As one of the largest global brewers in the world, Heineken prides itself on making one product very well: beer. Students participating in GET EuroTech visited the Heineken Brewery Headquarters in Amsterdam last week. Heineken is the first and only, truly global beer brands, available for consumption in more than 178 countries. With operations in 71 countries, the IT systems that maintain the global operations of Heineken are essential to the success of the corporation.
Rory Crosbie, Manager for Global Business Application Services at Heineken International, spoke to students about what systems and IT business practices are employed to make Heineken one of the top global corporations in the world. Heineken utilizes Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which are smaller SAP platforms for its exports and imports. 90% of their SAP systems are on a private cloud. This creates an efficient way of managing some of its major data including, but not limited to, accounting and customer billing.
Students learned about some of the major challenges faced by global brands like Heineken. With Heineken growing at a rapid rate, in more than 178 countries across the globe, outsourcing is a primary function of the IT operations. Heineken International's Global Business Application Services is responsible for handling offshore outsourced IT services supporting the corporation’s daily operations across five continents. They must overcome language and cultural barriers to train staff to be global operators. As future information technology professionals working in a global market, the Heineken visit was an enlightening experience for GET EuroTech attendees.
Megan Threats is a second-year graduate student pursuing her M.S. in Library and Information Science with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Information Security Management. She received her B.A. in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy and Comparative Cultures & Politics from the James Madison College at Michigan State University. Aside from being a Graduate Assistant for the Global Enterprise Technology Program, she is the Co-Editor of the GET Blog. Her research interests include technology and information management, cyber security, information technology systems, information policy, and governance in the information age. Contact her at mvthreat@syr.edu & find her on Twitter - @TrillScott