Symbol Technologies

Symbol is the global leader in secure mobile information systems, devices such as the hand-held scanners used in supermarkets and their integration with networks and systems. They needed to set up a European Financial SSC within a year. Atos Origin worked with them, literally from the ground up, to deliver the solution in the Czech Republic, in record time.

The issues:

Symbol needed to ensure the robustness of end to end finance processes and the integrity of the financial statements as well as Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
They needed a Finance and Administration organisation that could support business growth without significant increases in cost
Symbol also wanted to centralise repair operations to control costs and maintain quality

Our solution:

Location selection – Atos Consulting assisted in the qualification and selection of Brno, Czech Republic as the SSC site
Design of new Sarbanes-Oxley compliant processes for sales order administration, accounts receivable, purchasing, accounts payable and general accounting
Introduced process automation and system based controls including e-payables and scanning and use of workflow in SAP
Helped with process migration from countries, recruitment and induction to the SSC, change management, communications and programme management.

The results delivered:

The SSC in Brno was built and fitted out in 6 months and operational in under 8 months
Full roll-out was completed in 12 months, by the end of 2004 the centre was covering 20 countries
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance was achieved with relative ease
Costs savings of over 50% achieved from process efficiency
The SSC has been awarded the MCA Highly Commended Award as Best International Project and an Honourable Mention at the Shared Services Awards 2005 for the Best Use of Technology.

What they say:

"Atos Origin has been an outstanding partner to work with. We needed safe, fast implementation and they delivered…. Atos Origin helped us to deliver on time and on budget a Shared Services operation of which we, and I'm sure they, are proud."
Ian Roche, Director Shared Services EMEA Finance, Symbol Technologies

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