Ajinomoto Group: Championing data-driven business management with advanced data and analytics solutions
Explore Ajinomoto Group’s journey with SAP
In response to a changing business environment, Ajinomoto Group transitioned to a rolling forecast, allowing prediction and analysis of business performance in a flexible and short cycle. Along with migrating to SAP S/4HANA, the company adopted the SAP Analytics Cloud solution to optimize budget management and business intelligence and the SAP Datasphere solution to manage data.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Consumer products | Tokyo, Japan | 34,615 employees | ABeam Consulting Ltd. |
reduction in effort for earnings forecasts and reporting operations.
reduction in the number of add-ons.
reduction in operating costs by moving to the cloud.
IT Director, Ajinomoto Co., (Thailand) Ltd.
Achieving flexible actions based on data analysis
Ajinomoto Group aims to contribute to the well-being of all people, society, and the planet with “AminoScience” based on the corporate slogan “Eat Well, Live Well.” The organization has offices in 36 geographies and sells products in more than 130 countries and regions. Its foundational management policy, known as Ajinomoto Group Creating Shared Value (ASV), is an initiative to cocreate social and economic value through business by 2030.
“To respond to changes in the social environment, diversification, and changes in consumers’ food preferences, it is necessary to identify signals from data and take swift action,” says Yasushi Ogura, senior manager in the IT division at Ajinomoto SEA Regional Headquarters Co. Ltd.
In the medium-term, Ajinomoto initiated changes in management practices and is promoting the introduction of a monthly rolling forecast, replacing a quarterly cycle, to review budgets in response to changes in the commercial environment.
Ajinomoto’s business in Thailand, which accounts for 13.5% of the group’s total sales, was required to increase the transparency and predictability of business performance and make more flexible decisions. To achieve these aims, the company embarked on rebuilding its technology environment for data utilization before the end of support for its legacy software.
IT Senior Manager, Ajinomoto SEA Regional Headquarters Co. Ltd.
Embracing data management with SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere
The group’s Thai-based business decided to migrate to SAP S/4HANA for its accounting, sales, purchasing, and inventory functions to streamline operations and minimize ongoing costs. Additionally, to achieve its reporting ambitions, the company implemented SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere. The new operating environment is illustrated in the bottom half of the figure below.
Ogura explains, “For budgeting and performance forecasting, we implemented SAP Analytics Cloud for planning across products, sales channels, and customer dimensions. We also saw value in native tools and integration with core SAP software, operability, and analysis capability. We adopted SAP Analytics Cloud for its strength in business intelligence. By introducing a new SAP solution that is linked with SAP Datasphere, we have eliminated waste and simplified systems and operations.”
Using a fit-to-standard approach sees business processes from SAP S/4HANA adopted by the business. The implementation, undertaken by ABeam Consulting Ltd. and SAP, reduced the number of ERP add-ons by approximately 50%.
Reviewing and analyzing performance to make faster decisions
Yoshihiro Takei, IT Director at Ajinomoto Co. (Thailand) Ltd., sums up the results four months after the implementation: “We were able to achieve all project implementation objectives and gained many benefits from the migration, such as reducing operating costs by about 40% by reviewing the IT infrastructure. While gradually bringing the system closer to its ideal form, the integrated data foundation and the provision of dashboards contribute to informed management decisions.”
Currently, the Thailand-based management team is using SAP Analytics Cloud to manage budgets and results reporting for each product on a dedicated KPI dashboard and plans to increase the number of users.
“We are looking to conduct training for new users to take advantage of the dashboards and shift to a data-driven management mindset. Furthermore, as the functionality of SAP Analytics Cloud is further enhanced, we plan to actively adopt it to help the growth of our business,” says Ogura.
Expanding the management and analysis philosophy across Southeast Asia
In the future, Ajinomoto plans to deploy the configuration implemented in Thailand to other sites in Southeast Asia.
“We will move to SAP S/4HANA in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia during 2023, and we will proceed with business management utilizing SAP Analytics Cloud across the Southeast Asia region from 2024,” says Ogura. “As we did at Ajinomoto ASEAN Regional Headquarters, we would like to migrate to SAP S/4HANA in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia in fiscal year 2023 and build a management information analysis platform using SAP Analytics Cloud throughout the ASEAN region from fiscal year 2024.”
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ABeam Consulting Ltd. is a global consulting company originating in Japan and Asia that supports customers to realize transformation. Its professionals offer diverse expertise and provide comprehensive services, from management strategy planning and business consulting for strategy realization to operational business consulting and the introduction and operation of digital technologies.