Global business growth requires the right foundation.
Global expansion has always been a key pillar of growth for fast-growing mid-market businesses. New geographies unlock additional customers, new product or service opportunities, and added scale for operational efficiency. However, efficient global growth requires the right backend processes and systems. This is why businesses grow globally with SAP.
SAP solutions, specifically SAP Cloud ERP, supports business operations today while laying the foundation for global expansion and company growth tomorrow. As a scalable, end-to-end business software solution used by the majority of Fortune 500 companies, SAP enables seamless operational scaling, fast product or service rollout, and full support for entering new global markets.
“It's about the business processes that are enabled by the technology,” notes Christopher Beck, the former head of global IT for shaving manufacturer, Harry’s. “Are your business processes optimized to be able to support where the company is going?”
That’s why Harry’s relied on SAP as it grew into a business valued at more than $1.7 billion. Your business can grow globally with SAP, too.
Read about Harry’s growth journey using SAP
Global Growth Starts with the Right ERP Foundation
SAP Cloud ERP lays the foundation for global business expansion and overall growth in several ways.
Operational Scaling
First, the public cloud foundation of SAP Cloud ERP supports effortless scaling. It can handle transaction volumes, user scale, and business complexity even for the largest global brands. But because the system is cloud-based and elastic, mid-market businesses can start smaller and easily add resources and users as they expand.
The modular nature of SAP cloud solutions also means that additional functionality can be turned on later when it is needed, both planned functionality and that which is unforeseen. Suppose a business needs advanced supply chain management, more robust materials resource planning, or a comprehensive audit trail for local compliance requirements. In that case, this functionality can be added to the system when required.
This adaptability for scaling operations is supported by the SAP Business Technology Platform, a marketplace for SAP ERP add-on functionality, ready-to-deploy integrations, and industry-specific solutions that extend the core ERP product. Think of the BTP as an app store for your company’s ERP, ensuring that the needed functionality for continued growth will always be available and easily accessible.
Operational scaling into new markets is also improved through comprehensive real-time visibility. Growth and expansion into new global markets can be chaotic, and both cultural and geographic differences can introduce disconnects between a local subsidiary and its parent company. The real-time visibility that comes with SAP Cloud ERP helps overcome these disconnects and helps business leaders spot emerging issues that might hinder operational scaling or performance.
Product and Service Introduction
Businesses also grow globally with SAP through the platform’s foundation for rolling out products and services more easily in new geographies.
Advanced supply chain and lifecycle management capabilities within SAP Cloud ERP smooth the way for connecting existing processes and resources to operations in new geographies, and the vast customization potential within SAP Cloud ERP allows for local variations both in products and processes.
Intelligent automation throughout SAP Cloud ERP, including hooks to a company’s AI engine of choice, reduces manual work, accelerates product launches, and overcomes local workforce differences by supporting and enforcing a company’s best-practice workflows.
AI-driven sentiment analysis and real-time customer visibility built into SAP Cloud ERP assists with understanding local demand and spotting opportunities for new products and services for a given market, too. Armed with accurate local preference and demand data, a growing business can better tailor offerings to these customer bases, which, of course, helps with local market traction.
Internationalization
Another reason that businesses choose to grow globally with SAP is the platform’s robust internationalization.
SAP products are thoroughly global, and built for multinational operations. SAP Cloud ERP supports multiple languages and currencies natively, as well as different regulatory regimes and taxation structures.
The SAP Cloud platform comes with local legal and regulatory compliance templates for various countries, and can be configured for managing operations that cut across various legal and compliance frameworks. This is particularly valuable during global expansion into new markets for maintaining compliance even in the face of multiple, complex regulatory environments. Deep expansion into global markets is almost impossible without this compliance function of ERP.
The multi-tenant architecture of SAP solutions also means that it is much easier for businesses to set up local subsidiaries but connect these local operations to the global parent. A business can manage different market segments, business units, or regions within a single system, and better coordinate and correlate operational data even when local jurisdiction requires strict data sovereignty.
Grow Globally with SAP
Global markets represent a good opportunity for business growth, but only with the right backend foundation. Get this foundation through SAP ERP solutions.
For more on SAP Cloud ERP or what it takes to prepare your business for global markets, contact one of our experienced ERP consultants by calling (801) 642-0123 or writing us at info@nbs-us.com.
