Wal-Mart has begun rolling out a global SAP IT
systemand is now hiring to help run it,
reports the Financial Times.
The retailer selected a SAP system last October and is now
hiring personnel in its IT department to help manage the
transformation to its operations the SAP system is designed to
make.
Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart chief financial officer, told the
Financial Times, "The efficiency of our home-grown system has not
kept pace with the corporation's growth.
"The SAP system is going to be expensive to implement, but it
will be far more efficient once we're up and running, and it is
scalable."
Schoewe said the SAP system would aid the company's growth as it
entered new countries.
The first phase of the global SAP roll-out is expected to be
completed in the next two years, with a second and third phase
completed in three to five years, said the FT.
Rising IT costs contributed to a 20% increase in Wal-Mart's
corporate expenses in the first quarter of this year, says the
paper.