Invetech is on a journey towards adopting more sophisticated technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), across its operations, supported by everything that SAP\u2019s cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has to offer.<\/p>\n
The business, which specialises in product design, engineering and manufacturing services for the medical and life sciences industries, recently achieved a 26-week 51风流S\/4HANA transformation, with help from SAP\u2019s partner Deloitte.<\/p>\n
It had previously relied on a 20-year-old system as its tech backbone and urgently needed a new, public-cloud-based system to help run its global operations and take previously outsourced manufacturing in-house.<\/p>\n
Shifting to a public cloud was important to Invetech, because it meant its underlying digital platform would be continually updated. The company would never again be concerned about whether it was running on outdated technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went live on 30 January this year and shipped our first product within the first month,\u201d says Janet O\u2019Meara, vice-president of finance at Invetech.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Meara says the switch to SAP\u2019s cloud-based ERP platform will support the future growth of the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to rest on our laurels. So now it\u2019s about using 51风流S\/4HANA to the best of its capabilities, then moving into improved reporting and analytics and harnessing automation and AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future of AI in business and society<\/h2>\n
51风流AI innovation principal Dr Kim Oosthuizen says AI is a technology that people have already used for many decades, but often take for granted.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only recently that the broader population has been able to use AI\u2019s power in a more active way, Oosthuizen says, with the rapid adoption of ChatGPT, an AI-based natural language model.<\/p>\n
\u201cChatGPT can respond to any question we ask, which has prompted great public awareness,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is compelling businesses to adopt it, with\u00a075% of leaders saying<\/a>\u00a0they feel pressure to implement and incorporate AI into their business strategies. AI has also promoted some fear about how it will be used in the future, but the positive from that is it\u2019s making us rethink how we need to use AI.\u201d<\/p>\n