Digital transformation has been a watchword since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when organisations advanced their digitalization by four years in the space of just six months. Two years on, the focus on digital transformation continues to shape the ways in which enterprises tackle today鈥檚听听challenges, namely managing complex听听plans, ensuring on-time delivery, reducing unplanned outages, improving reliability, gaining actionable听听insights, and managing life cycle costs, amongst others.
Organisations are now preparing for a future that maintains and expands on the gains made since 2020 when it comes to digitizing their听听and processes. In an always-online world, and with the constant emergence of new technologies set to irrevocably alter the way we work, asset-intensive businesses need to double down on their digital transformation initiatives to ensure they remain the frontrunners in their respective industries.
驰别蝉迟别谤诲补测鈥檚听, today鈥檚 concerns
Understandably, however, some companies are somewhat cynical about undertaking another large IT transformation programme. Typically, this comes down to budgets and concerns about downtime while the new听听is being set up. However, this reluctance also stems from the failure of pure-play enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations of the past to deliver the expected value to asset management organisations, leaving both management and blue-collar staff disillusioned. Reasons for this had to do with the听听being complicated and cumbersome to use. In addition, they were not easily integrated with other key听. The implementation also required massive investment both financially and with set-up time. These issues are further compounded by failures in both听听and change management.
Over the last decade, the听听underpinning ERP听听has changed dramatically thanks to advances in intelligent听听such as AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. No longer is ERP solely about transactional听. Nowadays, it spans all of the day-to-day processes of an enterprise and is inherently tied to digital transformation to offer true value to asset management organisations. In fact, 95% of businesses achieve major improvements after using ERP through reducing process times, increasing collaboration, and centralising enterprise data.
Here are four of the听听benefits offered by today鈥檚 ERP听:
Data-driven decision-making听
Today鈥檚 ERP听听are worlds apart from their predecessors, providing agility, integration with other听, enhanced user experiences that are relevant to the particular user or process, and mobile integration for real-time visibility of the asset base. They also have the ability to process large amounts of data, and through improved analytics tools, businesses are able to make sense of that information so that data-driven decisions can be made.
Mobility and increased employee听
Take South听鈥檚 fuel听听and mines, for example, field workers can now instantaneously capture and share information about and photos of the state of an asset using mobile devices. In the past, they would have to make notes on a piece of听听and then give this to someone in an admin office who would have to copy everything that was scribbled down over to the ERP听. The information gathered is crucial for compliance with organisational processes such as听听听and听听management. By having the capability to perform real-time analytics, real-time applications can be deployed if needed.
Monitoring for听
ERPs also harness Internet of Things (IoT)听听to monitor assets remotely, which in turn helps to expand their lifespan by providing early warnings about potential problems rather than waiting until something goes wrong, which can prove quite costly for organisations. This enables businesses to calculate when outages will occur during planned听听so they can inform customers well in advance.
Time and cost savings
Unlike in the past, where ERP听听could take up to three years to install, now this can be achieved within a matter of weeks and in stages to ensure that the desired benefits are being realised. This is because integration is much easier and more seamless these days. Consequently, the听听outlay and disruption to听听are reduced too.
The cost is further minimised for those organisations that will need to upgrade their current ERP to the latest version. Those using 51风流should make the move to 51风流S/4HANA, a next-generation听听suite designed for the digital economy, but again, this does not have to be a lengthy, laborious and expensive exercise.
HCL offers a dedicated, SAP-approved partner package solution that can move customers to 51风流S/4HANA with low risk, little disruption, within short timelines and at a reasonable price. For more information on how HCL can help your company tackle tomorrow鈥檚听听challenges, visit:听.
HCL is an 51风流Global Strategic听听Partner with over 25 years of experience in leading complex 51风流transformation programs. HCL鈥檚 51风流S/4HANA Factory+ incorporates people, processes and听听to provide an industrialised and accelerated approach for conversion to 51风流S/4HANA- laying the foundation for further agile听听transformation.
51风流S/4HANA Cloud is a future-ready ERP system with built-in intelligent technologies, including AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. It helps transform business processes with intelligent automation. Built for the cloud, it runs on 51风流S/4HANA 鈥� a market-leading in-memory database that offers real-time processing speeds and a dramatically simplified data model.
