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      Founded in 1780, NZZ is one of Switzerland's leading private media companies. Committed to high-quality, independent journalism and liberal perspectives, it provides its readers with daily guidance and inspiration.

      As part of its ongoing digital transformation, the company NZZ with around 800 employees has initiated a comprehensive modernization of its core financial and operational infrastructure. In collaboration with KPMG AG in Switzerland (KPMG Switzerland), NZZ upgraded its SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) environment and transitioned to SAP Cloud ERP.

      Johan Steenstra
      Johan Steenstra

      Partner, SAP Transformation

      KPMG Switzerland

      The starting point: A historically grown SAP ECC environment

      The SAP Cloud ERP is being established as the digital core of NZZ’s next‑generation enterprise architecture, introducing standardized workflows, modern governance, and automated integrations.

      Overall, this transformation creates a modern, competitive foundation that can adapt flexibly to market changes and scale innovative business models.

      At the starting point, NZZ was operating an outdated and highly customized SAP ECC platform, which created the need for modernization.

      This legacy infrastructure was characterized by numerous in-house custom developments and complex integrations, particularly in media‑specific processes such as subscriptions and billing. 

      Over time, complexity increased, and the customized solutions limited the organization’s agility and posed challenges in scaling digital business models. 

      As a result, barriers arose that hindered innovation in digital services area and significantly reduced the ability to adapt to market changes.

      KPMG Response: Defining a “Fit‑to‑Standard” SAP Cloud ERP

      KPMG Switzerland’s supported NZZ in defining, designing, and implementing a future ready SAP cloud platform based on a consistent “Fit-to-Standard” strategy. The objective was to establish a leading practice based architecture that reduces complexity while providing a stable and scalable foundation for future development.

      As part of this initiative, a lean cloud target operating model was introduced, focusing on the harmonization and selective automation of core financial and operational processes. Standard SAP Cloud ERP processes were implemented where appropriate, considering NZZ’s existing system landscape. This approach supported greater process consistency and transparency while preserving the flexibility required to integrate business critical workflows.

      In parallel, a centralized governance structure was established to support sustainable process stability and structured decision making. This governance model should enable business-driven controlled system evolution and simplify the integration of media specific workflows, while reducing complexity across the entire system landscape.

      Overall, the initiated Cloud ERP foundation should contribute to a structured and maintainable system landscape. It should support improved updateability, enhanced access to financial and operational data, and provide a scalable ERP platform that can evolve in line with NZZ’s future business requirements.   

      The expertise of both teams was important, but the collaboration made the difference. The shared commitment from both NZZ and KPMG were key to the successful delivery of the project.

      Johan Steenstra

      Partner, SAP Transformation
      KPMG Switzerland

      The Outcome: Creating a scalable and future-ready Cloud ERP

      The initiative established a strengthened foundation to support operational efficiency, financial transparency, and the continued evolution of NZZ’s digital business.

      This foundation contributed to a reduction in technological complexity and maintenance effort, supporting more efficient and sustainable ERP operations over time. Improved maintainability should enable a future proof platform setup and support a sustainable reduction of ongoing expenses.

      At the same time, enhanced data transparency provides real time insights into financial and operational data, supporting informed decision making. The new platform also supports scalability, as it can accommodate evolving requirements to support further growth. 

      In addition, greater agility is achieved through faster deployment of new features and improved responsiveness to evolving business needs.

      By migrating to S/4HANA, we laid the digital foundation for our future financial processes. KPMG supported us in successfully bringing this complex project across the finish line and in ensuring a successful transition into day-to-day operations.

      Christian Arnold

      CFO, NZZ

      How KPMG can help

      • SAP services provided by KPMG

        KPMG Switzerland assists organizations transform across the full SAP lifecycle, from strategy and design to implementation and continuous improvement. Our teams leverage leading SAP tools such as SAP Signavio and SAP Joule for Consultants to support clients modernize their ERP environments, enable better decision‑making, and drive sustainable business outcomes.

      • Management Consulting

        KPMG Switzerland Management Consulting professionals help organizations align business objectives with technology outcomes. We support clients’ transformation initiatives focused on value realization, stakeholder engagement, and long‑term impact, underpinned by structured change management and governance.

      • KPMG Powered Enterprise

        KPMG Powered Enterprise Methodology is KPMG’s transformation approach that combines industry insights, built on pre-defined operating models and leading practices. It is designed to assist organizations in their transformation when considering accelerating delivery, minimizing implementation risk, and building scalable operations across six key dimensions: processes, people, service delivery, technology, data & insights, and governance.

      Our contact at KPMG Switzerland

      Johan Steenstra
      Johan Steenstra

      Partner, SAP Transformation

      KPMG Switzerland