The Kenya Ports Authority has experienced phenomenal growth over the last 12 years. Traffic through the port of Mombasa, East and Central Africa’s main maritime gateway, has increased by 7,4% per annum. In 2000, KPA realised traffic of 9,126-million tons moving through the port and this increased significantly to 19,953-million and 21,920-million tons in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
In order to capitalise on this growth, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) needed to implement an IT infrastructure that allowed the organisation to rapidly automate its processes, increase cash flow efficiency, and up its performance in every regard. To that end, KPA partnered with SAP in 2002.
Over the last 11 years, SAP has helped the KPA realise its mission to become a world class sea port of choice by enabling the organisation to consolidate its business processes and streamline its supply chain into one holistic and online system, thereby allowing customers and vendors to transact more efficiently and securely.
KPA has implemented SAP Financial Supply Chain Management (SAP FSCM) software, SAP Supplier Relationship Management® (SAP SRM) software, SAP Employee and Manager Self-Service® software. This is the first SAP FSCM and SRM implementation in East Africa.
“SAP has played a significant role enabling us to continue to generate profits in our business,” says Catherine Wairi, chief financial officer at KPA. “Previously we used to experience serious stumbling blocks like lost revenue and mismanaged customer disputes due to the outdated manual systems with which we used to work.
“With SAP’s help, we installed a first-class financial supply chain management system and brought everything online. Through this process we have recovered over 210-million Kenyan Shillings in unpaid credit, which equates to $2,5-million,” Wairi adds.
In addition to bringing everything online, other benefits include improved employee data accuracy as staff members are able to transparently view their own data, informed decision making as reports became more easily accessible, quicker completion of processes and improved traceability and visibility in tendering processes. The automation of loan and investment scheduling has also enabled KPA to effectively monitor and manage the full spectrum of all their financial instruments with greater transparency and control.
“The first benefit of partnering with SAP manifested itself during the very first week we went live, where the average weekly cash collections went up by more than 35%. The transparency that has come with the implementation in the dispute and credit management processes has also brought us strictly in line with all vital compliance issues,” Wairi says.
“SAP Africa is proud to have helped KPA go from strength to strength in a competitive environment,” says Pfungwa Serima, CEO of SAP Africa. “This East African success story clearly demonstrates how SAP software helps forward-looking businesses remain ahead of the game. We look forward to the future growth of this partnership in making Kenya the primary gateway into the region.”