FEATURE: ERP
AARTI MOHAN, ERPM STRATEGY LEADER
– ECEMEA, ORACLE
What are the different types of industries that can be
helped by a tailored ERP solution?
ERPs today are applicable to most industries and are the back
bone for automating back office and or shared services. The
industries range from professional services, manufacturing,
engineering and construction, public sector, communications,
transportation, retail and healthcare.
How would the needs of these different industries differ?
Every industry is unique with its own set of business dynamics
and the processes differ from industry to industry.
For instance, a professional services organisation is a project
driven organisation vs an engineering and construction
organisation which is also project driven but in this case the
type of projects are different and unique to that industry.
One could be service/contract projects and the other could be
contract and capital projects. What’s important is to be able
to have the flexibility to configure the ERP for every business
and industry need.
In what ways do ERPs need to account for
geographic diversity?
“ERPs need
to account for
geographic
diversity.”
How can a tailored ERP solution help
businesses plan the best ways to use
their most important resources?
An ERP helps businesses integrate
data and processes across multiple
departments hence streamlining and
making businesses more efficient.
What are the different aspects
of a business that a tailored ERP
approach can make more efficient?
There are several aspects of the business
that can be made more efficient such as
record to report; period end closing; hire
to retire; asset acquisition to retirement;
order to cash and supplier to settlement.
These processes span across financial
management, procurement, supply chain,
projects and human capital management.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
ERPs need to account for geographic diversity as each country
has its own local statutory reporting, tax requirements and
even payroll related requirements. It’s important for a global
ERP to cater to localisations in every country with respect to
finance reporting, tax and payroll.
How can an ERP improve customer satisfaction?
ERP’s can play a major role in improving customer satisfaction
by optimising the supply chain and bringing the product to
the customer in the most efficient manner.
When CIOs are commissioning an ERP what factors do
they need to consider when deciding if it should be in the
cloud or on premises?
Following are the key factors to consider in the cloud Vs on
premises ERP:
• Cost: Opex model of cloud Vs capex model of cloud.
• Growth: A cloud based ERP will be able to cater to global
expansion in shorter time.
• Innovation: The latest technologies such as mobility,
analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IOT are embedded within a
cloud based ERP. These could be projects on their own in an
on-premise environment. Also cloud allows you to uptake
automatic upgrades on a regular basis making sure you are
always current and relevant.
• Risk: Reducing the risk of running legacy outdated
applications and ensuring that businesses own and get all
the value of a modern cloud ERP.