Codan’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Marjolijn Woods, joined me to discuss Codan’s use of SAP’s products and services, and her excitement for the new features and benefits showcased at SAP Connect 2025!
Last week I was at the SAP Connect 2025 conference in Las Vegas, as a guest of SAP, a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, and SAP’s breakthroughs were on display, including a new network of role-based assistants in Joule that partner with humans to elevate performance, an expanding data ecosystem that drives deeper insights and supply chain software that anticipates disruptions – and revolutionise how business gets done.
The first article in the series is here, whih also includes the full day one keynote, something also worth watching!
SAP’s HR solution is called SuccessFactors, and as part of SAP’s entire platform suite of software and solutions, it also received the agentic Joule AI updates.
So to learn more about how Codan, a South Australian technology company that has gone global, is using SAP’s SuccessFactors suite and how the upgrades are going to make life and employees easier to manage at scale, we spoke with Codan’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Marjolijn Woods to learn more!
That video interview is below, followed by an accurate AI-generated summary of our discussion, although as always, you’ll get the best value from the video itself, so please watch, and read on!
[embedded content]
– Company Overview and Growth
Codan, founded in 1959, is a global technology group specializing in communication, detection, and connection. It operates on five continents with about 15 offices. The company has experienced significant growth, expanding from 250-300 employees in 2021 to over 1,000 in 2025, largely due to seven acquisitions in the last four years.
– SAP SuccessFactors Implementation
The company has been an SAP customer for over seven years. In September 2024, Codan went live with a full implementation of SAP SuccessFactors, upgrading from a ‘light version’ used for performance, goals, and recruitment. The goal was to create a single source of truth and better connect with all 1,000 employees.
– Future Plans and Strategy
Codan plans to continue its acquisition strategy, which will lead to further employee growth. They will focus on building out the HR strategy, improving systems, and ensuring new acquisitions can be onboarded quickly. It is also looking to implement ECP in other regions, including North America, with a partner.
|
|
– AI Integration and Excitement for Joule
Marjolijn is most excited about the potential of AI, specifically SAP’s Joule, to enhance processes like performance reviews by pulling all relevant information together. She believes this will help connect employees’ priorities to the company’s strategy. The company has also recently appointed a COO to focus on increasing the uptake of AI across the organiaation.
– Implementation Partnership
Codan works with a third-party partner for its SuccessFactors implementation and is seeking a North American partner for future ECP rollouts. It is also in discussions with SAP to have a dedicated account manager to help them understand and leverage more of SAP’s capabilities.
– Broader SAP Usage
Beyond HR, Codan uses SAP for its finance and supply chain operations. The company also uses Concur, an SAP product. These departments are on their own journeys of IT integration and rollout.
– Perspective on AI in the Workforce
Marjolijn believes AI should be viewed as a partnership that enhances employee capabilities and grows what people do, rather than as a tool for reducing headcount. She sees it as a way to make work more efficient and natural, not as a threat to jobs.
– Company Origins
Codan was started in South Australia by three friends from Adelaide University. Their early customers were iconic Australian organisations: the School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctors.