How investment firm MPIC is prepping for sustainable biz transformation

November 6, 2021 - 6:50 PM
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This 2020 file photo shows real estate properties in Metro Manila. (STAR/Michael Varcas, file)

One of the country’s leading infrastructure investment company Metro Pacific Investments Corporation is embracing the digital transformation with its recent partnership with software firm SAP.

MPIC is the first organization in the Philippines to adopt the digital solution RISE with SAP on Amazon Web Services as part of its broader business transformation strategy.

Techcrunch described RISE with SAP as a subscription service that combines a set of services and product offerings that helps a company become an “intelligent enterprise.”

Through the implementation of this solution, the investment firm, with diverse subsidiaries covering toll roads infrastructure, power and water utilities, as well as healthcare institutions, among others, seek to deliver inclusive and sustainable development for the Philippines and its economy.

MPIC has been facing disparate financial reporting systems among its subsidiaries, inconsistent data sets, complex closing cycles, and high-volume manual processes to meet regulatory requirements and financial reporting standards.

That is why it partnered with SAP to future-proof its business by consolidating, modernizing, standardizing its enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on a single platform through RISE with SAP, a Business Transformation as a Service offering.

This solution is powered by SAP S/4 HANA digital core in the cloud.

The adoption of the digital solution would address the challenges the investment firm is facing as the RISE with SAP allows it “to streamline operations across its subsidiaries, gain insights into end-to-end performance with process analytics and simplify its accounting, financial close, treasury, and risk management processes.”

“Our commitment to contribute to national progress and improve the quality of lives in the communities we serve is anchored on the strength of our various operating companies. Dealing with several business models has resulted in a disconnect across our ERP applications and non-standardized operational processes in our organization, thereby leading to a lack of visibility into real-time data and insights,” Chaye Cabal-Revilla, MPIC’s chief finance, risk, and sustainability officer said in a virtual press briefing last October 29.

“This also made our decision-making reactive amidst a dynamic market situation,” she added.

“By partnering with a trusted technology advisor like SAP, we hope to realize our business transformation strategy, standardize core processes, facilitate data-driven decision-making with analytics and look at developing new digital business models in the new normal,” the MPIC exec continued.

Edler Panilio, SAP Philippines’ managing director said the implementation of the digital solution makes MPIC “has a distinct first-mover advantage as an intelligent sustainable future-ready enterprise to achieve true business transformation and faster time to value, flexibility and agility.”

“Powered by SAP S/4 HANA digital core and connected to SAP Business Network, MPIC will also gain access to suppliers, asset intelligence, and logistics trading partners for business collaboration while building resiliency against disruptions and optimizing operations, predicting needs, and enabling proactive responses as they accelerate growth and scale for the digital future,” he added.

The investment company said it is committed to contributing to the achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with UN SDG 9, which seeks to ‘build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation’ as its anchor.

Cabal-Revilla said that the business transformation initiative is also among its “sustainability philosophy of integrating business and environmental stewardship in their investment strategies.”

She said that RISE with SAP would help improve MPIC’s operations and augment its sustainability initiatives.

“MPIC has always been committed to elevating its sustainability initiatives across the group. We have put sustainability at the heart of MPIC, and it is evident in how we design, build, and operate our business with minimal social and ecological disruption. In this aspect, MPIC and SAP share the same vision to create a more sustainable future for all,” Cabal-Revilla said. —Rosette Adel