Breaking Free from Legacy Systems: RS Group’s SAP Data Transformation with Maextro

With more than 7,500 employees across the UK and abroad, RS Group are a longstanding leader in the distribution of electronic and industrial components. At their scale, being the first choice for customers is essential to ensuring stable and continued growth. Yet, the company had reached a ceiling in product induction, with growth stunted by legacy systems that could no longer keep pace.

Imagine legacy systems as an old exoskeleton—rigid, confining, and too small to support further expansion. RS had outgrown theirs. Product induction was slow, workflows were bottlenecked, and the business was being held back from its core objective of becoming the first distributor of customers’ choice. How could they deliver on that ambition if their systems simply wouldn’t allow it?

To break free and scale effectively, RS adopted Maextro: a flexible, high-performance Master Data Management solution available on SAP BTP. Today, RS can handle far higher volumes, reduce manual intervention, accelerate product induction, and ultimately deliver faster, more reliable service—strengthening their position as the distributor of choice across their extensive product range.

About the Client

Client: RS Group
Industry: Distribution of electronic and industrial components
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Employees: 7,500+
Markets: Global, serving 750,000 customers

RS Group, headquartered in London, is a global leader in the distribution of electronic and industrial components, serving engineers, manufacturers, and businesses across industries from automotive and aerospace to healthcare, energy, and consumer goods. With more than 7,500 employees worldwide, RS plays a critical role in helping customers design, build, and maintain the products and infrastructure that keep the world moving. For these customers, the breadth and accessibility of RS’s product range is vital for ensuring they can quickly source the right components and minimise downtime. Guided by its mission to be the first choice for customers, RS is focused on expanding availability, streamlining processes, and delivering superior service to drive innovation and sustainable growth.

Business Challenges

RS Group faced challenges typical of organisations reliant on legacy systems. Their existing SAP environment struggled to support large-scale product induction and data creation. Bespoke tools like Quadrate and Process Runner were introduced as workarounds, but these could not scale effectively to meet rising volume demands. Workflows within SAP were rigid, preventing parallel processing and creating bottlenecks, while users had to navigate complex, manual sequences that required specialist knowledge of SAP’s intricate processes.

These limitations translated into real business impact. Operational inefficiencies and extended order processing times slowed RS’s ability to respond to customer needs and market shifts. As a result, the company found itself constrained in delivering on its wider strategic ambitions. Thus, they had to do something and came up with the following four goals to get their data management back in a supporting position.

• Streamline the product induction process by ditching manual workflows.
• Build a scalable, future-proof data architecture by replacing inflexible systems with something that could scale as they do.
• Expand product availability and selection by overcoming the bottleneck issues.
• Enhance the customer experience through faster and more efficient service.

RS’s legacy systems had become a barrier to growth, preventing the company from realising its mission to be the first distributor of choice for its customers. They had identified this and were now on the lookout for a solution that could address these four goals.

Engagement and Solution Journey

After RS Group recognised that legacy systems were holding back their growth, they turned to Bluestonex for support. With deep expertise in Master Data Management and SAP BTP, Bluestonex was tasked with helping RS replace them with a modern, scalable solution. The answer came in the form of master data management solution, Maextro.

At the heart of the project was a clear ambition: to free RS from cumbersome, sequential processes and enable a system that could support higher volumes, reduce manual intervention, and deliver stronger data governance. Maextro provided exactly that—a high-performance, integrated data management solution tailored to RS’s needs.

Step by step, the transformation unfolded. Maextro brought together previously fragmented product data into centralised workflows, improving accuracy and visibility across departments. Automation took over where manual effort once slowed the business down, with parallel workflows eliminating bottlenecks and allowing multiple tasks to be completed at the same time. Integration with third-party tools such as eClerx and PriceFx created a seamless flow of information, from data collection to pricing, while validated product data could be published to SAP almost instantly.

One of the most powerful shifts came from Maextro’s intelligent handling of exceptions. Instead of data errors stalling the entire process, valid records could move forward while flagged issues were isolated for review—keeping momentum high and accuracy intact.

The project itself was delivered in carefully managed phases over the course of a year. Extensive system, integration, and user acceptance testing (UAT) gave RS confidence that the solution would perform as intended, while strong change management ensured employees were prepared to embrace new ways of working. By August 2024, RS successfully went live with Maextro, marking a turning point in its ability to scale and deliver on its customer-first mission.

Real impact across the business

Since going live with Maextro, RS Group has seen a step change in the way it manages product data. With their legacy systems, which were once a slow, sequential process dependent on manual input and custom coding is now a streamlined, automated workflow that scales effortlessly with demand.

Operational efficiency has improved across the board. Automated workflows have removed bottlenecks and freed teams from repetitive tasks, while the system’s parallel processing capability means product induction happens faster and with greater accuracy. Instead of being tied up in workarounds, employees can now focus on more strategic, value-adding activities.

For RS customers, the difference is already visible. Products are reaching the market quicker, order processing times are shorter, and service is more reliable. Internally, feedback has been positive too, with users finding the new system easier to navigate and better aligned to their daily needs.

Measuring the impact

The numbers tell the story of just how transformative Maextro has been. Before the change, RS processed around 15,000 new articles per month—an average of 650 per day. Since implementation, average throughput has jumped to 1,860 articles per day, a monthly run rate of more than 42,000. On peak days, the team has already processed over 3,100 articles, pointing to a potential monthly capacity of 72,000.

And the ceiling is still rising. With further optimisation, RS estimates the system could process over 4,600 articles per day—more than 107,000 per month. That’s a 613% increase in capacity compared to their previous benchmark, giving RS the flexibility and headroom to grow without systems holding them back.

Empowering people, strengthening customer choice
For RS, the real impact isn’t just about numbers—it’s about enabling the business to deliver on its core promise of being the first choice for customers. With Maextro providing a scalable, future-proof foundation, RS is no longer constrained by its systems. Employees are more productive, customers are better served, and the business is now equipped to expand its range and accessibility of products at pace.

Looking ahead

For RS Group, the implementation of Maextro was not the end of a project but the beginning of a longer journey. The new foundation has unlocked opportunities to extend data governance more widely across the organisation and to explore new workflows within SAP that will drive further efficiency and growth.

Bluestonex continues to be a trusted partner on this path. RS has already requested additional training and ongoing collaboration to ensure teams get the most from the solution, while also preparing the business for evolving data management needs.

Most importantly, the success of this project has given RS a modern, agile SAP environment that can scale with confidence. With Maextro in place, RS is well-positioned to adapt to future market demands, expand product accessibility, and strengthen its standing as the distributor of choice for customers worldwide

Learn more about how Maextro transforms master data management and enables real business change here.