Riddell kicks off cloud-first digital transformation

Riddell, the industry leader in the football protective equipment market, is transforming its enterprise foundation, embarking on a cloud-first digital transformation of its enterprise solutions.

To benefit from technologies like data visibility, process automation and artificial intelligence (AI), the company is working with SAP and KaarTech to adopt a cloud-first, clean core approach.

Riddell produces football helmets, shoulder pads, reconditioning services and more. For 96 years, the company has prided itself on making the game safer and enabling players to perform at their best, in line with its vision to boldly champion the future of football.

Riddell transforms ERP system with cloud-first digital transformation

Riddell is modernizing and simplifying its ERP system via a greenfield approach with RISE with SAP. “Our IT strategy is primarily looking at the next three years and what can we do at a foundation level, what are the things we’re doing on the information aspect and what things we are doing for greater efficiency,” said Aravind Kashyap, chief information officer (CIO) at Riddell.

The renewed IT strategy will enable the business to focus on growth, efficiency and automation projects by leveraging information and advanced technologies while still driving down IT operation costs.

The project is as much about improving Riddell’s IT foundation as it is about improving the experience for employees who use the systems, delivering a modern digital experience across the company. “Digital experience is huge for us,” said Kashyap . “In fact, that’s one of the big themes that I’m driving in the organization. How do I bring experience to our business users – whether they are in a warehouse, whether they are in a sales position, whether they are a finance clerk, whether they are in the manufacturing location or plant – and give them the best experience as a solution user?”

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Aligning with business transformation and change management

This approach aligns with a strategic business transformation and change management focus – connecting the technical ERP transformation to the consumer experience and sales side of the business. “If you just do a technical assessment and try to understand the IT landscape without connecting with the business, the transformation will go wrong,” said Parameswaran N, VP at KaarTech. “We wanted this to be a business-led transformation and the business priorities and vision were much more than just a technical upgrade, so we mutually agreed that a greenfield approach was the right approach.”

Riddell’s IT landscape was found to have 1,270 custom objects, 556 custom reports, 794 enhancements to standard programs and 10 third-party integrations. The current endeavor, called Project STRIDE, aims to streamline these customizations and instead take a fit-to-standard approach wherever possible, according to a press release.

The team has identified around 180 global scope items and is looking at each one individually to compare the out-of-the-box scenario with the customization opportunity, Kashyap said. “It’s not easy, but that’s the only way it’s going to happen,” he said, adding that it’s a “one team, one platform” mindset. Keeping SAP S/4HANA as the core allows for a “limitless plane” on which Riddell can take advantage of innovative technologies like AI.

“Our partners KaarTech and SAP are making it possible. It’s a long journey,” Kashyap said. “It’s about making the business comfortable with using the new enterprise solution.”

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