Fortune 500 Energy Giant Saves 45,000 Hours with SAP Finance Automation
Key Takeaways
⇨ Energy Transfer achieved efficiency gains through finance automation with SAP S/4HANA, saving 45,000 hours annually and reducing bank reconciliation time by 88%.
⇨ The structured rollout of automation aligned with key milestones ensured adoption across a dispersed team and led to enhanced audit readiness and reduced error rates.
⇨ Automation not only cuts costs but also drives growth, enabling finance professionals to focus on strategic analysis rather than repetitive tasks, ultimately improving job satisfaction and decision-making.
Energy Transfer, one of the largest midstream energy companies in the United States with operations spanning 44 states and annual revenue of $78 billion, has achieved remarkable efficiency gains through finance automation integrated with SAP S/4HANA. The Fortune 500 energy company successfully automated its record-to-report (R2R) processes using Redwood Software’s Finance Automation platform, resulting in 45,000 hours saved annually and an 88% reduction in time spent on bank reconciliations.
The transformation addresses a complex financial operation managing 250 legal entities across three countries, with 700 distributed accountants handling 4,000 journal entries, 3,500 month-end close tasks, and over 10,000 balance sheet certifications each month. Previously, accountants spent 80% of their time “wrestling with data” and only 20% analyzing it, a ratio the company aimed to reverse through automation.
Energy Transfer’s Assistant Controller for Accounting Automation, Jeff Bankert, led the initiative following the company’s consolidation of multiple SAP instances into a single S/4HANA environment. He stated, “We’re a company of organic growth and acquisitions. With those acquisitions, you bring on a lot of manual processes and different ways of doing things, which you have to then integrate into your company’s primary way of operating. There are a lot of automation opportunities to standardize when you’re in an acquisitive environment.”
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Proof of Concept Delivers Immediate Results
The implementation began with Redwood Software’s four-month proof-of-concept, which focused on key processes to showcase the platform’s capabilities. Automation of bank reconciliation cut processing time for 150 monthly reconciliations from one hour to just seven minutes. Capital project settlements were targeted in the POC, with automation of 20+ steps per asset demonstrated. Most notably, SAP user access provisioning decreased from 20 minutes per request to just 10 seconds.
The pilot’s success led to full adoption across three of Redwood Software’s four finance automation pillars: journal entry, task management, and balance sheet certification. The organization finished design, build, and testing in 12 months, followed by a six-month rollout. Besides efficiency improvements, Energy Transfer managed to retire two legacy applications, lowering system complexity and costs.
Results and Best Practices for Automation Success
Energy Transfer aligned its automation rollout with six key milestones: senior leadership sponsorship, detailed business requirements, strong project management, comprehensive user acceptance testing, extensive training, and structured post-deployment. This organized approach ensured adoption across a geographically dispersed team and supported long-term operational resilience.
Beyond the 45,000 hours saved, Energy Transfer reports enhanced audit readiness, standardized procedures, and reduced error rates. Automation has also been a vital driver of future growth. By decreasing manual intervention, the finance team can expand operations without adding to headcount, which is a crucial advantage for a company that continues to grow through mergers and acquisitions.
What This Means for SAP Insiders
Finance automation provides measurable ROI and scalability for SAP enterprises. Energy Transfer’s recovery of 45,000 hours annually demonstrates how automation delivers tangible benefits while lowering costs. For executives handling shrinking budgets and increasing compliance demands, such results show that automation is now a strategic necessity. SAP customers should consider automation not just to cut costs, but as a vital driver of growth without proportional increases in staff.
The adoption of automation speeds up the modernization of SAP finance systems. Energy Transfer’s phase-out of outdated applications mirrors a larger industry trend of consolidating around fewer, more integrated platforms. In an SAP S/4HANA migration, automation solutions that substitute fragmented tools can provide quicker benefits. When choosing providers, executives should focus on end-to-end process automation, strong SAP integration, and scalability in complex environments.
Prioritize end-to-end process automation to unlock higher-value finance roles. Redwood Software platform provided not just task automation but comprehensive process automation, enabling accountants to focus on analysis instead of repetitive data handling. This shift accelerates decision-making by allowing professionals to spot trends and forecast more accurately. It also boosts job satisfaction as finance teams move from data processing to strategic roles. For SAPinsiders, adopting process-centric automation can improve both business outcomes and workforce engagement.
