How Bio-Rad leveraged automation for a seamless transition to AWS cloud infrastructure with Basis Technologies
Overview
About Bio-Rad
Bio-Rad Laboratories is a leading company in the life science research and clinical diagnostics industry. It offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services for disease detection, monitoring, and treatment, as well as tools and technologies for biological research and drug discovery. Its target market includes hospitals, laboratories, universities, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and government agencies. Its top solutions are PCR systems, antibodies, chromatography systems, and quality control products.
Challenges
Bio-Rad was using SAP ChaRM, but found the tool was holding the organization back from scaling and adapting to the company’s growing needs
The manual nature of its change management processes led to inefficiencies and increased the risk of errors. It also required significant effort to track and manage changes, resulting in delays and compliance concerns
Bio-Rad lacked visibility into the change management and testing process, hindering decision-making and coordination among teams. Manual reporting processes were time-consuming and prone to inaccuracies, leading to delays in identifying and addressing issues
Solution
Bio-Rad chose ActiveControl for its advanced capabilities and modern approach to SAP change management, with automated functionalities that would streamline changes, reducing manual effort and minimizing the risk of errors
ActiveControl gave the organization real-time visibility into the status of changes, enabling them to track progress more effectively. Its intuitive interface enabled team members to understand the lifecycle of changes and prioritize tasks accordingly
The solution seamlessly integrated with other systems like ServiceNow and JIRA, enhancing collaboration and streamlining workflows across the organization, improving coordination between teams and ultimately leading to greater efficiency
Results
ActiveControl’s flexible architecture helped enable and de-risk the AWS migration
Being on the Cloud meant that Bio-Rad had the infrastructure to enable CI/CD integration with ActiveControl, Jira and ServiceNow
Bio-Rad now has real-time visibility and tracking of changes across SAP and some non-SAP applications
Now that Bio-Rad can track and deploy changes automatically, it has easily ensured that GxP compliance is maintained
Customer testimonial
Embracing automation for future business growth
Life sciences company Bio-Rad used ActiveControl to vastly improve its SAP change management process for a seamless transition to the AWS
Executive Summary
Bio-Rad Laboratories, a leading organization in life science research and clinical diagnostics, faced challenges in scaling its operations and adapting to evolving business needs due to limitations in its SAP change management processes. Seeking a modern solution, Bio-Rad partnered with Basis Technologies to implement ActiveControl, automating SAP change management and enhancing visibility. This transformation enabled Bio-Rad to embrace a continuous deployment model, significantly reducing manual efforts, ensuring compliance, and improving coordination between teams. The adoption of ActiveControl streamlined operations, enhanced agility, and positioned Bio-Rad for continued success in the dynamic life sciences industry.
The Challenge
Bio-Rad uses SAP globally to manage its operations and business processes. This includes the manufacturing and shipment of its materials, procurement of direct and indirect materials, customer order management, planning for specific finished goods materials, financial transactions (e.g., GL, accounting, and sub-ledger accounting), mastering material and business partner data, and decision-making using Fiori and Personas. Bio-Rad is deploying a Transportation Management System (TMS) and several initiatives and operational projects to improve its customer experience.
Bio-Rad was using tools that posed constraints on scalability and adaptability, hindering the organization’s ability to meet growing business demands effectively. It was also using manual processes, which resulted in inefficiencies, increased human error, and significant effort to manage changes, causing delays and compliance concerns. The life sciences company needed a solution that would bring full visibility to SAP system change to improve decision-making and coordinate teams more effectively.
The Solution
In response to these challenges, Bio-Rad implemented ActiveControl from Basis Technologies with its advanced capabilities to modernize SAP change management processes. ActiveControl’s automated functionalities streamlined changes, reduced manual effort, and minimized human error. With real-time visibility, the solution enabled teams to track progress effectively and prioritize their time accordingly. Finally, the solution seamlessly integrated with existing systems like ServiceNow and JIRA, enhancing collaboration and streamlining workflows across the organization.
The Result
ActiveControl yielded transformative results for Bio-Rad. Through embracing a CI/CD model, Bio-Rad became much more agile and responsive to business changes, enabling swift adaptation to evolving demands. Automation significantly reduced manual efforts and increased overall efficiency within the organization. The robust tracking and reporting capabilities ensured that audit requirements were easily met, minimizing questions, and demonstrating a high level of control over their SAP change management processes. Real-time visibility into change statuses improved decision-making and coordination among teams. Leaders were armed with greater insight, enabling swift issue resolution.
About ActiveControl
ActiveControl is SAP change management software that orchestrates the complex processes involved in changing SAP systems while providing a range of security measures that protect against change failure. It allows you to automate the entire change and release process, manage multiple SAP systems in parallel, and embed a series of checks and analyzers that ensure your business operations are always the first priority.
