About Tecan
- Global presence, specialised focus
Headquartered in Switzerland, Tecan is a leading provider of laboratory automation and life sciences instrumentation.
- 3,000+ employees worldwide
Serving diagnostics, pharmaceutical and research organisations in over 40 countries.
- €976 million 2024 sales
Operating at scale with a complex and fast-moving financial landscape across global entities.
- One global ERP landscape
Managing 40+ company codes in SAP, with one IFRS ledger and a single chart of accounts.
Transformation objective
Tecan set out to simplify and standardise their month-end close while improving speed, visibility and control — all without placing added pressure on IT.
Previously, the team relied on emails and Excel checklists to manage controls and reconciliations. With over 40 entities and a tight three-day local closing window, these processes were no longer sustainable. Tecan needed automation, real-time SAP data, embedded audit trails, and a solution finance could manage directly.
“We’ve got a pretty ambitious deadline — three days for local closing plus one day for consolidation.”
— Lukasz Skapski, Corporate ICS Manager, Tecan
The transformation project
“Aico emulates the way a real human being would work with SAP… It runs the task in the background.”
— Lukasz Skapski, Corporate ICS Manager, Tecan
- Smart automation at scale
Aico now automates 66% of closing controls, with more than 3,800 tasks tracked across just 9 entities in a single month.
- Modules implemented
Tecan rolled out Closing Task Manager, Account Reconciliations and Journal Entries, and is collaborating with Aico to shape Intercompany Reconciliations.
- Real-time SAP integration
No batch jobs, no duplicate data — Aico pulls live SAP data into tasks, reports and reconciliations.
- Finance-owned setup, minimal IT effort
Implementation required only 2–3 days of IT support. Finance now fully manages workflows and improvements.
- Control embedded directly in workflows
Approvals, audit documentation and reconciliation rules are enforced at the task level, giving Tecan full visibility and eliminating fragmented GRC processes.
- Task execution tailored by smart tags
Instead of creating 40 task variants, Aico uses smart tags to dynamically switch parameters like company code and period, dramatically reducing admin work.
Why Tecan chose Aico
“All of this was done without any SAP development, any army of consultants. It was all done by one person at Tecan.”
— Lukasz Skapski
- Transparent pricing and project control
Tecan appreciated Aico’s clear scope, entity-based pricing model and project transparency.
- End-to-end visibility across the close process
Tasks, approvals and documentation now live in a single, auditable platform.
- Low-code, intuitive design for finance teams
Financial close teams work directly in Aico using familiar Excel logic — no need for developers or extensive training.
Transformation outcome
“We only need IT these days just to make sure Aico is up to date or to assign a couple of access rights. That’s it. So, it’s extremely cool.”
— Lukasz Skapski, Corporate ICS Manager, Tecan
