ARD: Broadcasting network bundles its forces and saves over €10 million annually
en
Industry
Media
Region
Germany
Company Size
37,000
About ARD
It is the most comprehensive administrative reform since the broadcasting network was founded: The nine ARD broadcasting corporations, Deutschlandradio, and Deutsche Welle have fundamentally reorganized their administration. Where isolated standalone solutions and historically grown process logic once shaped the daily work of 37,000 users, a central SAP platform now ensures high transparency and valuable synergies.
The network harmonized more than 180 business processes, significantly reducing administrative and IT costs. The result is measurable: 90% harmonization and 70% standardization cut the cost of system operations and application support in half. This saves more than €10 million per year— resources that now contribute where they generate the greatest value: in journalistic quality and digital offerings.
€100 Mio.
gross synergy effects achieved between 2018 and 2028
37,000
users benefit from optimized processes
"The fact that all ARD broadcasting corporations, Deutschlandradio, and Deutsche Welle now use a unified administrative system is a milestone and technological leap. It streamlines workflows and enables savings in the millions."
- Ralf Ludwig, General Director, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) ARD Germany
Before: Challenges and opportunities
- Structural hurdles: Heterogeneous process landscapes across the eleven independent organizations hindered strategic steering
- Inefficiency trap: Lack of comparability of efforts caused friction in coordination and maintenance
- Strategic goal: Cost discipline to free up investment capacity for digital transformation
Why SAP
- Platform strategy: An ARD-wide system acts as the central administrative backbone.
- Harmonized process: A unified blueprint creates scalable standards from procurement to travel expense management.
After: Value-driven results
- Efficient scaling: Established the foundation for shared services, such as in accounting.
- Modern work: Digitized the working environment by significantly reducing media discontinuities through administrative workflows.
- Transparency boost: Implemented more effective, cost-efficient, and comparable processes across the entire network.