Independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy is using a connected SAP tool chain to manage acquisition-led growth across a multi-ERP environment, SAP News Hub June 9 reports.
Founded in 2014 by private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners, Harbour Energy was built around an acquisition strategy. SAP News described the company as one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse oil and gas companies, with operations across 11 countries.
At the recent TAC Insights conference for SAP for Energy and Utilities in Toulouse, Graham Young, VP EMS Operation at Harbour Energy, described the company’s core operating challenge as one of scale and agility.
“We’re basically trying to solve a very hard problem. How do we scale like a major [business], but stay agile like a startup?” Young said.
Harbour Energy’s growth model creates a different ERP problem from a traditional single-platform modernization program. The company has expanded through M&A, including assets from large energy companies such as Shell, while operating multiple ERP systems. In that context, the technology priority is not immediate consolidation into one ERP instance, but visibility, process alignment, and integration speed across a complex landscape.
Multi-ERP Became a Design Choice
Harbour Energy does not treat multiple ERP systems as a temporary failure state to eliminate at any cost. The company runs multiple ERP systems when appropriate and uses a fit-for-purpose architecture to connect processes rather than forcing everything into one system.
That approach reflects the realities of acquisition-led growth. When companies acquire new assets, inherited systems, local processes, and operational knowledge can create duplication and slow integration. Young said many companies struggle after acquisitions because “systems break, processes clash, value gets lost.”
The company’s SAP tool chain is designed to support that operating model. SAP LeanIX solutions and the SAP Signavio portfolio help connect Harbour’s landscape by aligning processes, linking capabilities to systems, and creating a unified view of where systems and processes sit across the business.
Before that tool chain was in place, Young said processes were “hidden in Excel and PDFs” and embedded in local knowledge. Harbour lacked a clear view of duplication or inefficiency. SAP News cited two examples: the company reduced dozens of HR systems by half and consolidated 33 different approaches to travel expenses into one.
Analysis
What this means: Multi-ERP operations can support growth when architecture provides control. Harbour Energy’s model shows acquisition-heavy companies do not always need to force immediate ERP consolidation to gain visibility and discipline. The larger issue is whether processes, capabilities, systems, and costs can be mapped clearly enough to support integration decisions.
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Visibility Sped Integration Planning
The most important result is speed. Per SAP News, while traditional transformation planning can take up to 24 months, Harbour Energy can now complete some key design cycles in four to six weeks using the SAP tool chain and process modeling. Standard process templates and automated modeling help accelerate validation, which then supports faster execution of integration and transformation programs.
For an acquisition-led company, that matters because integration speed determines how quickly new assets can be stabilized and how soon synergies can be identified. The tool chain helps Harbour Energy map systems from acquired businesses against its core model, giving the company a faster way to decide what to keep, retire, or migrate.
Harbour Energy also uses SAP Test Automation by Tricentis and SAP Cloud ALM for application lifecycle management, which help make releases safer and reduce operational surprises during go-lives—a critical issue in an industry where downtime is expensive.
The broader architecture also supports cost transparency. By connecting systems and processes, Harbour Energy can compare costs across business units and prioritize investment using operational data rather than relying only on local assumptions.
Analysis
What this means: Process intelligence accelerates M&A integration. Harbour Energy’s reported compression of some design cycles to four to six weeks depends on process visibility, standard templates, automated modeling, and faster validation. This case reinforces that integration speed can come from well-prepared process architecture.
Process Structure Before Automation
Young also connected the SAP tool chain to AI readiness. Only when processes are structured and visible can they become useful for automation. Standardized workflows and process maps become inputs for AI tools, while digital adoption platforms can guide users through systems. In Harbour Energy’s model, process visibility comes before automation, and automation comes before scalable AI adoption.
Young described the SAP tool chain through three functions:
- a transparency engine that makes the business visible end to end
- a standardization engine that aligns processes, systems, and capabilities globally
- an acceleration engine that speeds M&A integration and transformation delivery.
Together with SAP Analytics Cloud for global forecasting and planning, these tools support Harbour Energy’s effort to keep financial discipline, data-driven insight, and business capability aligned as the company grows.
“The SAP tool chain allows us to grow aggressively through acquisitions without collapsing under complexity,” Young said. “It’s essentially the difference between chaotic expansion and controlled, scalable growth.”
Analysis
What this means: AI readiness starts with structured operations. Harbour Energy’s sequencing places visibility and standardization before automation, making process maps and workflow discipline part of the AI foundation. For ERP vendors and CIOs, the takeaway is AI adoption in complex enterprises depends on understanding how work actually runs across systems before automation can be trusted at scale.
