Rebates and Customer Funding
Grounded in years of managing rebate frameworks and driving profitability through structure
Business need
Despite operating as one company, AkzoNobel’s five main business units ran customer rebates and marketing funds under different models. Each unit used its own SAP environment and commercial logic, which led to manual work, uneven governance, and limited visibility across regions.
The objective was to standardize and automate the rebate framework, using the Brazilian model as reference. This structure, which I currently manage, is fully automated, aligned with best practices, and recognized for its high level of process accuracy. The challenge was to extend this model to all businesses while respecting commercial specificities and system differences.
During implementation, existing rebate programs remained fully operational to support ongoing commercial activity. Altogether, these programs exceed USD 40 million annually and serve more than 3,000 customers across multiple channels.
My role and contributions
On the implementation front, I serve as the primary point of contact with the global team, aligning best practices and agreeing on the day-to-day rollout. I map each BU’s commercial rules, including P&L and financial segmentation, and translate them into system requirements. I design the end-to-end automated flow across multiple SAP instances and connected applications. To support adoption, I produce step-by-step documentation and SOPs for fast onboarding. I build and manage the timeline, coordinate stakeholders, and track risks and dependencies to keep milestones on schedule. I also lead enablement so every team understands the new operation and its role.
In parallel, I keep the current hybrid model running with precision. Priority is continuity for customers and internal teams, preserving entitlements, ensuring payment accuracy, and maintaining stable execution during adoption. I maintain executive and managerial reporting with full traceability and audit readiness, and I configure and launch new Sales campaigns, ensuring compliance with the governance model and measurable impact.
In Jun/25, after a detailed analysis, I identified and returned ~USD 400K to the business results. Later, in Oct/25, a second and more complex investigation was conducted, covering a 13 year historical period, which led to an additional recovery of ~USD 100K.
Agreements in SAP
USD processed anually
customers served each year
automation rate across operations
