Resilience, automation, compliance and data-driven decision-making are no longer optional—they are foundational to sustainable growth. For organisations operating at global scale, this means rethinking how systems, data and processes come together to support consistent, efficient operations.
For Americold, one of the world’s leading temperature-controlled logistics providers, this imperative became a strategic inflection point. Following rapid growth, the company was faced with a challenging technology landscape due to multiple systems, manual workflows and delayed access to data. To address this, Americold partnered with PwC and embarked on a multi-country transformation journey. Americold deployed Oracle Fusion Cloud solutions across the United States and the Asia Pacific. Now, the organisation is expanding the transformation to Europe, spanning seven countries: Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Austria and the UK/Ireland.
Speaking at Oracle AI World Tour Amsterdam 2026, Henk Verbruggen, Americold’s Head of IT Corporate Service Europe, shared how Americold is executing this next phase—rolling out Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), alongside security, controls, and change management—in a coordinated “big bang” approach across the region.
“As you continue expanding, having a common platform, a shared data model and more consistent ways of working becomes increasingly important”
The program’s ambition was clear:
- Streamline operations across regions
- Strengthen governance and financial controls
- Harmonise data across countries
- Deliver timely, actionable insights
“At scale, standardisation isn’t just about control—it’s about creating transparency. When teams are working from common processes and shared data, it becomes much easier to make decisions quickly and with greater confidence,” he added.
From fragmentation to one version of the truth
European laws add significant regulatory and operational complexity. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, strict PII monitoring, diversity and pay transparency reporting, mandatory tax reporting, and complex value added tax structures across jurisdictions require precision and discipline.
“Compliance can’t simply be added at the end of a transformation. It works best when it’s considered early and built into the operating model from the start.”
Early fit-gap analysis, close collaboration with local stakeholders, and alignment with country-specific regulatory frameworks are embedded into the programme design. Oracle Fusion Cloud integrates with tax applications and EPM to support compliant reporting, while in-house automated data extraction and cleansing strengthen integrity and auditability.
The objective is not simply harmonisation but to bring flexibility in the process to balance global standards with local requirements.
Data as the backbone of transformation
At the core of the transformation is streamlining data. “With acquisitions, organisations often inherit not just systems but also significant data complexity. Without clean, harmonised data, it becomes much harder to generate reliable real-time insights,” said Verbruggen.
Americold’s approach focuses on:
- Early anomaly detection
- Automated corrective actions
- Improved forecast accuracy
- Granular visibility across finance, suppliers, and logistics
- Multi-country data harmonisation
By establishing one version of the truth across finance, supply chain, and workforce data, the organisation is reducing audit complexity while enabling stronger, faster decision-making.
Driving adoption by design
Technology implementation alone does not deliver value—adoption does.
“Change management plays a critical role in any transformation. Ultimately, the value of the platform depends on how well people adopt and use it,” he said. The programme incorporates:
- Early onsite stakeholder engagement
- A standardised global delivery model
- Strong PMO governance and structured tooling
- Continuous communication and enablement
The expected measurable impact includes improved compliance and auditability, higher adoption rates, faster onboarding, and more self-sufficient teams.
A key accelerator in this journey is Oracle Guided Learning (OGL), which embeds role-based guidance directly within the Oracle environment.
“Our goal was to help users feel confident from day one. Rather than relying only on static documentation, we embedded guidance directly into the system, which helps simplify the experience and support faster adoption.”
Continuous improvement beyond go-live
Audience discussions at AI World Amsterdam also focused on AI and continuous performance management. For Americold, analytics, AI, and guided learning are enablers of continuous improvement.
For Verbruggen, transformation doesn’t really end at go-live. “It continues to evolve,” he said. “With real-time data, strong governance, and embedded learning, the platform can keep improving over time.”
A foundation for continued expansion
Americold’s journey demonstrates how organisations can move from acquisition-driven complexity to an integrated, scalable digital ecosystem. By combining Oracle Fusion Cloud with PwC’s transformation expertise, the company is building a unified platform grounded in standardisation, visibility, and operational discipline.
As Verbruggen shared at Oracle AI World Tour Amsterdam, transformation at scale is not just about replacing systems. It is about aligning technology, governance, and people—so growth can continue with confidence, control and clarity across continents.
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