Introducing Indevin Group
Indevin Group is proud to be a 100% New Zealand–owned wine business and pioneer of efficient wine industry practices since 2003. Today, SAP SuccessFactors solutions help Indevin turn employees into brand advocates who support the company’s national and international expansion thanks to access to modern HR tools and fewer manual processes.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Consumer products | New Zealand | 500–600 employees | EPI-USE |
Management engagement during succession (up from 50%)
Seconds to determine successors for roles (down from days previously)
Chief People Officer, Indevin Group
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Consumer products | New Zealand | 500–600 employees | EPI-USE |
Management engagement during succession (up from 50%)
Seconds to determine successors for roles (down from days previously)
Chief People Officer, Indevin Group
Transforming and modernizing Indevin’s HR function
Indevin employs 500 to 600 permanent staff. Its workforce increases to approximately 1,000 during the vintage period when the majority of wine-making activity occurs, such as harvesting, receival, processing, and dispatching. In addition to constant fluctuations in its workforce size, Indevin also faces distinct HR challenges because of the exceptional diversity of its employees and range of different roles from around the world.
As an organization, Indevin has always been fast paced and agile. However, the company faced challenges with effectively leveraging its HR data analytics, which were reliant on multiple spreadsheets and disparate systems that had to be accessed simultaneously to create reports on a range of business KPIs. The Indevin leadership team couldn’t gain actionable insights into business performance or employee satisfaction. Simple HR tasks, such as requesting a copy of an employment contract, relied on inefficient processes involving multiple departments.
In 2021, Indevin successfully acquired the iconic New Zealand brand Villa Maria. The purchase followed an extensive nine-month process that brought together two significant organizations in the New Zealand wine industry. The perennial challenge with acquisition is being able to integrate additional processes, capabilities, and cultures, with success reliant on understanding these elements very quickly. The Villa Maria acquisition meant Indevin had to deal with two different ways of working and incompatible systems, which caused significantly more work and key-person risk.
To better serve Indevin employees from onboarding onward and to facilitate growth, the company needed to modernize its HR function. It hoped this would facilitate the automation of time-consuming manual processes while providing access to real-time employee data and tools for smarter report generation. This transformation would also allow the HR team to respond to employee requests more efficiently and increase visibility across the organization for more-effective workforce management.
Chief People Officer, Indevin Group
Sourcing an innovative HR solution through SAP
The Indevin team undertook an extensive assessment period to determine what they wanted from a modernized HR solution, initially shortlisting three companies that did not include SAP. There were internal perceptions that SAP technology was only meant for large organizations, took too much time to implement, and required extensive customization. However, none of the shortlisted companies were able to fulfill Indevin’s specific requirements. Nor did they align with the company’s philosophy or culture, leading to a reevaluation of SAP SuccessFactors solutions as the top choice.
Reservations regarding SAP solutions proved unfounded, and leaders realized SAP SuccessFactors solutions could solve the company’s challenges. Indevin decided to implement many solutions from the HR portfolio, including the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding, SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals, SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development, and SAP SuccessFactors Learning solutions.
These SAP SuccessFactors solutions provide employees with a more streamlined onboarding experience, delivering HR self-service capability and agency for both staff and managers. They improve management control through improved visibility across HR functions and create a better employee experience through ongoing skills development and succession planning.
People & Performance Portfolio Partner, Indevin Group
Improving the Indevin employee experience
The implementation of SAP SuccessFactors solutions transformed the Indevin employee experience and increased the efficiency and capability of its HR function. Indevin’s HR team can respond more rapidly and accurately to requests and automate previously time-consuming manual tasks, which has increased productivity and employee satisfaction rates.
The new self-service platform provides ease of access to key HR processes for Indevin employees, while the collection of real-time, relevant employee data has informed and increases the efficacy of performance, workforce, compliance, and succession decisions. Employees also have the agency to engage with a variety of learning resources to develop their skill sets and careers using SAP SuccessFactors Learning.
Managers are empowered with better management control and visibility across key HR elements, including workforce planning, remuneration, and demographics through SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and the SAP SuccessFactors People Analytics solution. Additionally, managers can track yearly performance and anticipate talent succession for specific roles using SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals and SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development.
The Indevin team was particularly focused on creating a positive and professional recruitment and onboarding experience for its employees using SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding. This is in line with leadership’s belief that a great place to work starts with a great recruitment experience and that happy employees are the best brand ambassadors.
Now, new employees can enjoy the benefits of a streamlined, paperless onboarding process. The SAP Signature Management application by DocuSign enables electronic signing of employment contracts and SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and SAP SuccessFactors Onboarding support the digital storage of paperwork. Indevin has also created a more transparent and effective compliance process for incoming employees, including mandatory training and alcohol and drug testing along with improved visibility of working rights.
Chief People Officer, Indevin Group
Looking to the future with SAP SuccessFactors solutions
One of the primary organizational objectives for Indevin moving forward is to become an employer of choice within the New Zealand wine industry. In this regard, SAP is viewed as a valuable partner, offering AI technologies, predictive analytics, and insights into employee behaviors.
Through the modernization of its HR function and the integration of improved tools and capabilities, Indevin is now able to deliver a superior employee experience from onboarding onward. Through SAP SuccessFactors solutions, Indevin can exponentially increase employee satisfaction by using real-time data and advanced modules to drive skills development and career progression while effectively managing its workforce.
Having a robust HR process and system will also better equip Indevin to facilitate acquisitions in the future. This will hopefully enable a faster assimilation of processes, capabilities, and most importantly, organizational culture to drive ongoing company growth and development.
Featured partner
EPI-USE, a global partner for SAP, is one of the world’s foremost independent SAP specialist service providers and has emerged as a leader in designing, building, and deploying on-premise and cloud-based SAP systems and services.
Building a strong trusted relationship with Indevin Group in New Zealand, EPI-USE worked collaboratively with Indevin to deploy the groundbreaking EPI-USE People Solutions, an SAP Qualified Partner Packaged Solution powered by SAP SuccessFactors solutions. It’s designed to rapidly deploy a high-quality solution optimized for the New Zealand market.
With this modern, robust, and flexible solution from EPI-USE, Indevin can support the dynamic workforce required for the company’s seasonal cycles.