Implements SAP Business One ERP solution and plantation digitization product iHarvest
Further accelerating digital transformation capabilities across the organization, Sri Lanka’s
leading diversified agribusiness company Watawala Plantations (CSE:WATA) announced that
the company had implemented SAP Business One HANA Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
platform and iHarvest, a home-grown plantation digitalization product.
SAP Business One, a simple yet powerful business solution, will help Watawala Plantations to
streamline their operations and provide access to critical real-time information by automating
key business processes. This will provide improved visibility to the company’s core operations.
Perfect Business Solutions Services (PBSS) Group, an SAP Gold Partner, was selected to
facilitate the implementation.
SAP Business One is an affordable and easy-to-use business management solution for
companies. Encompassing CRM capabilities as an intrinsic part of core business automation,
SAP Business One supports Watawala Plantations’ standard business processes, such as financial
management, purchasing, inventory, operations, and human resources. The solution will also
help the Company to streamline processes, gain a greater insight into the business to act fast and
make decisions based on real-time information, helping Watawala Plantations drive profitable
growth.
Additionally, Watawala Plantations has implemented ‘iHarvest’, a plantation digitization
platform developed by Sri Lankan startup Itechro Limited. The revolutionary platform has been
developed to address common issues faced by agricultural enterprises to create a digitally-
enabled plantation ecosystem by connecting each entity via a digital platform to redefine
everyday interactions creating value for every stakeholder sustainably.
With the implementation of this intuitive digitalization platform, Watawala Plantations is geared
to drive the next-level transformation in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector with the ability to
automate its field operations with analytical capabilities, deriving real-time insights for
continuous improvements. This will lead to significant cost savings, greater transparency of field
operations, better planning of operations and improved harvesting cycles. Key features include
dashboards, field assignments, attendance capturing, harvest record management, and mill
operation support with weighbridge integration.
“Both SAP Business One and iHarvest empower us to make smart, confident decisions faster by
capturing all critical information across key business processes – making it instantly available
company-wide. You have clear visibility into how your business is performing and greater
confidence in the information used to make decisions. Implementing these platforms is a
testament to the company’s unwavering efforts to accelerate digital transformation. With the
power of these solutions and the oversight and cutting-edge analytics they provide, I can say that
Watawala Plantations is drawing the roadmap of our future safely,” said Watawala Plantations
Chief Executive Officer Binesh Pananwala.
Watawala Plantations Senior Manager – Finance and Project Leader Eranda Kapukotuwa said,
“As a company, we were looking to optimise time management and increase overall efficiency
with the help of the right tools while facilitating the company’s digital transformation.
Implementing SAP Business One and iHarvest provides a digitalisation roadmap with complete
data visibility and cutting-edge analytics, offering reliable, integrated platforms with accurate
real-time data for better decision-making. This helps us significantly improve our overall
efficiency with a full process oversight and monitoring automated reporting dashboards.”
Image Caption:
From left: Watawala Plantations CEO Binesh Pananwala, Itechro Managing Director
Chamara Jayaweera, Sunshine Holdings Group Chief Digital Officer Infiyaz Ali and PBSS
Managing Director Dr. Madura Gamanayake
