The financial details of the contract were not disclosed, but it will strengthen SAP’s credentials in the consumer goods market considerably.
New-York based PepsiCo says it has signed a deal with the German business applications software giant to bring acquired business units running different ERP systems onto the SAP platform. These include Tropicana, Gatorade, and Frito-Lay.
It is highly likely that SAP will supplant existing competitor systems such as Oracle Corp, PeopleSoft Inc, and Siebel Systems Inc as well as a mixed bag of applications from smaller suppliers and home-grown systems.
PepsiCo refused to comment on this and also remains coy about the, budget, scope, and timelines of its SAP roll-out, saying only that it will be a multi-year project.
PepsiCo is believed to have made the decision to standardize on a single ERP system several months ago. Attempts to consolidate its IT systems started back in 1999 when it established a Business Solutions Group in Plano, Texas to provide a central IT function for the company.
Clearly this group faces a stiff challenge pulling together PepsiCo’s heterogeneous IT infrastructure.
