Oneida Selects SAP and IBM

Oneida Ltd., a premier marketer of stainless steel flatware and tabletop products for the consumer and food service markets, has selected SAP and IBM to optimize business processes and support the companys global growth strategy with rapidly deployable, business management solutions featuring built-in vertical industry expertise.

After a comprehensive evaluation of several vendor solutions, Oneida selected and will deploy an IBM Express mySAP All-In-One solution based on industry best practices and featuring the implementation expertise of SAP and IBM. With the selection, Oneida joins a growing number of midsize enterprises that have selected SAP and its partners based on their ability to deliver proven industry solutions with predictable, fixed-scope implementations to companies.

Oneida will leverage the solution to replace disparate regional legacy systems with a single global system to streamline operations and more efficiently manage customer and supplier relationships and its global supply chain. With the help of SAP and IBM, Oneida will be able to better manage its working capital worldwide with global visibility and transparency of information, both internally and externally, within its global operations, supply and customer bases.

SAP and IBM are recognized market leaders in midmarket enterprise software and systems implementations. Their combined strengths in delivering projects on time and on budget, and meeting global business objectives, will provide us minimized business risk, greater confidence and clearer future vision than any other combination of vendors, said Rob Hack, senior vice president and chief information officer, Oneida. A leading requirement for Oneida was to deploy a solution with embedded industry best practice-based processes, allowing us to focus on the strategic competitive advantages that differentiate us in the market place.

IBM is delighted to work with Oneida and SAP to bring a level of standardization and integration across Oneida's business processes and global supply chain through this Express Advantage solution. It's a great example of teaming up to bring business value to the mid-market, said Harris Warsaw, vice president of IBM Small and Medium Business, Americas.

In a highly competitive global marketplace, companies must manage shrinking margins, increasing demands on regulatory compliance and rising costs, while maintaining the flexibility to quickly respond to changing customer interests and the needs of the suppliers who serve them. The deep level of integration from the IBM configured SAP solution will allow Oneida to have a real-time view of worldwide supply chain processes and information to improve relationships with customers and create efficiencies that directly impact the companys bottom line.

Midsize enterprises make up more than two-thirds of our customer base and Oneida will benefit from SAPs long-term experience in serving the unique needs of this key market segment, said Rodney Seligmann, COO of the Territory Sales Organization, SAP America, Inc. We are pleased to add a company with the prestigious brand recognition and reputation of Oneida to the growing list of companies that are helping to make SAP a standard for midsize enterprises. Oneida, headquartered in Oneida, NY, kicked off its SAP implementation in June 2006.