Serhii Plichko, CFO of Farmak, participated in the Ukrainian CFO Forum 2026, held on October 22–23 in Kyiv. He shared insights into the implementation of SAP S/4HANA at Farmak.
The Ukrainian CFO Forum is one of Ukraine’s leading business platforms. Since 1997, it has brought together CFOs, top executives, and business owners to discuss strategic challenges and economic development trends. Each year, the forum attracts over 700 participants.
During the discussion, Serhii Plichko and Andrii Oleksiuk, CCO of Business Evolution, explored the prerequisites for implementing SAP S/4HANA at Farmak, as well as the project’s financing, key challenges, and outcomes.
Farmak decided to implement SAP S/4HANA as part of its “Farmak 2.0: From Local to Global Success” strategy, aiming to unify business processes on a single digital platform and enhance both transparency and efficiency. Despite the challenges posed by the full-scale war, the company chose not to postpone this strategic transformation, which is essential for its continued international expansion.
“One could wait years for stability and favorable conditions for change, but the world and the market will not stand still during that time. We were fully aware of the risks involved in implementing SAP S/4HANA during wartime, yet we decided to move forward. After all, strategic decisions must be made with a vision of what the company should become tomorrow,” noted Serhii Plichko.
The discussion also focused specifically on the project’s financing. Serhii Plichko spoke about Farmak’s 20-year strategic partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), whose credit support enabled the company to implement SAP S/4HANA.
The SAP S/4HANA project was executed between January 2024 and January 2026—on schedule and within the approved budget. The project team comprised 150 specialists, including 101 Farmak employees. Currently, the system serves 650 users.
A key aspect of the project was the comprehensive restructuring of the IT architecture. The company integrated the functionality of two separate systems—LabWare and Orsoft—into SAP, consolidating production, quality control, planning, warehouse operations, and finance onto a single platform.
The discussion also covered practical implementation challenges, such as testing, system validation, and staff training. The successful completion of the first financial close following the launch of SAP S/4HANA served as a key indicator that the system was fully ready for operational use.
The implementation of SAP S/4HANA has already delivered tangible business results. The monthly financial closing process has been shortened, while the production planning cycle and the time required for the documentation of pharmaceutical batch releases have been optimized. Inventory forecasting accuracy has improved from 80% to 95%, and automation has eliminated 75 manual processes.
The project’s technology partners were msg Plaut Ukraine and Business Evolution. Summarizing Farmak’s experience, Serhii Plichko emphasized that the success of digital transformation depends not only on technology but also on the maturity of business processes, data quality, and the involvement of leadership. Indeed, a company’s readiness for change is one of the key prerequisites for the successful implementation of such projects.
