This momentum is aligned with consumer audio brand Victrola’s journey. Since its creation in 1906, Victrola has evolved into a global company known for its iconic record players, modern audio products, and mission to bring lifelong music memories to everyone
As it expanded into new sales and distribution channels, the company began to outgrow the limits of its existing ERP system. While its SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) system was stable and served the business well over the years, Victrola needed more scalability and flexibility to match its ambitions. According to Adam Schneider, SVP of Digital Strategy at Victrola, the goal was not simply to maintain operations, but to create a foundation that could support innovation. “We needed something that fueled our creativity at Victrola,” he said. And SAP Cloud ERP was the right fit.
Victrola’s “let’s go” mentality
A move to the public cloud offered more than a technical upgrade; it empowered Victrola to adapt. In that spirit, the team approached the transformation as a complete reimagining of its system with a cloud-first mindset.
“We have a ‘let’s go’ mentality in every single meeting we do. You’ll see a lot of fist bumps at Victrola and we love it. It really keeps that change front and center,” Schneider said.
The project team prioritized change management, openly communicating the reasons for moving to the cloud and the expected benefits. Giving the “why” made a big difference, Schneider said, and everyone was “excited for something new.”
It was also important for the team to engage with and get buy-in from company leaders, who were concerned about disruption during Victrola’s peak sales quarter. To address these concerns, the team ensured the transformation was a business-led project, involving about 75% of Victrola’s leaders, Schneider said.
Another way the team worked to prevent operational disruption and build confidence in the stability of the new system was to involve a partner with deep expertise in SAP Cloud ERP. The right partner would also fit seamlessly into Victrola’s unique, candid, music-oriented culture, Schneider said, which it found in Reply.
“We wanted someone that could really provide that business knowledge on the public cloud,” he said. “From a timing perspective, we couldn’t afford to have people figuring out the project as they’re on the project, so it really was the expertise of the public cloud that was a huge part in this.”
With a winning team assembled, Victrola’s move to the public cloud was well-supported and bolstered by stakeholders across the company, SAP, and Reply.
Fine-tuning the foundation
Victrola’s SAP Cloud ERP transformation covered order-to-cash and finance processes as well as large warehouse operations. The implementation itself was strategically timed to avoid overloading the team during the critical Q4 sales period, and it took about six months in total. Schneider said that the business adapted to the new system gradually: within the first month confidence grew, and by four months post-launch operations normalized with ongoing fine-tuning.
Victrola chose not to migrate historical data due to changes in organizational structure when it came to data management and the greenfield nature of the cloud system. This decision avoided technical debt and complexity. In addition, legacy customizations were largely eliminated through fit-to-standard workshops.
“We were looking for the ability to adapt with us, and we wanted a system that could be as simple or as complex as we needed it to be,” Schneider said.
With the new cloud system, Victrola experiences greater trust in data accuracy and reporting agility. Financial processes have improved significantly, with profit and loss reporting time going from four hours to just 10-15 minutes. Faster closes and easier margin analysis contribute to Victrola’s improved agility, more informed decision-making, and stronger business performance.
“We’re more trusting in our data and that’s because we went through that exercise of really retooling what our landscape looked like and what our foundation looked like,” Schneider said. It’s because of that re-engineering of data and transactions that Victrola has eliminated over 250 hours of finance-related work.
The next track
Now that Victrola is running on the public cloud, the sky is the limit when it comes to growth and innovation. “When we think about our AI strategy, I’m no longer scared of our system,” Schneider said. “We’re now applying an AI strategy to a state-of-the-art system that SAP very much supports.”
When asked what advice he’d give to companies contemplating a move to the cloud, Schneider said that there is never a perfect time to start, but it’s better to welcome transformation rather than fear it.
“I don’t think there is ever a perfect time to do these transformations,” he added. “I do think once you get into them, you start to really embrace them and feel good about it and say ‘It’s happening, let’s go.’”
Interested in learning more about how SAP supports the transition from SAP ECC to SAP Cloud ERP? Get started here.
