Rémy Cointreau switches the 1,300 users of its SAP ECC ERP to SAP S/4HANA with PM from VISEO Group
The Rémy Cointreau group compounded the challenges it faced when modernizing its IS, by merging two SAP ECC ERPs, building a single core model, harmonizing its financial and logistical processes, and switching everything to SAP S/4HANA on cloud infrastructures. An ambitious and ultimately successful project.
Customers worldwide seek exceptional experiences, including a variety of flavors from regional producers. Their high standards align with the Rémy Cointreau Group’s expertise, passed down through generations. The French family-owned group cultivates exceptional, centuries-old spirits while preserving their timeless quality. Rémy Cointreau’s portfolio includes renowned brands like Rémy Martin, Louis XIII cognacs, and Cointreau liqueur. With 1,850 employees and distribution subsidiaries in strategic markets, the group aims to become the global leader in exceptional spirits. Rémy Cointreau is listed on Euronext Paris.
SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA: Business Process Harmonization and IS Modernization
In 2018, Rémy Cointreau launched a major project to harmonize its business processes and modernize its information system. The company had two SAP ECC ERPs used by over 1,300 users across 12 countries. The first objective was to merge these two ERPs and migrate to SAP S/4HANA in cloud mode. This transformational project received strong support from the group’s management.
Olivier Ruault, Information Systems Director (ISD) at Rémy Cointreau, explains:
“To support this major international project, we chose Progress Management (PM), part of the VISEO group. PM has been supporting us with SAP solutions since 2007. Their teams have extensive experience in SAP integration projects and deep knowledge of our business, systems, and the Wines & Spirits sector.“
Comprehensive Information System Review: The Cap One Project
The Cap One project began in October 2019 and concluded in May 2021. For 18 months, Rémy Cointreau and Progress Management teams developed a core model, finalized during the 2020 lockdown. The core model retained the strengths of the previous solution while introducing key innovations:
- Returning to standard processes, reducing specific objects by 80%.
- Integrating new concepts such as business partners and material ledgers for managing brandy stocks.
- Merging account plans into a single international format with dedicated books for local specificities.
- Implementing inter-company invoicing to manage complex market routes.
- Redesigning the analytical structure for monitoring P&L by business, brand, and customer.
- Introducing Fiori tiles for specific functions, reducing change management.
- Using the universal log to provide reconciled follow-up statements for finance and management teams.
Remote Deployment
The first deployment took place in April 2020, covering France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Barbados. Despite the pandemic, Cap One was successfully deployed in other regions, including the UK, US, and six Asian countries, with completion in April 2021. All work was done remotely due to the health crisis, which Olivier Ruault described as an unexpected accelerator for team mobilization.
Rémy Cointreau also moved from dedicated servers to a cloud infrastructure. SAP S/4HANA now operates on the Google Cloud Platform, while other SAP tools are hosted on GCP, AWS, or SAP cloud infrastructures.
An Evolving Solution
“The project went very well; it was a success” summarized Ruault. Minimal business or technical impacts were observed during migration, thanks to the Hybrid scenario, which preserved historical data from the ECC system. Moving forward, Rémy Cointreau is establishing user communities, training platforms, and KPIs to track system usage.
The company plans to update Cap One three times per year, requiring continuous mobilization of teams. The next ERP version, set for November 2021, will include about 70 improvements. In 2022, the focus will shift to new features, likely through an SAP S/4HANA version upgrade and wider use of Fiori.
Cap One and E-commerce
The Cap One ERP plays a key role in Rémy Cointreau’s e-commerce solution, managing order, financial, and logistics flows. It will also adapt to transformations such as the direct resumption of brand distribution and the integration of new entities, like Maison Telmont, acquired by Rémy Cointreau in October 2020.