J. J. Keller: Swiftly connecting IT systems in the cloud to protect a 70-year legacy of innovation
Transforming with cloud ERP
A forward-thinking safety and compliance pioneer since its founding in the 1950s, J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. moved its on-premises ERP quickly to the cloud leveraging the RISE with SAP journey. In doing so, it nimbly adopted integrated and harmonized solutions that support a tradition of unending innovation for customers both new and old.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Neenah, Wisconsin | 2,000 employees |
Vice President of IT, J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.
Modernizing and improving sales management by bringing together a new landscape
Since its founding in 1953, J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. has had one purpose: “Protect people and the businesses they run.” Organizations in sectors from transportation and industrial manufacturing to construction, healthcare, and education trust the company to provide the tools and expert information they need to create safe, productive, and compliant workplaces. This might involve personal protective equipment, a series of cloud-based solutions, or a simple wallet card that confirms a forklift driver is properly trained.
To support these operations, J. J. Keller saw it was time to replace its on-premises SAP ERP application with a future-oriented solution in the cloud. Achieving this would help the company improve IT performance, integrate SAP and third-party software more smoothly, and adopt a clean core approach. J. J. Keller wanted to embrace best practices, enable greater innovation, and deploy continuous software upgrades so its ERP systems could grow with the business. It also wanted to provide a better user experience to attract the best talent and let teams work more efficiently.
Another goal was to better connect these on-premises ERP systems with the SAP Sales Cloud solution, which the company uses to manage around 600,000 leads per year across a multitude of channels and lines of business. This would remove performance bottlenecks that delayed sales processes and created inefficiencies for sales, service, and customer support teams. In addition, response times for sales leads were often lengthier than desired. Hundreds of leads could sit in a queue waiting for follow-up, or it might take longer than customers would like for teams to become aware of a sign-up for a 30-day trial of a subscription model. As the company expanded, the need for a more reliable system for managing these leads became ever greater.
Having decided to embark on its digital transformation with a cloud mindset, J. J. Keller set out to find the right solution.
Accelerating time to value during cloud migration with expert support
J. J. Keller quickly saw that RISE with SAP would enable a speedy and structured transformation to SAP Cloud ERP Private. In addition to gaining a single point of contact for software and services, one line of governance across multiple workstreams, and the certainty of a fixed price, the company knew it would benefit from SAP’s expertise and robust implementation services.
This assistance included advisory services to help it connect and continuously enhance software on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). SAP BTP and SAP Integration Suite help promote a clean core and the integration J. J. Keller lacked, including with third-party software.
The breadth of solutions helped the company nimbly transform its systems and harness the advanced analytics and planning capabilities of SAP Business Suite. The new landscape brings together software including SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur, and SAP Ariba solutions to help improve processes across human capital management, travel and expense management, and procurement. The SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence application enables excellence on the shop floor, while the SAP Analytics Cloud solution unlocks advanced analytics and planning capabilities.
To support smoother, more-connected customer experiences, the IT landscape also tightly integrates SAP Sales Cloud and the SAP S/4HANA Sales solution for incentive and commission management. Robust implementation assistance for SAP Sales Cloud helped J. J. Keller enhance reporting, improve sales processes, and gain deeper insights into these processes.
The first project phase involved a brownfield migration to SAP Cloud ERP Private. The second phase focused on transforming business processes based on a robust, future-proof cloud ERP solution.
Proceeding with its transformation after a nimble migration
Thanks to the RISE with SAP journey, it took just 26 weeks for J. J. Keller to go live with its new cloud ERP landscape based on SAP Cloud ERP Private. The company has reduced IT maintenance costs and total cost of ownership while cutting time spent on reconciliation activities. And user experiences and IT performance have improved across the board.
The company is now moving forward with the business transformation phase, developing smooth and efficient processes based on best practices, a clean core, and a fit-to-standard approach. This phase involves areas such as production planning and detailed scheduling, finance, order to cash, purchasing, inventory and warehouse management, asset management, and accounts payable operations. For instance, the company is deploying the group reporting add-on for SAP Cloud ERP Private to help connect financial close processes and accelerate consolidation activities.
In terms of customer experience, improved visibility, efficiency, and responsiveness help the company better manage its complex web of sales leads and provide better customer service while lowering service costs. The company now intends to deploy the SAP Advanced Variant Configuration and Pricing solution to enable it to configure and price products more accurately and efficiently. Another plan involves optimizing the sales funnel to track leads better and identify prospects with the best fit for J. J. Keller’s solutions.
With connected IT operations, the company is even more confident of its ability to harness continuous innovation that will help keep workplaces, job sites, and highways safe and compliant for another 70 years and beyond.