On September 9, 2025, Altivate and 3P Gulf Group (GPS) celebrated a milestone: the successful go-live of SAP S/4HANA and SAP SuccessFactors. This achievement marks a new era of digital efficiency, resilience, and innovation for one of the MENA region’s leading packaging manufacturers.
About GPS
With over 60 years of legacy, GPS is one of the largest plastic converters in the MENA region, delivering comprehensive packaging solutions to more than 40 countries. Their operations cover a wide range of premium packaging, from rigid to flexible, serving global and regional industries.
The Challenges
Before embarking on digital transformation, GPS faced challenges typical of large, fast-growing enterprises:
- Fragmented, manual processes reliant on spreadsheets and paper forms
- Siloed data and duplicate entries across departments
- Slow, inconsistent approvals and delayed financial reporting
- Payroll errors and lack of visibility into workforce data
- Compliance risks with local tax regulations (ZATCA)
Leadership recognized the urgency to modernize. They needed a flexible, scalable system that could unify processes, support compliance, and empower employees.
Why Altivate?
GPS chose Altivate for three main reasons:
- Proven SAP expertise in S/4HANA and SuccessFactors
- Localized knowledge of the Saudi market with global best practices
- Partnership approach: Altivate’s consultative style, training focus, and reliable post-go-live support
Altivate’s strong track record in KSA made it the trusted partner to lead GPS’s digital transformation.
The Implementation Journey
The transformation journey spanned nearly two years, beginning in early 2023:
- Assessment & Design – Documenting processes and aligning with SAP best practices
- Configuration & Development – Integrating systems and preparing for rollout
- S/4HANA Go-Live (Jan 2024) – Launching a unified financial and operational core
- SuccessFactors Rollout (Nov 2024) – Migrating HR data and empowering employees with a self-service portal
- Collaboration Model – A joint PMO, weekly steering committees, and strong change management culture ensured alignment and adoption
Outcomes & Business Wins
Outcomes & Business WinsThe results have been transformative:
- Finance: Month-end closing reduced from days to hours, improved audit compliance, fewer manual errors
- HR: Over 1,000 employees now use the mobile-friendly HR self-service portal, payroll and talent management fully automated
- Productivity: Seamless, paperless workflows and lower IT maintenance costs
- Adoption: High user acceptance across departments, proving the cultural shift toward digital is well underway
Celebration & Beyond
The final costing run marked a symbolic milestone: every product cost calculated and validated live in SAP, a true confirmation of success.
Looking ahead, GPS plans to:
- Expand SuccessFactors into performance and learning management
- Enhance analytics for deeper insights
- Continuously refine financial processes with Altivate’s ongoing support
Lessons Learned
- Early data cleansing is key
- Change management drives adoption
- Cross-functional collaboration ensures success
Altivate’s role went beyond technology. As a partner, we delivered expertise, project management, training, and continuous improvement, ensuring GPS’s transformation was not just an IT project but a business success story.
The GPS transformation demonstrates how RISE with SAP S/4HANA and SuccessFactors, guided by the right partner, can elevate business performance. Together, GPS and Altivate have built a digital foundation for growth, resilience, and innovation, aligned with KSA Vision 2030.
