SINGAPORE — SAP announced on Feb. 21 a long-term relationship with global agri-business Olam International Limited, cementing a four-year relationship. The agreement enables Olam to deploy a wide range of SAP products across the organization.
SAP was identified as one of the key pillars of Olam’s IT Strategy which was developed in 2010 with the aim of securing a business advantage through scalable systems that would keep pace with its growth. 
SAP provides an integrated system across the agri-business’ extensive operations in upstream farming and plantations, core supply chain operations, midstream processing and downstream distribution. This will help Olam in further enhancing information flow and visibility, maximizing operational efficiencies and integrating acquired companies into a single platform based on a standardized global template.
Olam has implemented SAP solutions in three countries and implementation is in progress in seven others. Eight of these operations are in emerging markets, which account for a significant portion of Olam’s business volumes. Encouraged by the successful SAP implementations in the first phase, Olam has committed itself to rapidly rolling out SAP across the company. This deal puts Olam firmly on track to achieve its goal of SAP coverage across all its major operations by 2016.
SAP is the world’s leading ERP system provider, with more than 230,000 customers in over 120 countries. Olam’s diversified and fast-growing operations will benefit immensely from SAP’s solutions and services along with its commitment to R&D and proven ability to deliver new products and solutions employing the latest technology, Olam said. Olam’s unique portfolio of business models and processes combined with its spread of operations will also assist in improving SAP’s product offering.
“SAP is fully aligned to our strategic goals and is a critical enabler for us to succeed as a major diversified business at the forefront of the global agri-complex,” said Ashok Hegde, managing director & global head of risk management & information systems, Olam. “It supports our pursuit for systems excellence in both our existing and acquired businesses, and in traditional as well as new value chain segments. This long-term partnership provides an essential platform from which we expect to drive operational excellence and growth.”