“We Had to Change Everything”: Leading Business Transformation in PNG with SAP and Coriza

by Simon Barstow – General Manager Dulux PNG

At Dulux PNG, we manufacture and distribute paints, coatings, and chemicals across some of the most complex and challenging terrains in the world. Our teams operate in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment, and we take immense pride in doing it well.

But a few years ago, it became clear that we couldn’t keep going the way we were. Our systems were outdated, our processes manual and error prone, and our people didn’t trust the ERP platform. Each department kept its own spreadsheets, and decisions were made in a silo rather than based on validated information.

We didn’t just need better software, we needed to fundamentally rethink how the business operated.

When I joined Dulux PNG, our ERP system wasn’t designed for manufacturing or commercial use, didn’t support remote sales, and offered zero visibility into procurement, production costs, or sales performance.

Everything from warehouse picking to delivery tracking was done manually. I still remember customers saying they couldn’t pay invoices because they hadn’t received the delivery docket, which meant we had to go digging through boxes to find it.

That kind of inefficiency wasn’t sustainable, not for our people, not for our customers, and certainly not for our future.

Since DuluxGroup uses SAP globally, it made sense for us to align from a platform perspective. But implementing SAP in Papua New Guinea is not a simple copy-paste. Our business environment is unique, fast-moving, hands-on, and full of operational nuances that don’t exist in a typical corporate playbook. We needed more than a system, we needed a partner who could navigate that reality with us.

I was looking for a team that wouldn’t just deploy technology, but one that would embed themselves in our business. A team willing to listen, challenge our assumptions, and work alongside us to build something sustainable for the long term. We didn’t need a vendor, we needed a true partner.

That’s exactly what we found in Coriza.

From the beginning, they were clear, honest, and deeply engaged. They didn’t try to impress with buzzwords or over promise outcomes. Instead, they asked hard questions, pushed us to rethink old habits, and helped us focus on what would truly drive value. That kind of straight talk, and their commitment to understanding our context, was invaluable.

Before we could move forward, we had to understand exactly where our processes were hitting a wall. That meant starting with a full health check across every core function: finance, warehousing, procurement, sales, and beyond. We looked at how transactions flowed, where handoffs stalled, and how data was being captured, shared, or lost along the way. It quickly became clear that our problems weren’t isolated. They were systemic.

Once we had that baseline, we went straight to the heart of it: the data. Poor-quality data was undermining everything: product codes were inconsistent, pricing data was duplicated, vendor records had gaps. Cleaning up our master data was no small job, but it was essential. Once that work was done, I could finally look at a report and know it reflected the truth.

With better data came the chance to revisit how our processes actually worked. We didn’t just want to replicate old habits in a new system. We mapped out how we wanted things to run, using SAP’s standard capabilities as the reference point. That forced us to rethink how quotes got created, how inventory moved, and how approvals were managed. In many cases, simplifying our processes created efficiencies we hadn’t even been aiming for.

And of course, none of it would stick without our people. This wasn’t just about learning to click the right buttons. We spent time explaining why the changes mattered, showing how their work connected to business outcomes, and giving them space to ask questions and test things out. It wasn’t always smooth, but gradually, people stopped seeing SAP as an obstacle and started seeing it as a tool they could trust.

One of the biggest turning points came when team members who had previously avoided SAP started coming to us saying, “I’m still doing this in Excel, how do I move it into SAP?” That shift, from resistance to ownership, was when I knew the culture was changing.

The transformation has been significant.

• We now close our books on Day 1. The finance team has live, clean data and no longer needs to spend days chasing adjustments.
• Quotes that used to take 4–5 days now go out in 24 hours. Our sales teams can act quickly, and our customers notice the difference.
• Warehouse operations are dramatically faster. Bin locations mean our teams pick, pack, and move without wasting time.
• OTIF is now over 95%. That’s a major boost to customer satisfaction.
• We’re nearly fully paperless. This isn’t just about efficiency, it’s a big win for sustainability too.

And the biggest shift? We now run the business based on facts, not assumptions. Decisions are made with real-time data at our fingertips, giving us the confidence to act quickly and accurately. Whether it’s approving a purchase order, reviewing a sales pipeline, or assessing performance, we know we’re working from a single, trusted source of truth. I travel often, but even from a plane I can review quotes, approve POs, and stay in control. That visibility changes everything.

Looking back, here’s what I’d tell anyone starting a similar transformation:

1. Avoid customisation wherever possible. Sticking to SAP’s standard features keeps the system simpler, cheaper to run, and easier to upgrade. The more you customise, the more you introduce long-term complexity and cost.
2. Get your data right. Clean, consistent data is the foundation for everything.
3. Choose a partner who tells you the truth. You want people who know your business and aren’t afraid to challenge you.
4. Empower your team. The system only works if your people believe in it and take ownership.
5. Treat it as a journey. We’re still improving, still digitising, and still finding ways to get better.

We’ve laid a solid foundation, but we’re not finished. Next, we’re building out reporting dashboards, expanding forecasting capabilities, and digitising the last of our manual workflows.

With Coriza as our long-term partner, I’m confident we’ll get there.

SAP and Coriza haven’t just modernised our systems, they’ve helped us become faster, more resilient, and more in control. We’re leading the market in PNG, and we’re only just getting started.

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