control and project and resource efficiency, allowing it to achieve tangible cost savings.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Auckland, New Zealand | 28 employees |
infrastructure cost savings, with data storage in one system.
full-usage equivalent (FUE) in the finance function, down from 2.5 FUEs.
days for month-end close, down from 4 days.
Finance Consultant, Lagom Professional Services
Synchronizing separate systems for finance and resource management
Lagom Professional Services is a New Zealand–based consultancy specializing in ERP transformations. The company provides end-to-end services ranging from technology implementation and change management to data migration and testing. As a partner with expertise in SAP Business Suite, Lagom supports multiple SAP solutions and delivers comprehensive transformation services. Its customers include public bodies, corporations, and healthcare organizations—including Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, and Tait Communications.
Lagom was relying on a mix of fragmented third-party systems to manage its finance, projects, and staffing. For example, it was using Microsoft Excel–based spreadsheets for forecasting, budgeting, and other financial processes. The disparate systems meant that Lagom lacked a single source of truth, and the manual data exchange across its systems led to inefficiencies and a higher risk of errors. Lagom had poor visibility into its utilization rates, project staffing, and financial insights as well as limited ability to track project profitability and resource allocation. And its disconnected timesheet and invoicing processes resulted in delayed billing and revenue recognition.
Finance Consultant, Lagom Professional Services
Counting on cloud ERP to gain visibility into finance and HR processes
Lagom selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, successfully deploying the solution within four months. Using cloud ERP in finance has provided the company with integrated timesheets that automatically generate costs against projects, as well as extensive traceability from timesheet entry to project costing, customer invoicing, and supplier payments. And it now has event-based revenue recognition, helping ensure timely and accurate financial insights.
The business also implemented the SAP Project and Resource Management solution on SAP Business Technology Platform, offering project collaboration and resource management capabilities that extend enterprise portfolio solutions in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. The collaboration and management solution allows Lagom to see its staff utilization and compare its planned versus actual utilization on a daily basis. It can also use skill-based resource allocation aligned with its project needs. The company can rely on data-driven insights, rather than assumptions, to help improve project staffing. Furthermore, integrating SAP Project and Resource Management with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition has enabled Lagom to better manage project-staffing requests and assignments.
Lagom implemented the project itself, taking advantage of the opportunity to upskill its junior consultants while deferring to its senior consultants for guidance and best practices where needed. To support its change management program, the company engaged its end users early in the process through fit-to-standard workshops and testing sessions. Lagom relied heavily on the essentials edition of the test automation setup and execution service for SAP S/4HANA Cloud in the SAP Preferred Success plan to create test scripts for the test automation tool for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. It also used SAP Learning Hub for skills training in using SAP solutions through expert-led sessions, hands-on practice, certification exams, resources, and materials. This included one-on-one sessions and walk-throughs using test scripts. Lagom also employed the interface for SAP Fiori apps, with its intuitive design and embedded analytics, to improve the solution’s adoption.
Finance Consultant, Lagom Professional Services
Improving decision-making, invoicing, and month-end closing
Adopting SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and SAP Project and Resource Management has helped boost Lagom’s operations. The company has improved decision-making by using real-time dashboards and analytics, and it can now see project lifecycles—from creation through billing. It’s also able to better manage its contractors, with simultaneous customer billing and subcontractor payments from a single timesheet.
Lagom has increased efficiency in its finance function, streamlining its invoicing processes and speeding up its month-end close. This has reduced its finance team’s workload and freed it up for higher-value activities. The business has achieved infrastructure cost savings of roughly 10% by consolidating its data storage into a single system while reducing its reliance on external support by managing its systems in-house.
Overall, Lagom has gained greater visibility into project profitability and staff utilization and enhanced its resource reallocation and capacity management. The company can scale operations in line with its growth objectives. It can also benefit from continuous improvement through the biannual automatic SAP software updates and training on emerging features, such as AI integration.
Finance Consultant, Lagom Professional Services
Keeping a focus on the workforce, innovation, and scalability
Lagom intends to intensify its use of SAP Project and Resource Management to optimize its workforce allocation. It plans to integrate SAP SuccessFactors HCM with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to harmonize its HR activities. The company will conduct ongoing training in innovations delivered by SAP solutions, such as AI and analytics, to keep pace with evolving public-cloud capabilities. And it hopes to use the scalability enabled by SAP solutions to support its business growth and expansion.