- What strategic moves has Under Armour made to become more of a digital company?

- What problems has the company faced as a result of implementing an integrated ERP solution (SAP HANA)?

- Based on the information in the case, how do you think technology will drive fashion in the future? Explain your answer.

Under Armour Finds a Chip in Their Armor The Business Problem Under Armour (www.underarmour.com) was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player who was tired of having to change his sweat-soaked cotton shirts over and over during their twice-a-day practices. From his grandmother's basement, he designed the first HeatGear T-shirt and sold it under the company name of Under Armour, which was designed to keep players cool and dry under even the hottest conditions. Plank also designed a ColdGear fabric that keeps athletes warm and dry in cold conditions and the AllSeasonGear that keeps them comfortable between the extremes. He then drove up and down the East Coast selling these items from his trunk. By the end of 1998, Plank had to find a new location. He could no longer sustain his operation in his grandmother's basement. So, he moved the company headquarters to a warehouse in Baltimore. Since this beginning, Under Armour has grown into one of the leading athletic brands of clothing, equipment, and more, successfully competing with brands like Nike and Adidas that have been around almost 50 years longer. Fast forward to 2013, when Under Armour changed their focus from designing and selling clothing and equipment to considering the entire athlete. They acquired several popular apps-EndoMondo, MyFitnessPal, MapMyFitness and developed their own app, UA Record. According to a March 2017 Forbes article, Under Armour had more than 200,000 subscribers across their suite of apps. This influx of data provides the company with potential insight into the physical characteristics of their entire user base of athletes (size, weight, sports, training and eating habits, etc.) and their use of equipment. However, having access to data and making use of those data are not the same thing. As Under Armour grew and gained access to more data than they have ever seen, their organization faced significant challenges. They needed to consolidate and analyze the data and to restructure their organization to be able to quickly adapt to the changing needs of their users, to which they now have direct, real-time access. The IT Solution Under Armour needed a system that would allow them to integrate the multiple sources of data they had purchased, to perform real-time analysis of their data, and to determine the best course of action, as quickly as possible. They determined that the best integrated ERP solution partner to accomplish these objectives was SAP. SAP (www.sap.com) is a software corporation that makes ERP solutions. They are headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, but they have regional offices in more than 180 countries including more than 45 offices in the United States. Specifically, Under Armour decided to implement the SAP HANA product, which SAP designed to reduce complexity, to run anywhere (meaning ubiquitous access across platforms and devices) and to provide real-time results. SAP HANA is intended to speed up the implementation of an ERP by allowing legacy silos to remain intact. SAP HANA will draw data from those silos and make use of these data without requiring the client to migrate everything. This sounded exactly like the solution that Under Armour needed given that they had acquired multiple data sources. The Results Under Armour faced (and is facing) challenges implementing SAP HANA due to issues outside the fashion industry and the solution provider (SAP). In a conference call regarding quarterly earnings on October 31, 2017, the company's president, Patrik Frisk, admitted that Under Armour had experienced serious challenges with change management. Frisk attested, "While these enhancements are designed to enable us to more effectively and efficiently operate our business and, ultimately, enhance productivity for the long term, the implementation caused disruption in our supply chain operations during the quarter. This led to delayed shipments and loss of productivity, which negatively impacted our third quarter results. During this system migration, we have encountered a number of change management issues impacting our workforce and manufacturing partners as they adapt to the new platform and processes."