SIG Benelux selects wholesale360

SIG Benelux, a subsidiary of the publicly traded UK-based SIG plc, operates in a challenging market. However, their outdated ERP system was hindering efficiency and growth. Instead of opting for more customization, the B2B wholesaler chose Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain along with wholesale360, the complete industry solution from HSO.

Harmonizing Processes and Collaborating on a Single Platform

Joke Brouckaert was appointed interim project manager for D365 at SIG Benelux. Daisy Tullen took on the internal project role from her position as project manager and was responsible for internal process monitoring, among other tasks.

Joke explains, "SIG has divided its activities in the Benelux region into construction (wet and dry) and technical insulation. Companies and brands such as SIG Afbouwspecialist (NL), SIG Technische Isolatiespecialist (NL), Speedline, MPA (Construction Materials BE), and Isolatec (Technical Insulation BE) operate under the SIG Benelux umbrella. Within these companies, more than 200 colleagues – working across the Netherlands and Belgium – ensure that customers can complete their construction projects as smoothly as possible and within the agreed-upon schedules."

This ERP project was of high urgency. The old system was not only no longer supported (AX2009), but the extensive customization was limiting the company's growth. SIG wanted to harmonize and consolidate the processes and systems of its various locations in the Netherlands and Belgium onto a single platform. A modern, future-proof system would support and accelerate their growth ambitions.

Joke: "An earlier attempt to update and rebuild the old system quickly proved to be too complex and costly. A standard solution, on the other hand, would be much faster to implement. Additionally, we had clear time and budget objectives and wanted to minimize implementation risks. HSO's wholesale360 offered an industry solution that already met 80-90% of our functional requirements. And what functionality we did miss, HSO largely incorporated into the template."

wholesale360 is a comprehensive industry solution that includes processes, work instructions, pre-configuration, software, and an integration platform. The solution includes a three-phase approach:

• Validate: This phase assesses whether the template aligns with SIG's processes and identifies any gaps.
• Adopt: This phase involves training key users, collaborating on SIG-specific configuration, and building trust in the system.
• Deploy: This phase rolls out the system to end users and conducts final testing before go-live.

A Smooth and Successful Implementation

Joke explains, "The three phases – Validate, Adopt, and Deploy – aligned well with my experience and expectations. In the Validate phase, we verified that the template matched SIG's processes and identified any missing functionality. The Adopt phase provided hands-on training and collaboration to configure the system for SIG, building our confidence in its capabilities. Finally, the Deploy phase involved rolling out the system to end users and conducting final testing before go-live."

Daisy acknowledges that cultural differences can arise in cross-border projects. "We were prepared for this and it went very smoothly. Joke is fluent in both Dutch and Flemish, so she understands both sides. We migrated the Dutch locations first, but we immediately involved key users from Belgium. This gave them early exposure to the new processes, the system, and the overall workflow. Initially, there seemed to be a strong need for specific local configurations, but ultimately, many core processes were found to be the same. For the implementation of the Belgian locations, the advantage was that the initial teething problems had already been ironed out."

Joke highlights the complexity of data migration. "In the Netherlands, we had to deal with multiple companies merging onto Dynamics 365, resulting in five different environments that we needed to consolidate into a new database. Such a data migration, on top of the implementation, was quite complex and time-consuming. Therefore, we brought in an HSO expert for this task, which proved to be a wise decision."

Reporting also posed a challenge. "We had inventoried our reporting needs beforehand, but this aspect got off to a relatively slow start. When you get a new ERP system, you only truly understand the platform's capabilities once you're well into the implementation. Ideally, you would optimize your data structure before starting an ERP project, as this allows you to extract much more value from it. In retrospect, we would have approached this differently."

Daisy, in particular, invested significant time in end-user training regarding change management and adoption. "Some resistance was natural, of course. The steering group was aware of this and we engaged in ongoing discussions to address user concerns and potential resistance."