Bang & Bonsomer Group Oy, which manufactures and supplies raw materials and additives for various industrial sectors, upgraded its enterprise resource planning system to IFS Cloud. The IFS Cloud implementation project was carried out in collaboration with IFS partner Aveso Oy. IFS Cloud is used extensively across Bang & Bonsomer group. The system is utilized in areas such as finance, procurement, sales, warehouse management, manufacturing and maintenance.
Bang & Bonsomer initiated the ERP renewal during a period of business growth and expansion, while building a foundation for future growth. The ERP renewal was driven by a legacy on-premise environment and a strategic goal to support geographic expansion. The company already anticipated that future acquisitions and expansion, particularly in the Nordics and Central Europe, would require a scalable and supported ERP solution.
”We already knew a couple of years ago that we would expand geographically. Continuing with the old system no longer felt like a safe or sensible option.”
Internationalization, onboarding new entities into the group structure and system maintainability became key priorities. The old system no longer had available country-specific localizations, and its technical foundation did not meet future requirements. Cloud-based IFS Cloud provided a solution that enables scalability, continuous development, and a modern operating environment.
”For us, it was important to stay within a supported system. In hindsight, we can now truly benefit from advantages that a cloud-based and continuously updated system brings.”
Cloud transition also laid the foundation for future development steps. With IFS Cloud, Bang & Bonsomer moved to an environment where new features, automations, and future AI capabilities are available without heavy standalone upgrade projects.
Aveso selected as the IFS Cloud implementation partner
Bang & Bonsomer selected Aveso as the vendor and implementation partner for IFS Cloud. The decision was influenced by several factors, including strong IFS expertise, genuine interest in the customer’s business, and a realistic cost estimate.
”The strong expertise of the Aveso team and their genuine interest in our business were particularly evident in the process design. Their holistic understanding helped us make sensible decisions even in challenging situations.”
Partner’s size, operating model and way of working also played an important role.
”The most important thing for us was that both parties are equally important to each other. We did not want a situation where the partnership would be unbalanced. Aveso was the right-sized partner for us.”
Pre-study conducted with Aveso was considered flexible and efficient. Discussions were clear and cooperation was built on open communication from the very beginning. A domestic partner enabled more direct communication and ensured that matters progressed quickly without unnecessary intermediaries.
”Working on a project is much easier when it is done between appropriately sized organizations and within the same country. It brings a completely different level of smoothness to work.”
Quality of collaboration stood out in challenging situations
IFS Cloud implementation project was not entirely straightforward. The project included challenges, but from Bang & Bonsomer’s point of view, what mattered most was how situations were handled and what kind of collaboration was maintained throughout the project.
”There is no such thing as a project without any challenges. The key is how things are handled when challenges arise, and in this respect Aveso and their consultants proved to be a committed, solution-oriented partner genuinely on the customer’s side. Even though there were challenges during the project, cooperation was consistently easy. We felt we were on the same side, solving things together.”
Throughout project, communication between Bang & Bonsomer and Aveso remained open, and a shared understanding of what was being done and why helped drive the project forward successfully.
”Big thanks to Bang & Bonsomer project team for smooth and highly professional cooperation throughout the project. Bang & Bonsomer project team was highly competent and cooperation with them worked excellently. IFS Cloud supports Bang & Bonsomer’s processes and daily operations at group level and enables a unified way of working across countries and controlled growth.”
IFS Cloud supports daily operations and brings integration capabilities
After implementation, one of the clearest benefits has been how easy the system has been to adopt. This became particularly evident during a corporate merger, when new users transitioned to IFS Cloud. Modern user interface and clear logic of the system made transition easier, even though for some users change from the old interface was initially significant.
”Not all our employees are traditional knowledge workers. Still, new users learned to use IFS Cloud surprisingly quickly. In hindsight, I have hardly heard any criticism regarding usability.”
In addition, cloud-based IFS Cloud enables interfaces to be implemented and maintained more flexibly than before, supporting business needs across different companies and countries. In the new environment, building and developing integrations are clearly more agile than before.
”Integration work is on a completely different level than before. From idea to production, things move faster, and everything no longer needs to be built heavily inside the system.”
IFS Cloud enables broader and more real-time utilization of data across systems. This improves visibility, supports decision-making, and reduces manual work, even though not all benefits have yet been fully realized in a systematic way.
A cloud-based platform enables continuous development
The transition to IFS Cloud freed Bang & Bonsomer from heavy technical maintenance and created a foundation for continuous system development. The company’s goal is to update the system regularly and always remain on supported versions.
”For us, cloud-based means that we can leverage IFS’s development work directly without separate and heavy upgrade projects.”
Future AI capabilities are of interest, although their adoption will be evaluated in a business-driven and phased manner.
”IFS has recently developed many new AI features and I believe we will use them in the future. However, the most important thing is that we are in a ready environment where they can be adopted when they truly bring value to us.”
Two key lessons from Tero for successful ERP projects
Resource and test
An ERP project only succeeds if the right people have enough time to participate. Without sufficient resources, execution becomes incomplete and risks increase. On top of this, testing is critical and cannot be excessive. In practice, anything that has not been tested is not yet ready for production.
Collaboration and responsibilities in challenging situations
Issues may arise, but what matters is how they are addressed. Clear roles, responsibilities, and effective cooperation between the customer, partner, and software vendor help move the project forward even when things do not go as planned.
Bang & Bonsomer
Bang & Bonsomer partners with industries that shape the world around us. Through an expert portfolio supported by its own research and laboratories, Bang & Bonsomer distributes and produces raw materials, as well as own-brand products for a broad range of sectors, including food, construction, paints & coatings, packaging, personal care, cosmetics, household and industrial cleaning, water treatment, energy, fire prevention, road maintenance, and beyond.
Wherever materials matter, Bang & Bonsomer delivers innovative solutions that perform at the highest level.
Founded in 1927, with locations in 9 countries across Northern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the company continues to operate internationally, building its business on innovation, reliability, and long-term partnerships while responding to the evolving needs of modern industries.
Learn more about Bang & Bonsomer: bangbonsomer.com
Aveso Oy
Aveso Oy is a Finnish ERP specialist company and official IFS reseller offering comprehensive services for IFS Cloud implementation, development, support and maintenance. The company has strong experience especially in ERP projects in the energy sector and manufacturing industry. Aveso’s services also include system integrations and comprehensive data management services (data warehouse, BI, MDM, data quality, data migrations).
Learn more about Aveso: aveso.fi
Read Aveso`s customer stories: Aveso Customer Stories
