IMA Partners with Eli Lilly to Reduce SAP Implementation Cost by 35%

Situation

This major Pharmaceutical company, with $14 billion in revenue and 46,000 employees, planned to implement SAP. The organization had experienced difficulty with previous technology implementations, so the task of implementing SAP was daunting, especially considering the significant $52 million investment.  In addition, the company faced internal barriers, including a matrix structure with undefined Sponsorship, slow decision-making, and a risk-averse culture.

The organization planned for an 18 month implementation with a single pilot, so the margin for error was slim, and the potential business risk high.

IMA's Role

The company partnered with IMA to apply the Accelerating Implementation Methodology (AIM) as the framework for the SAP Implementation.  IMA supported the 80 person project team by:

• Training the team in the methodology through project workshops designed to build internal capacity while accomplishing implementation steps
• Working side by side with team members to complete implementation deliverables such as project definition, Sponsorship contracts, and key role maps
• Integrating the AIM methodology with technical project delivery steps and milestones