Scaling Smart: How Sonepar is Building a Future-Ready ERP, Cloud, and Data Foundation
Sonepar’s Challenge: Decentralization, Legacy Systems, and Pressure to Scale
Sonepar, a €35 billion global distributor of electrical products and services, faced this challenge head-on. With operations in over 40 countries, through 90 brands, and a deeply decentralized structure, the company needed a robust strategy to modernize without losing local agility.
Partnering with Microsoft and HSO, Sonepar had a few key goals: improve the customer experience, unlock data-driven decision-making, and build synergies with a core Dynamics 365 ERP model.
The path forward would require a bold move across ERP, cloud, and data.
Explore Sonepar's Transformation Journey
1. Austria Leads the Way: A Core Dynamics 365 ERP Model Defined for Global Adoption
Sonepar Austria was chosen as the pilot for the ERP transformation.
With legacy systems nearing end-of-life, Austria decided to migrate to Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Together, with input from regional leadership, Sonepar Austria and HSO defined a reusable core ERP model.
“We wanted to create a core model that we could roll out in other countries. HSO was a partner with a lot of experience in that area,” said Rainer Gottschall, IT Manager at Sonepar Austria.
Sonepar continued to utilize HSO's expertise in their transformation program. By leveraging the expertise of HSO consultants and pre-built IP, such as HSO’s Wholesale 360 Industry Solution Suite, Sonepar was able to accelerate their implementation.
“There’s been a whole bundle of tools from HSO that were tailored to wholesale distribution. So we didn’t have to customize these parts… this really gave us a boost,” said Gottschall.
ERP Go Live & Beyond
Together HSO and Sonepar faced the massive scale and complex requirements of this transformation program head-on, leading to a successful implementation and go-live.
What’s more, just days after launch, the new system was handling higher transaction volumes than before, a testament to its robustness and scalability.
Sonepar continued to lay important foundations as they tackled complex pricing scenarios and laid the groundwork for future rollouts in other European entities.
The ERP core model developed with Sonepar Austria is now a blueprint for other Dynamics 365 transformation across Sonepar.
“We’re now reaching out to other countries and advocating the core model. The feedback has been very positive,” said Uwe Klingsbigl, Managing Director of Sonepar Austria.
“We already had a record of picking in the warehouse—more than 18,000 lines on the second day after go-live. That’s really impressive."
2. Building the Backbone: A Unified Cloud Foundation to Simplify Governance and Accelerate Deployment
To support ERP and future workloads, Sonepar also partnered with HSO to design and implement a global, enterprise-ready Azure Landing Zone (ALZ) architecture.
This unified cloud foundation enables countries to roll out services while maintaining governance and security standards set by group-level IT.
“The Azure Landing Zone was about creating a common way of implementing things: compliance, central support, and shared governance,” said Gottschall.
Austria was the first to onboard, but Sonepar intentionally built their global Azure Landing Zone for scale. Each country operates independently, meaning that the cloud foundation had to accommodate local nuances while still enforcing global governance.
That meant building a structure that was both flexible and secure, with a single baseline for compliance across all regions. “It’s not just about hosting. It’s about enabling future digital services,” said Klingsbigl.
In order to meet both the global governance requirements and the local need for flexibility, HSO worked directly with Sonepar’s Group IT to customize Microsoft’s reference architecture, adapting it to meet the company’s unique scale and enterprise requirements.
“The Azure Landing Zone was about creating a common way of implementing things: compliance, central support, and shared governance.”
HSO also worked with Sonepar to implement subscription vending, automating the provisioning of Azure resources and accelerating project rollouts.
Local teams can now provision resources through a self-service portal. Behind the scenes, custom automation scripts ensure that every subscription was deployed under the correct structure with the right policies in place. As a result, Sonepar entities around the world can benefit from faster time-to-value and a more agile cloud infrastructure.
Beyond these immediate improvements, Sonepar’s Azure Landing Zone wasn’t just built for ERP transformation. It sets the global organization up for future workloads such as data center migrations, global integration platforms, and even AI.
3. A Modern Data Platform for Faster, More Accurate Reporting
Before their digital transformation journey, Sonepar Austria faced challenges with fragmented reporting and limited visibility.
To address this, HSO helped Sonepar Austria implement a modern BI stack built on a Microsoft Data Platform and HSO’s DnA Accelerator. “We recognized we needed a new kind of data structure…better reporting, better ways of working with data. That’s why we’re moving to Fabric,” said Möller.
Together, both teams reimagined the reporting architecture from the ground up.
Legacy reports were migrated and redesigned for improved accuracy and the introduction of new data models tailored towards the needs of individual departments.
For global distributors, data insights are simply too valuable to wait for. HSO’s DnA Accelerator allowed for connection to the legacy ERP system, allowing for improved reporting before the ERP go-live.
The transition from legacy ERP to Dynamics 365 was seamless. Reports remained live throughout, with no disruption to business-critical insights—also thanks to the DnA Accelerator.
A Future-Ready Data Platform
This foundation now supports multiple reports across different business streams, with some updating hourly and others daily. For the business, this goes beyond reporting. It acts as a strategic asset that enables Sonepar to respond to change, scale insights across entities, and prepare for AI adoption.
Looking towards the future, the HSO and Sonepar teams focused heavily on knowledge sharing. As a result, the Sonepar team is empowered to manage and extend the data platform themselves, fostering autonomy and flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs.
4. Looking Ahead: Scaling Across Borders and Embracing AI
With Austria’s successful go-live behind them, Sonepar is now preparing for broader adoption of the Dynamics 365 core model across Europe and beyond.
The next countries to adapt Dynamics 365 have been identified, with other medium-sized countries expected to follow in a phased rollout.
The goal is clear: reduce ERP fragmentation and converge toward a shared process model that can be adapted country by country.
Beyond ERP, Sonepar is laying the groundwork for a more intelligent future. The company is investing in Microsoft Fabric to strengthen its data foundation and support AI adoption, and leverage data-driven decision-making.
“We’re implementing a new structure over the next 12 months to support AI and better decision-making,” said Möller.
“In five years, I’d like to see all medium-sized countries in Europe on the Dynamics core model, adopting the processes they’re learning now.”
5. More Than Just a Technology Transformation
Sonepar’s transformation was more than a change in technology; it was a strategic initiative designed to deliver lasting value for customers and colleagues.
By developing a core ERP model for cross-country harmonization, building scalable cloud foundations, and creating a modern data platform, Sonepar is creating a backbone for agility and innovation.
Reflecting on the transformation, Sonepar leaders emphasized that success came not just from technology, but from people.
The project depended on cross-border communication and a shared commitment to change. “We’re building a virtual team across countries to support all these implementations,” said Gottschall. “The core model is not just a system, it’s a facilitator for collaboration and shared knowledge.”
Klingsbigl echoed this sentiment: “The collaboration between people was the most important thing. It wasn’t just about technical bits and bytes. It was about trust, cooperation, and shaping the future together.”
“The collaboration between people was the most important thing. It wasn’t just about technical bits and bytes. It was about trust, cooperation, and shaping the future together.”
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HSO is proud to serve the unique transformation needs of multinational organizations. Explore more multinational transformation success stories below.
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