BrightDrop chose to develop its business processes and its ERP at the same time. The GM startup selected the public-cloud edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud and aimed to use standard features rather than wait for a complete process map or build a heavily customized system. Its CIO described the approach in a December 2022 case study; GM later integrated BrightDrop, and production of its vans has since ended.
Why BrightDrop needed an ERP early
General Motors launched BrightDrop in January 2021 as a business for electric first-to-last-mile delivery and logistics products, software, and services. GM’s launch announcement described the new business as a way to improve delivery operations.
When Namo Tiwari became BrightDrop’s CIO in 2021, the company was already engaging suppliers and manufacturers. Staff were managing initial procurement with Excel and Word. The concern was practical: informal processes might be difficult to migrate once they had spread, so BrightDrop wanted a more durable system while the business was still taking shape.
What the system had to support
BrightDrop’s requirements reached beyond basic purchasing. It needed to handle supplier onboarding, invoices and purchase orders, while also supporting supply-chain demand planning and financial forecasting. That mix meant the ERP had to serve immediate transactions and help the young business plan its operations.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
#1 Best Overall
The company selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud’s public-cloud edition, rather than simply taking on GM’s existing ERP setup. Tiwari’s stated priorities were agility, speed, standard product capability, and avoiding the work of operating server infrastructure with a small IT team. “Agility and speed is most important for us,” he told CIO.
Building processes and configuring ERP in parallel
The conventional sequence is to map established business processes and then configure software around them. BrightDrop did not have a settled organization to follow that sequence: people who would ordinarily describe and own those processes were still being hired as the ERP project moved forward.
Rank #2
- Ideal for Gifting
- Ideal for a bookworm
- Compact for travelling
Instead, the team developed business capability and configured the system concurrently, with an emphasis on using standard functionality. Tiwari said, “We were looking for something where we could leverage 90% or maybe 100% of out-of-box capability because we were just building the business processes.” The quote describes the desired level of reliance on standard features, not a verified measurement of the final configuration.
This was a sequencing choice, not proof that process design could be skipped. BrightDrop still had to determine how its work should operate; it did so alongside system configuration rather than completing a full process map first. The intended trade-off was to make progress while the company was hiring and to avoid extensive customization before its processes had matured.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Why the public-cloud model fit a small IT team
The public-cloud choice also addressed operational capacity. BrightDrop wanted to avoid running its own server infrastructure while building a new organization with a small technology team. Tiwari summarized the effect on the operating model: “I changed the whole dynamic here by going with the fully cloud solution.” This is his account of the rationale, not evidence of a quantified reduction in cost or workload.
CIO reported that an IT team equivalent to 19 full-time staff served almost 300 BrightDrop employees at the time of its December 6, 2022 article. Those figures describe the organization then; they are not current staffing numbers.
Rank #4
What the case study establishes—and what it does not
The December 2022 account documents BrightDrop’s selection rationale and parallel implementation approach. It does not establish a project budget, delivery schedule, savings, return on investment, or measured performance improvement. Nor does it confirm the present status of BrightDrop’s SAP deployment.
For other early-stage companies, the useful lesson is conditional: if the business is still hiring and its processes are not settled, a standard cloud ERP can be configured while those processes develop. That path makes speed and limited infrastructure responsibility priorities, but the account does not prove that the same sequence is right for organizations with different needs or constraints.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Best Value
- It can be a gift option
- Comes with secure packaging
- Helpful in various ways
BrightDrop’s later status
BrightDrop’s corporate structure and van production changed after the case study. On November 16, 2023, GM said BrightDrop had become part of GM: Zevo vans remained in GM Envolve’s commercial fleet offerings, while BrightDrop Core moved into GM’s software and services organization. GM’s integration announcement describes that transition.
On October 21, 2025, GM Canada confirmed that BrightDrop van production had ended, had been suspended since May 2025, and would not move to another site. GM Canada’s announcement reports the production decision. These later developments do not change what the 2022 article says about the original ERP decision, but they mean the case should be read as a historical account rather than a description of a currently independent van maker in production.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
