Success with SAP Business One:
HEGGEN Wholesale

HEGGEN: A Race Against Time — Won

When Every Minute Counts

Heggen Wholesale is a family-owned specialist distributor of hygiene and commercial cleaning supplies, based in Dortmund, Germany. The company has been managed by the same family since the 1950s, serving cleaning services and industrial customers across the region. When the company's entire IT infrastructure failed overnight — not partially, but completely — the team had to act fast. An inability to issue invoices or process orders could have threatened the business's survival. The answer was SAP Business One, implemented rapidly by init consulting AG. The result: a complete turnaround that not only averted serious damage but transformed how the company operates day to day.

Faster, Leader, Future-Ready

With SAP Business One fully in place, Heggen Wholesale now manages its entire daily operations — including a catalog of over 2,000 products and service items — through a single, integrated platform. Processes that were previously slow or error-prone now run significantly faster and more efficiently. The Drag&Relate functionality allows staff to navigate between related records instantly, improving responsiveness and accuracy across the business. What began as a crisis-driven implementation has become a lasting competitive advantage for this family-run wholesaler.

Key Challenge

After a complete and sudden failure of its entire IT system, Heggen Wholesale needed a replacement ERP solution implemented immediately — with minimal disruption to invoicing, order processing, and daily operations.

Project Goals

Replace the failed IT system as quickly as possible to prevent further business disruption.
Restore the ability to issue invoices and manage orders without delay.
Implement a future-proof standard software solution that runs core business processes more efficiently than the previous system.

About Heggen Wholesale

Heggen Wholesale GmbH, headquartered in Dortmund, is a specialist distributor of hygiene and commercial cleaning supplies. Founded as a family business in the 1950s, the company has built long-standing relationships with industrial clients and professional cleaning services throughout Germany. Its customer-focused approach and deep product knowledge have made it a trusted partner in a niche market. The company manages a portfolio of more than 2,000 products and service items through SAP Business One, with a lean team of three active users.

The Challenge: A System Failure with No Warning

There was no gradual decline, no warning signs. One day, Heggen Wholesale's complete IT system stopped working. For a small company where invoicing and order management are the lifeblood of the business, this was not merely an inconvenience — it was a potential existential threat. The management team needed a solution immediately. After evaluating their options, the decision fell on SAP Business One, implemented by init consulting AG. The critical factor was speed: the new system had to go live fast enough to prevent lasting damage to customer relationships and cash flow.

The Solution: Swift Implementation, Lasting Impact

init consulting AG handled the rollout with a focus on rapid deployment. SAP Business One was configured to cover the key functional areas Heggen Wholesale relied on: administration, accounting, warehouse management, controlling, and sales — all within a single integrated solution. The intuitive Drag&Relate functionality proved particularly valuable, allowing staff to instantly link and navigate between customers, orders, invoices, and inventory records without switching between separate systems or manual cross-referencing. With only three end users, the small team was up and running quickly — and the simplicity of the interface meant minimal training was required. Today, Heggen Wholesale uses SAP Business One to run its complete day-to-day business, managing over 2,000 products and service articles with confidence. The company that nearly lost everything to a system failure is now operating faster and more efficiently than ever before.