Accelerating business transformation with a next-gen SAP platform

Bell sets the stage for agility and growth with SAP S/4HANA and IBM Consulting

Illustration of communication tower sending signals to router and smartphone
Modernizing SAP environments to enable scalable transformation

Bell is Canada’s largest communications company based on total revenue and combined customer connections. They lead the way in advanced fiber and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media.

The company required a customized SAP environment to support finance, supply chain and operational processes that span multiple business units and hundreds of interfaces and terabytes of historical data. This complexity was making it increasingly difficult to adapt to evolving business needs. Bell needed to orchestrate a large-scale transformation of their SAP systems, one that would not only modernize their infrastructure but also lay the foundation for future innovation, agility and cloud-first operations.
44% reduction in data volume from 18 TB to 10 TB 25,000 custom objects successfully remediated 15,000 users on cloud-native SAP S/4HANA
The successful migration to S/4HANA represents a pivotal moment for our organization. This achievement, delivered on time and within budget with our partner IBM, provides us with a modern, scalable platform to drive innovation and achieve our strategic goals. The team’s dedication and expertise ensured minimal disruption to our core business operations.
Thierry Chaumont SVP, Controller and Tax BCE & Bell
Delivering seamless, SAP-enabled finance transformation in the cloud

Bell partnered with IBM Consulting® to deliver a next-generation platform on budget in just 16 months. Bell’s SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) was migrated to SAP S/4HANA and Google Cloud, reducing data volume from 18 TB to 10 TB and improving the user experience with SAP Fiori. As part of the project, several SAP surrounding systems, including Business Objects Data Services (BODS), Taulia, Adaptive Processing Server Services (APSS) and Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), were also migrated onto Google Cloud.

IBM assembled the right team for success, including IBM Business Partners SNP and smartShift. SNP’s software-driven platform for selective data transformation enables rapid understanding of Bell’s complex SAP landscape and efficient migration of massive data volumes. smartShift brought AI-powered code remediation capabilities, helping modernize and future-proof over 25,000 custom Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) objects, de-risking the transition and helping ensure long-term maintainability.

Using IBM® Rapid Move for SAP S/4HANA, the team streamlined the migration of more than 700 interfaces and helped ensure business continuity across critical lines of business. IBM application modernization services and IBM finance consulting services helped further enhance Bell’s operations—accelerating reporting, shortening close cycles and enabling quicker, more strategic data-driven decision-making.
This SAP S/4HANA upgrade at Bell wasn’t just a system refresh; it was a foundational leap. By prioritizing quality and seamless execution with IBM, we’ve transformed one of our most critical and complex platforms into a strategically vital, scalable backbone, directly underpinning our overarching Bell Transformation strategy and unlocking new possibilities.
Sergio Carriero Director, IT Delivery Corporate Technology Solutions
Creating a foundation for future value and business agility

Bell now operates on a streamlined, cloud-enabled SAP S/4HANA environment that supports over 15,000 users across multiple lines of business. The new system delivers faster performance, greater scalability and improved resilience, empowering teams to work more efficiently and respond to business needs with agility.

Some key outcomes include:

  • 15,000 users supported on a cloud-native SAP S/4HANA environment, enhancing scalability
  • 44% reduction in data volume, from 18 TB to 10 TB, streamlining system performance
  • 25,000 plus custom objects remediated, reducing complexity and operational risk
  • 700 plus interfaces migrated, helping ensure seamless integration across business processes
  • 143 company codes streamlined to 57

IBM continues to support Bell as a strategic partner, helping the company evolve their IT and finance capabilities.
About Bell

Bell is considered Canada’s largest communications company, leading the way in advanced fiber and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media. By delivering next-generation technology that leverages cloud-based and AI-driven solutions, they’re keeping customers connected, informed and entertained while enabling businesses to compete on the world stage.

 Solution components IBM application modernization services IBM Consulting® IBM finance consulting services IBM Rapid Move for SAP S/4HANA IBM® SAP S/4HANA services
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Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.