Starting Point: Why Heidelberg Chose Basware
As Heidelberg Materials prepared for its S/4HANA migration, the team carefully evaluated the role of accounts payable technology. While SAP offered native AP capabilities, the company opted for a best-of-breed approach – selecting Basware for its flexibility, user experience, and proven automation capabilities.
According to Anand Singh, International Deputy Head of Transformation & Integration at Heidelberg Materials, “We went through a thorough evaluation. Our focus was on usability, adoption, user experience, and minimizing custom code. Basware stood out in all of these areas. SAP’s custom code implementation is quite complex and requires dedicated IT expertise. Basware offered a more user-friendly experience, even at the plant and factory level, making it easier for broader adoption.”
Basware’s ability to integrate seamlessly with SAP and other ERP systems enabled Heidelberg to unify its AP operations globally, without overloading SAP with additional development requirements. This decision positioned Basware as more than just a tool – it became a foundational part of the transformation roadmap.
Clean Core Strategy & Accelerating the Migration
Heidelberg’s S/4HANA program is built on “clean core” principles – keeping SAP configurations lean and offloading business logic to external systems. As Singh explains, “Our strategy is a ‘clean core’ SAP approach – minimizing custom code within SAP and shifting complexity to external systems like Basware. All workflows, validations, and matching rules live in Basware, while SAP focuses purely on invoice posting. This setup makes the system easier to scale and maintain.”
This architectural decision has been instrumental in supporting Heidelberg’s phased migration model. With over 50 company codes in Germany alone and numerous regional variations across the business, the team opted for a wave-based rollout. Singh adds, “We prefer phased rollouts over big bang implementations. Basware supported this model end-to-end, from initial deployment through hypercare. That agility has been critical to our success.”
The company has already executed rollouts across Europe, the US, Canada, Malaysia, and India – demonstrating the global scalability of its transformation strategy.
Managing Compliance and Adapting at Speed
Operating in dozens of jurisdictions, Heidelberg needed a solution that could keep pace with fast-changing compliance mandates and tax structures. Basware’s flexibility and country-specific configuration capabilities provided the agility they needed.
“India was particularly complex due to tax regulations,” says Singh, “but Basware adapted quickly. We embedded those requirements into the solution, and accelerated go-live timelines. That agility, especially with fewer developer resources, has been critical.”
Basware also brought intelligence to exception handling. One example is its “waiting for goods receipt” logic, which delays invoice matching until a GR is posted. This feature significantly reduced manual interventions, particularly in countries like the US, where physical goods often lag behind invoice delivery.
At the same time, the automation introduced through Basware is also influencing upstream procurement behavior. With clearer visibility and consequences for incomplete or inaccurate POs, teams are taking more ownership to ensure data quality – amplifying the benefits beyond finance.
