TIDEWATER
Case Study:
Migrating to SAP
Business Planning and
Consolidation (BPC)
Digitizing Operations Amidst shifting Oil
Industry Tides
Cash-flow Positive in Industry Awash in Red Ink

Location
Houston, TX
Products/Services
Owns and operates OSVs
(Offshore Support Vessels)
Industry
Oil and Gas
Employees
600
Location
Houston, TX
Products/Services
Owns and operates OSVs
(Offshore Support Vessels)
Industry
Oil and Gas
Employees
600
Featured Solutions and Services:
(BPC, SAP BW/4HANA)
The oil and gas industry has been among the hardest hit in recent years due to economic cycles, pricing volatility and other factors – and the emergence of a global pandemic didn’t help. Tidewater, founded in 1955 as the industry’s first Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) company, however, embarked on a diligent strategic plan over the past couple of years to increase efficiency, realign costs and “high grade” their fleet of approximately 200 vessels. They are now the only cash-positive company in their industry as a result of remarkable strides in digitizing operations with a single source of end-to-end truth.
Before:
Challenges and Opportunities
- Seeking to upgrade SAP Business Planning and Consolidation to most current version of the platform
- Concerned about costs relative to benefits in an industry with economic woes well prior to COVID-19
- Unsure if implementation timeframe can meet their need for more immediate ROI and leverage

Why SAP and VantagePoint

- Engaged SAP Gold Partner VantagePoint, which “opened our eyes” to a different cost-effective reality
- Fully committed to SAP across the “paperless” enterprise and convinced of the unparalleled value
- Trusted VantagePoint’s guidance and recommendations in conjunction with SAP’s clear commitment
After:
Value-Driven Results
- VantagePoint “far exceeded expectations” and delivered high-quality results on time and within budget
- Completed BPC upgrade in seven weeks, not months, as Tidewater initially expressed as a concern
- Financial closing processes automated into “non-event” with cycle time cut from one month to five days
- Remnants of less effective competitor solutions were removed as Tidewater focused on SAP standardization
- Stakeholders quickly receive critical data for decision support well beyond financial management
- Platform stability includes SAP BW/4HANA foundation for SAP Business Planning and Consolidation
- More performance improvements anticipated with SAP Analytics Cloud slated for 2021 deployment
75
Estimated annual savings associated with SAP software relative to integrating major acquisition in 2019
5
Financial closing cycles reduced from 30 to 5 days each month, with data refreshes every 30 minutes
Customer Testimonials
“We’re all-in with SAP to ensure strong level of consistency and attention to detail across our enterprise. Our ability to become cash-positive in such trying times for the industry speaks volumes about SAP’s everyday value.”
LEE JOHNSON
VP and Chief Information Officer, Tidewater
Customer Testimonials
“We’re all-in with SAP to ensure strong level of consistency and attention to detail across our enterprise. Our ability to become cash-positive in such trying times for the industry speaks volumes about SAP’s everyday value.”
LEE JOHNSON
VP and Chief Information Officer, Tidewater