International growth and various acquisitions have made Vento Group’s IT landscape complex and diverse. With an ambitious cloud transformation around SAP Cloud ERP, SAP Sales Cloud, and SAP SuccessFactors, the Belgian SME is addressing this fragmentation. Vento is thereby laying the foundation for integrated processes and better insights across sites and countries.
Vento Group produces components for ventilation ducts and HVAC systems and supplies customers in more than 45 countries. The company has one site in Belgium, three in Germany, and two in Poland, plus a joint venture in the United States.
Fragmented landscape
The organization has grown over the past years through several acquisitions. As a result, a landscape emerged in which each business unit worked with its own systems and processes, spread across different countries.
Four years ago, for example, the organization had three ERP systems, four financial systems, and four HR systems. This meant there was no clear view of where there was too much or too little stock. Financial figures came from the individual companies, but it also proved difficult to combine them into a single reliable overview.
Mapping processes
To address this situation differently, Vento Group started by analysing existing processes across all sites. Together with external partners, the entire application landscape was also mapped. This analysis resulted in a future vision with an integrated application landscape built around three domains: ERP, CRM, and HR.
SAP Public Cloud as foundation
For the core of that landscape, Vento Group chose SAP Cloud ERP in the public cloud. Not to completely redesign everything themselves, but to align as much as possible with processes defined as best practices in SAP. “We looked at how they aligned with our operations and adapted ourselves to them. This prevents us from reinventing everything again,” says Benny Schietecatte, CIO at Vento Group. “By using the public cloud, you force yourself to work more towards standard processes.”
The cloud transformation covers three central domains: finance, sales, and HR. SuccessFactors should centralise HR management and provide better insights into workforce data across countries. SAP Sales Cloud supports the commercial process and customer management, while SAP Cloud ERP forms the financial and operational core.
Phased rollout until 2028
The implementation of the new landscape is being carried out in phases. Vento expects to go live with the first site on SAP Cloud ERP in early 2027. Two more sites will follow during 2027, with full completion expected by 2028. The HR system may be rolled out faster, while the CRM project will start somewhat later.
According to Schietecatte, the transformation is mainly an organizational challenge. “Today, many teams are still working alongside each other,” he explains. “With this transformation, we want to evolve into one organization with one shared foundation.”
For the implementation, Vento Group is working with Belgian SAP partner Expertum. Samuel Maeseele from Expertum supports the ambition of the project. “As an organization, you naturally have to make the switch. At Vento, everything worked, but it was fragmented. Now they are creating something new that will bring them enormous benefits.”
Laying the foundation for data and AI
Although the project is still in an early phase, the group is already looking ahead. An important objective is improving master data within the organization. Following the ERP project, Vento Group also hired people whose main responsibility is data management.
This step is necessary to enable more advanced data analytics and AI in the future. “AI can only work if your data is correct and consistent,” says Schietecatte. “By bringing everything into one central system, we are laying the foundation for future applications.”
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