Starting with a new ERP system based on trust

First the people, then the technology

Nedap has been around since 1929. The name is a contraction of Dutch Apparaten Fabriek. The company transformed from a manufacturing company to a leading developer of Digital Twin solutions. Nedap's solutions connect the physical and digital worlds. They also provide real-time insights and automation for markets such as healthcare, retail, livestock, and security. What you learn from people is the foundation for Nedap's 'Technology for Life'. Hence their motto: first people, then the technology. This is also the reason why they have been collaborating with Mprise, now Axelio Academy, for years.

ERP from the cloud

Jeroen Oostewechel, as IT manager at Nedap, is responsible for all business processes in the field of automation. Both at the headquarters in Groenlo and at other international locations. "In total, we have about 1,100 employees. They must be able to work anywhere in the world, like here in Groenlo. Whether you are an R&D developer creating a 3D CAD model for a product or a user of our ERP system," he explains.

24/7 insights worldwide

"We are now going to host our ERP system in the cloud," Jeroen continues. "This will make the international locations of Nedap one integrated company. Additionally, it allows us to exchange more data between business units. And we can easily consolidate across different locations. So we will have 24/7 up-to-date insights into how Nedap is doing."

Understanding entrepreneurial dynamics

The IT manager is convinced that the team from Axelio Academy will help them transition to Microsoft 365 F&O as smoothly as they did during previous migrations. "Axelio is a party that invests time in you as a customer and understands the dynamics of entrepreneurship at Nedap. They primarily look at what you need to make an ERP implementation successful. If that means training your own people, they ensure that happens. Once a software solution is available, you are not done yet."

International system migration

The transition to F&O will be phased. Jeroen: "First, our location in Hong Kong went live. A small location to test the waters. A few months later, Groenlo will also transition." For the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O, Axelio Academy trains the key users and application managers within Nedap. "Then they will take over as the core team," Jeroen emphasizes.

Advantage of the train-the-trainer principle

According to Jeroen, the beauty of this approach is that their own core team helps build the project. "We find it important that all our people understand how this solution will work for us and that they can work independently with it. We know from experience that this works best. Only when you understand things yourself can you really provide a good solution for a customer in our view. If the core team encounters any issues, they can always fall back on Axelio for training questions. The lines are so short that seeking contact is easy. An English session can also be arranged quickly."

Building trust

In addition to involvement, Jeroen speaks highly of the knowledge and experience of the trainers from Axelio Academy. "They are always willing to think along with you, without it being directly about making revenue. They also know how to make theory practically applicable. And that's a good thing, because we are wary of trainers who read from a theory book." According to Jeroen, you never see that during a training from Axelio Academy. "They show that they understand how things work in practice here and what we want to use software for. As a result, you see our people coming out of a training with confidence."

Only customization where it counts

Not only before the implementation, but also during the migration to a new system, the knowledge of the Axelio Academy team comes in handy for Nedap. "When implementation partners tell us 'this is how we do it', we like to turn to Axelio Academy for a second opinion. Then you notice that they look at things more from a practical perspective and can build on broad knowledge from the field. In the past, we wanted to configure our ERP system as much as possible so that everyone could work comfortably with it. Axelio pointed out to us that nowadays it's better to stay as close to the standard solution as possible. This improves scalability, but also the agility of your organization. Moreover, data remains optimally usable for AI. As a result, we now have a system with only customization where it counts," says Jeroen.