As a leading specialty chemical manufacturer, H.B. Fuller Company’s reach spans the globe. The company employs approximately 3,200 people in 32 countries, and its adhesive, sealant, paint and other specialty chemical products reach customers in nearly 100 nations. Net revenue in 2007 totaled $1.4 billion. In 2007, the company realigned its operational structure to strengthen local execution of global business strategies. The company now operates under four geographic regions – North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. H.B. Fuller faced some challenges recently with an aging ERP software solution. “After a phase one implementation that ended a few years ago, it became cost prohibitive to add functionality or deploy globally.

The resources consumed by ongoing upgrades and fixes alone were very significant,” says Debra Warren, Manager, Global HCM, for H.B. Fuller. “It was a difficult and time-intensive process to pull together accurate global workforce data.”

Why Workday?

With a costly-to-maintain system, H.B. Fuller decided to move in a new direction, selecting Workday for on-demand global HCM. Steven John, CIO for H.B. Fuller, explains, “The cost of taking our current ERP system global would have been four to five times more than going with a global Workday solution. So we actually created a scenario where Workday was self-funding simply by getting rid of the North American implementation of the ERP vendor we had in place and going with Workday.”

In Workday, H.B. Fuller found a cutting-edge HCM solution with unprecedented flexibility, inherent global capabilities and a vendor that demonstrated a commitment to partnering for success. “Besides outstanding technology, we were looking for a company that would partner with us for success; a company that would continually deliver results, enabling us to provide a world-class HCM system to our company and key stakeholders. We’ve seen this kind of commitment consistently from Workday,” says Warren.

Unprecedented Flexibility and Usability

"Flexibility was an important factor for us and we found unprecedented flexibility in the Workday solution," says CIO, John. "All vendors talk about it but you haven't experienced flexibility until you've used Workday," adds Warren. "I'm constantly surprised by the fact that I don't have just one way of doing something within the system. There are 10 ways to get something done rather than just one. I can choose the method that best suits my needs."
H.B. Fuller has found that when employees walk through its doors they expect enterprise technology to match the usability of applications they use in their personal lives. "Another key factor for us was system usability," says
Warren. "We wanted a ‘wow' experience for our users and we have that in Workday HCM. It almost anticipates user needs. It's an intuitive tool that mirrors today's consumer-technology world."

Global Benefits

"All of the current ERP applications are based on lumbering decade-old or two-decade-old technology but we're moving past that," says John. "We're a fast-moving global company doing business in nearly 100 countries with multiple languages and multiple currencies. Global capability is a basic requirement for any new application at H. B. Fuller. Workday met and in many cases exceeded those global prerequisites."

"As a global organization we can't wait three years for global data," adds Warren. "We need it now and Workday's state-of-the-art solution allows us to deliver that, especially with an on-demand model. The business process functionality will allow us to eliminate non-value, inefficient manual processes that we've known in the past."

With its software-as-a-service platform, Workday will allow H.B. Fuller to eliminate the time, money and resources required to manage an in-house HCM system. "We're a global chemical manufacturer, not a software testing company," says Warren. "With Workday we'll be able to focus on strategic workforce management. HR will transition from reactive, transaction-based gatekeepers to proactive, forward looking business partners."

Implementation Plans

Moving forward, H.B. Fuller will go live in North America and Latin America in 2008 and use Workday Workforce Development for annual focal performance reviews in the latter part of the year. Asia Pacific and EMEA will cut over to Workday in 2009. "I was recently telling a Workday representative how much fun I'm having just going into the sandbox environment. The application is just phenomenal," says Warren. "I was impressed throughout the product demos and our discovery process but to use the tool itself, I'm overwhelmed. I think Workday has put the fun back into functionality."

"Workday will be game-changing for us," she concludes. "It will transform the way we access, transact and analyze global workforce information."