SAP Provides Flexible IT Platform for Barton Malow as the Construction Firm Looks to Improve its Competitive Position

Decades-Old Legacy System Replaced With SAP® Business All-in-One; SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Solutions Add High Degree of Visibility Across Operations

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - With a plan to significantly increase its competitive position and profitability in the construction industry, Barton Malow is scrapping its outmoded business software legacy system and implementing SAP® Business All-in-One solutions from SAP AG (NYSE: SAP). With the SAP® Business All-in-One for Engineering, Construction & Operations (SAP Business All-in-One for EC&O) solution from SAP channel partner et alia, in conjunction with business intelligence (BI) solutions from the SAP® BusinessObjects™ portfolio, Barton Malow will have essential IT-based business tools in place to streamline processes, provide business users intuitive access to trusted data and pursue international business.

Founded in 1924, Barton Malow served as a general contractor for nearly fifty years. In the early 1970s, the company broadened its services to include construction management with full preconstruction services, coordinating projects from planning through close-out. Senior executives at Barton Malow felt that the company’s lack of visibility into project data was hurting its bottom line. After a thorough search for the right solution, SAP ultimately won over the $1.6 billion construction firm, according to Phil Go, CIO of Barton Malow.

“We have ambitious long term growth plans but unfortunately our current system doesn’t support our business strategy,” said Go. “SAP clearly has the best people, process and technology to help us realize our strategic plan and build critical IT muscle mass.”

CREW for Construction, et alia’s pre-configured SAP Business-All-in-One solution and applications from the SAP BusinessObjects portfolio will work in concert with each other to more accurately run the majority of Barton Malow’s daily business operations with a new level of precision, providing project managers and other field operators with the solutions and insights they need to be successful. Other expected benefits, according to Go, include:

* Accurately capturing project costs and making them accessible to the field almost instantly. “Our SAP strategy takes IT staff out of the equation as much as possible,” said Go. “We’re immediately able to better understand trends and project KPIs.”
* Reliable data from SAP BusinessObjects solutions means Barton Malow can foresee if a project might go over budget and take corrective action. Go adds, “SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions help our employees make smarter decisions about our business strategy, and ensure that we are executing upon that strategy on a daily basis.”
* The SAP NetWeaver® technology platform is built specifically for SAP’s flagship enterprise resource planning application, SAP® ERP, and is tightly integrated, thus eliminating the need to add additional IT resources.
* Integration and easy access to timely data and user friendliness. “SAP is easy to work with and the culture seemed to fit better with us,” said Go. “It truly was a joint value proposition.”

SAP offers solutions that address the industry-specific challenges businesses of all sizes face today. With SAP, companies have the flexibility to choose the solutions they need to solve current and future business issues.

Barton Malow will realize the benefits of the SAP Business All-in-One for EC&O portfolio by leveraging CREW for Construction, et alia’s pre-configured SAP Business All-in-One solution tailored for the business needs of the construction industry.