Omni Remotes

Following Philips’ decision to divest, Omni Remotes needed to build entirely new business processes and systems to support the newly independent company—all within a tight timeframe.

Omni Remotes created slick new business processes based on robust SAP® Business Suite applications and the SAP HANA® database running on IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers, supported by IBM Services®.

Divestments can cause dramatic upheaval. When Philips decided to spin off its division that manufactures and sells remote controls for TVs, hi-fi and similar electronic equipment, the newly formed company—known as Omni Remotes—had to find its feet fast.

Miguel Vidal, Director of Operations at Omni Remotes, begins: “We were given a year from the date of the divestiture to start operating as an independent company. So within that period, we needed to unpick our operations from those of Philips, and find and deploy enterprise applications and an IT infrastructure to support our new business.

“In the past, we had managed our operations using the single instance of SAP that supports Philips’ entire global enterprise. Over the years, those SAP systems had been heavily customized to meet the needs of all of Philips’ diverse business units. What’s more, the solutions included sophisticated functionality that Omni Remotes—a much smaller, less diverse company—simply did not require.

“We knew that by switching to slimmed-down systems, we would be able to cut costs and take our business agility to new levels, sharpening our competitive edge. But most critically, we needed to get new business systems up and running before the looming deadline. We set out to find a vendor that could transform our vision into reality.”

With help from IBM, Omni Remotes has transitioned to a slick set of SAP solutions and processes designed to suit its nimble business.

Miguel Vidal continues, “As a much smaller organization, we do not need many of the structures in place at larger companies. So after the divestment, rather than replicating the Philips system, we decided to rebuild only the elements we needed. We have been able to successfully reconstruct our business from the bottom up and transform into a slim-line, highly flexible new entity. By shedding this excess weight, we have taken our agility to new highs.”

When it was part of a larger company, Omni Remotes operated separate systems for areas such as procurement and research and development. The IBM team helped Omni Remotes bring these functionalities into the SAP scope, simplifying processes and the system landscape.

Vijaya Kumar elaborates: “Emerging trends—such as automated applications for managing home appliances, alongside sensor-based Internet of Things technology— promise to change the face of our industry. To stay ahead of the curve, we need a vibrant, innovative research and development department and a rapid time-to-market.”

Jean Ong adds, “By bringing our research and development function along with the supply chain into SAP, we have been able to slash the time required for key processes. For example, it used to take around three weeks to set up a new vendor, whereas now, it takes just a day—that’s 93 percent faster. 

“These improvements have been achieved through a combination of simpler processes and smarter decision-making, enabled by the solution designed by IBM and built on SAP technologies.

“Similarly, creation of critical reports such as new product introduction and Bill of Material is 40 percent faster. Ease and speed of product development is essential if we are to remain a market leader in R&D and innovation. 

“As we achieve further improvements in these areas, we hope to accelerate our time-to-market, helping us capitalize on fresh opportunities for growth, and ultimately get exciting new products to customers even faster.”

Omni Remotes has also installed robust controls in its procurement process, ensuring that it accepts goods from only reputable suppliers, at agreed prices that cannot be adjusted or over-written once the deal is confirmed. These precautions translate into higher quality of finished goods, better customer satisfaction and lower procurement risk.

Additionally, by eliminating the need for additional applications, consolidating to integrated SAP solutions helps Omni Remotes reduce the total cost of ownership of its IT landscape.

Broadening the scope of the SAP landscape has also provided big wins for the finance team.

Jean Ong, Business SIOP Manager at Omni Remotes, explains: “When we were part of a larger company, finance data was spread across multiple disparate systems. To get an overview of figures such as costs and sales, we needed to manually compile data from the various systems and reformat it until we could see the information we wanted. 

“That process was time-consuming, and a heavy reliance on manual working left a significant scope for error. Now, we have all finance information in a single system. As a result, we have eliminated the need for manual data transfer, helping us cut the time spent on financial consolidation by 50 percent.”

With around 200 new models being created each year, these financial controls are particularly important to Omni Remotes. Understanding the investment and production costs helps Omni Remotes price the products correctly, achieve the desired margins, and direct capital more effectively. 

“What’s more, we can easily extract real-time figures and get an overview of what is happening across our different sites—in terms of both financial data and our supply chain. Those insights act as the foundation for smarter business decision-making. For example, we can check inventory levels against demand, and make any necessary adjustments. Similarly, we can gain insights into areas such as production costs and cost allocations to get a clearer picture of our business.”

Higher-quality data and greater transparency are helping Omni Remotes make its business smarter.

Miguel Vidal adds: “In the past, we sometimes suffered from problems such as inventory records not matching the stock actually in the warehouse. Additionally, we occasionally had problems stemming from poor supply chain visibility. For example, there were incidents when one region would reduce the quantity of an internal order, but because the other team didn’t get the message, they kept producing inventory and we ended up with excess stock. 

“Now that SAP acts as a single version of the truth, errors like this are much less likely to occur. Ultimately, avoiding these kinds of mistakes helps us reduce waste and maintain efficient operations.

“What’s more, increased inventory accuracy helps us provide better customer service, because we can give customers more reliable information about whether their desired products are in stock.”

Building on its success, Omni Remotes plans to deploy SAP S/4HANA for logistics and financials. Its goal is to take advantage of the platform’s intuitive user interface and drill-down analytics for decision-makers. For example, managers will be able to monitor sales performance by first gaining an overview of global figures, then drilling down to see results in each country or region.

Further ahead, Omni Remotes plans to take advantage of mobile technology. Specifically, the company aims to take advantage of SAP Fiori apps available with SAP S/4HANA, giving mobile data access to decision-makers and salespeople. This will further increase visibility of critical data and enable the company to accelerate processes such as approvals.

As it expands into these new areas and deploys further innovative SAP offerings, Omni Remotes will be able to count on the reliable, high-performance IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers. The combination of SAP technology and the IBM Cloud capabilities will provide ultimate scalability as Omni Remotes expands in new countries and with new products.

Miguel Vidal concludes: “We have undergone an all-encompassing business transformation, and we’ve emerged leaner, smarter and more agile. We couldn’t have done it without the superb support from IBM, the high-quality service from IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers and the leading-edge technology from SAP.”

Omni Remotes (link resides outside IBM) is one of the world’s leading providers of OEM remote controls, has produced over a billion remotes to date, offering more than 700 different models globally. The company is headquartered in Singapore and also operates in China, Belgium, Brazil, India, Taiwan and the United States.