As ERP systems bring together core business functions like finance, inventory, and customer relationship management into a single platform, they can help SMBs optimize workflows, make more informed decisions, and scale effectively. This is why ERP should be a top priority for SMBs who want to future-proof their business and remain competitive in today’s digital-first world. 

Unleashing Organizational Data with ERP Systems  

One of the major advantages of adopting an ERP system is its capacity to streamline operations. ERP integrates the data of various business functions from finance, HR, supply chain, sales, and more into a single, centralized platform that eliminates data silos, reduces duplication, and ensures all departments are working with the same set of information. The focus is “one version of the truth.” By providing employees across different departments with access to real-time data, ERP systems promote smoother coordination and quicker execution of tasks. This level of efficiency can significantly reduce bottlenecks and make day-to-day operations more seamless. 

Another crucial benefit of ERP systems is that they enable a more AI-adept posture for organizations. By unlocking the data across departments, businesses can use AI tools to automate many of the repetitive tasks that would typically require manual effort, such as payroll processing, invoicing, and inventory management. Automation reduces the likelihood of human error, freeing employees to focus on more strategic and high-value activities. AI can also be used to interrogate data using natural language. 

Additionally, the standardized processes built into ERP systems ensure consistency and accuracy, boosting productivity across the board. This means that employees can rely on accurate data, leading to better decision-making and fewer disruptions in workflow. 

Improved collaboration is another major perk of using an ERP system. With data stored in a central location, communication between departments becomes easier and more efficient. Employees can quickly access up-to-date information and share it with colleagues, minimizing the chances of miscommunication. This is especially valuable for businesses that have multiple locations or remote teams, as ERP systems help break down geographical barriers and foster a more unified working environment. Collaboration tools are often embedded, encouraging team members to work together.  

Finally, cost-savings are a significant long-term benefit of ERP systems. By optimizing business processes, eliminating inefficiencies, and reducing operational costs, ERP systems can contribute to substantial financial savings. Automated workflows reduce labor costs, while real-time inventory management helps minimize excess stock. Better financial tracking also prevents revenue leakage, ensuring that money is not lost due to poor record-keeping or outdated practices.  

Key Challenges ERP Solutions Can Overcome  

ERP systems can also help companies address growth hurdles. For example, when companies expand into new regions or open new offices, managing multiple systems and inconsistent data across various locations quickly becomes a major challenge. ERP solutions centralize the critical business data into one unified system, providing a single source of truth. This makes a huge difference because everything becomes accessible in real time, regardless of the user’s location. The systems can also deploy locally mandated functionality in a local language.  

Employees across locations can access the same data, improving communication, collaboration and decision-making. The centralized system enabled by the ERP solution is therefore upscaled, meaning there’s no need for manual data entry or transferring information between disconnected regional systems, which means fewer errors and a more consistent approach across the business. 

Another major benefit of ERP solutions is the ability to streamline and automate routine tasks. As demand for a company’s products or services grows, so does the volume of administrative tasks. Employees can quickly get overwhelmed with manual processes like order entry, inventory management, payroll processing and reporting. ERP systems manage these repetitive tasks, reducing the time spent on them significantly.  

For instance, an ERP can automatically generate invoices, track inventory levels, reorder products when stock is running low, and even generate financial reports all without manual intervention. This kind of automation frees up employees’ time, allowing them to focus on higher-value activities like customer engagement, improving business processes, and driving innovation. 

Supporting Business Growth  

When it comes to business growth, ERP solutions can be a game-changer. Unified access to data and systems gives employees the ability to make more data-driven decisions, see trends and get insight into the entire organization. With AI-integration, these capabilities are greatly enhanced and enable businesses to deliver actionable insights. For example, ERP systems can help a retailer react with agility when it comes to critical inventory management and maintenance issues. 

ERP systems can also be customized with industry-specific solutions and add-ons, meaning they can be tailored to meet unique challenges. And because many are cloud-based, they are easy to scale as business expands. Simply put, an ERP system not only supports current operations but grows alongside the business. 

Selecting and implementing an ERP system requires thoughtful planning to ensure it aligns with the company’s business goals and maximizes return on investment. A well-chosen ERP solution should not only provide real-time data but also enable a business to predict future trends, such as projected revenue, costs, and inventory levels. This proactive insight helps prevent potential bottlenecks that could arise from growth or increased demand, allowing the business to address them before they slow progress. With these capabilities, businesses can drive growth while enhancing collaboration and efficiency.  

The post Why SMBs Should Prioritize ERP Systems in Their Technology Roadmaps appeared first on ERP Today.

Improved business agility: Instead of being locked in to an inflexible, out of the box from a single vendor, composable architectures empower businesses to choose best-of-breed solutions for each function. This dismantles the vendor’s control over the entire software stack, making them replaceable for specific components.

Faster, more collaborative innovation: Traditional technology vendors struggle to keep pace with innovation across all functionalities within their offering. But composable architectures thrive in such a dynamic ecosystem. More agile, composable vendors focus on specific functionalities and iterate rapidly. Businesses can then integrate these best-in-class components into their workflows, accelerating their own innovation cycles.

Reduced switching costs: Locked-in customers are a cornerstone of the legacy model. Composable architectures break this confinement by allowing businesses to seamlessly swap out components for better alternatives. This flexibility has forced a reduction in switching and re-platforming costs, making it easier for customers to replace failing suite vendors.

Perpetual licensing models under threat: Composable solutions commonly follow a subscription-based model. SaaS pricing models are a stark contrast to the perpetual licensing of monolithic platforms, where hefty upfront costs and fixed terms are a substantial burden.

Valuing the long tail: Monolithic platforms advocate a one-size-fits-all approach. Composable architectures counters this by enabling the easy and quick integration of necessary functionalities, delivered via APIs. This caters to the long tail of changing business needs that legacy suites cannot adapt to.

The secret weapon in all of this has been the rapid evolution and maturity of composable technology. Our group has been part of this story since 2020, advocating for Microservices, API-driven, Cloud and Headless technologies with a resolutely end-user focus.

It has been this focus on end-user demands and needs that has enabled composability to dismantle the walled gardens created by legacy platforms. It fosters a more open, best-of-breed landscape where businesses can assemble the optimal software stack for their needs, driving innovation and reducing vendor lock-in.

Of course, legacy platforms will still have a place in the market. But these vendors will need to adapt by offering more modular solutions and prioritizing a focus on user needs in a rapidly changing software landscape.

The post The coming of the composable age appeared first on ERP Today.

It was recently predicted that two in five manufacturing businesses will experience a supply chain cyber-attack by 2025.

Though alarming, these are unsurprising statistics given the transformative period manufacturing has undergone in the last two decades. Manufacturing businesses have been pushing towards automation for greater efficiency and productivity, but their operational technology (OT) tends to have very long, useful lives, making support and maintenance like patching difficult and expensive. 

While the industry has mostly moved away from legacy equipment and integrated with advanced technologies, it has expanded its threat landscape in the process. New doors, or holes, have opened up for criminals to disrupt operations and the potential for third-party risks has increased. The result for organizations is a need to prioritize cybersecurity measures to keep pace. Let’s take a closer look.

The impact of IT/OT convergence

As organizations strive to modernize their supply chains, adopting a digital-first strategy has become an imperative driven by both internal and external factors. Internally, stakeholders are driven by the need to reduce costs, increase operational efficiency and continue to innovate. Externally, organizations need to meet the evolving demands of clients and improve customer experience. 

This push for digitalization has resulted in the convergence of IT and OT, two traditionally siloed systems. The modernization of legacy equipment, coupled with the adoption of third-party integrations and the incorporation of AI-driven analytics, has reshaped how manufacturing and OT work from end to end. These integrations not only support the automation of processes but also leverage AI for predictive analytics, becoming foundational to the modern supply chain.

Because these efforts to drive efficiency require specific skills, many organizations have turned to third-party integration and partnerships, bringing in specialized expertise and resources to drive efficiency and innovations. While this shift has been critical in helping businesses stay more agile, it has also introduced significant vulnerabilities. 

Adding to the complexity, these vulnerabilities live upstream and downstream of the company in the supply chain, making them hard to detect and, in some cases, impossible to remediate directly. As IT and OT systems become inextricably linked, the complexity of the cyber threat landscape also expands.

Vulnerabilities in manufacturing cybersecurity

The manufacturing sector has become a prime target for cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in third-party integrations to steal sensitive data or disrupt operations. These attacks are fueled by various vectors, including legacy infrastructure that’s interconnected with recent technology, and new control systems for existing software, creating multiple potential entry points for malicious actors. 

Another contributing factor to manufacturers’ vulnerabilities is a lack of deep understanding of their own threat surfaces, often leading to a false sense of security. Many companies may believe they’re adequately protected, only to discover vulnerabilities when it’s too late. Moreover, the sector’s reliance on third-party partnerships introduces additional risks, with experts predicting that issues within these partnerships could account for up to 60 percent of security incidents.

It’s also worth noting that there is sometimes resistance to modernizing legacy OT systems, largely due to the very specific use that these systems provide (think: interconnected control systems (ICS), to control dispersed and distributed assets and, within that, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, used for controlling, monitoring, and analyzing industrial devices and processes). Given their specific purpose, these systems can be sensitive to vulnerability patching. There’s a risk that the business will be negatively impacted, perhaps even taken offline completely if the changes don’t execute properly, leading to further hesitancy to update and patch. 

The alternative? Air-gapping and isolating systems as much as possible from the rest of the network. However, this presents its own operational challenges, requiring most maintenance and monitoring to happen onsite. 

These points of exposure leave the manufacturing sector susceptible to various types of cyberattacks, including hardware, software and third-party breaches.

Plugging the holes

In response to the evolving security landscape, manufacturing enterprises should be looking to implement additional cybersecurity measures to protect their digital assets and maintain operational resilience – therein plugging the holes. Many professionals are already leveraging advanced detection technologies to bolster their cybersecurity posture. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions, for example, enable organizations to detect and respond to malicious activities on individual devices, providing real-time visibility and control over potential security incidents.

Elsewhere, network detection and response (NDR) technologies focus on monitoring and analyzing network traffic to identify anomalous behavior and potential security threats. By continuously monitoring network traffic and analyzing patterns, NDR solutions can detect and respond to cyber threats before they escalate into full-scale attacks.

Additionally, user behavior analytics (UBA) solutions analyze user activities and detect deviations from normal patterns to help organizations identify insider threats and anomalous user behavior. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and behavioral analytics allows UBA solutions to identify potential security risks and enable organizations to take proactive measures to mitigate them.

Managed detection and response (MDR) providers can also be a valuable solution. MDRs serve as an extension of an organization’s internal IT and security teams, augmenting staff with continuous monitoring, extensive expertise and incident response to rapidly contain threats and mitigate risk.

Implementing a combination of these detection technologies can aid manufacturing enterprises in enhancing their cybersecurity to better defend against a wide range of cyber threats. This helps safeguard their digital assets and maintains operational continuity while still allowing them to fully utilize third-party systems.

Additionally, implementing a zero-trust architecture – an approach that assumes no implicit trust for any user or device – can also significantly enhance resilience for manufacturers. Common in the OT space, zero-trust requires stricter identity verification, giving organizations more granular control over their networks and reducing the likelihood of an incident. 

Containing future leaks – despite third-party integrations

The manufacturing sector is experiencing a profound transformation driven by rapid technological advancements and the convergence of IT and OT systems. Manufacturers are embracing novel and advanced technologies to improve efficiency and meet evolving market demands. However, because many of these advances leverage third-party integrations, they face heightened cyber threats and vulnerabilities. Simultaneously, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting manufacturing organizations, exploiting weaknesses in digital infrastructure to disrupt operations and steal sensitive data.

As supply chains become increasingly interconnected and reliant on these third parties, the potential impact of cyberattacks on manufacturing operations and global supply chains cannot be understated. Meaning – manufacturers must prioritize cybersecurity as a strategic imperative.

Instituting the right measures, conducting regular risk assessments and investing in employee training can help manufacturers mitigate cyber risks and safeguard their operations against emerging threats. In doing so, they not only protect their digital assets but maintain operational resilience and ensure they continue to realize the wealth of benefits that come with digitalization.  

Greg Notch is the chief information security officer at Expel

The post Nobody wants a leak: Getting cyber secure in manufacturing appeared first on ERP Today.

In the ERP vendor world, there is so much providers can do to facilitate transformational supply chain management (SCM) for customers, but I’ll leave that to the vendors who will write their own articles and hopefully share great customer case studies. 

Instead, let’s explore how software providers in this industry, from vendors to system integrators (SIs), are actually part of that very supply or value chain for their customers and the steps taken in any software partnership to ensure you can build a successful foundation in your software and services suppliers. 

While a traditional supply chain is about the process of sourcing goods or raw materials through to delivery to the customer, today these materials can be as abstract as a piece of cloud software; when used as-a-service, they may not exist in a physical or material form. So, what do you need to measure and account for?

Operating in circles, supplier sustainability and ethics

More recently, the scope of SCM has grown to ensure those in the supply chain align to an organization’s values, such as sustainability and ethics. This has been driven by customer demand for sustainable goods and services, but knowing your supply chain meets certain demands can also lessen the chance of problems while contributing to a better planet and people.

This can look like creating and maintaining processes that are environmentally responsible, socially equitable and economically viable over the long term, or else placing greater focus on the ethics of decision making, requiring transparency, integrity and accountability.

Interestingly, a growing number of individuals care about their own supply chain, looking at the sustainability and ethical manufacture of the brands they choose to buy from. In 2024, when we buy clothes, we are far more conscious of whether ethical labor and sustainable fabrics have been used in the manufacturing process. Now, in this internet world, it is much easier to research organizations. We buy fair trade coffee because we care about the farmers at the start of the value chain.

But, while many hide their heads in the sand until a brand has bad publicity, then become indignant and veto it (and ignore the fact they as customers didn’t do the due diligence first), this behavior won’t wash in business. 

It is a long way from the rigor we’re starting to see today in many organizations – the process is quite circular in a way. Speaking from the SI perspective for instance, we are a small yet important part of our customers’ supply chain, but we each have our own supply chain, which in turn have their own, and so on. Our customers care about who they buy from; they want to know we are ethical and sustainable, and that includes the organizations further down our chains.

Speaking to a fellow member of the Institute of Directors in Belfast and discussing “the living wage”, it was surprising to find that, where I live in Northern Ireland, there are so few organizations signed up to the initiative. Surely many organizations are happy to pay the living wage? He explained that the initiative is about more than simply paying your staff well – you have to show that everyone in your supply chain also pays the living wage. He owned a marketing company and in theory, he had a small supply chain, but he commented that he even had to check how much the window cleaner he uses gets paid.

From providers to partners

So for potential technology partners bidding for a piece of work, it’s no longer good enough just to say “I can do what you’re asking” for every business. It’s asking more about the way they’d operate as a partner – what their sustainability values are – because you have to consider their part in your supply chain ecosystem too. 

In the ERP world, our customers are particularly interested in how we work, and we see whole sections in tender documents. As a systems implementor, the vendor is in my supply chain and I need to give answers about their sustainability and operations. But that isn’t enough – even if my contract is just to implement that software – I also have to talk about our company, what we do for sustainability and so on.

Customers often nurture their supply chain and the relationship with their suppliers becomes more one of partners, who together achieve their values. A customer I worked with a few years back wanted to transform their ERP. One key area was their procurement; starting from almost no processes, the cost savings alone in this area could save enough to pay for the whole implementation. 

To be their systems implementor, we had to not only sign up to their values but understand their very public brand and take steps not to compromise that in any way. Once the project went live, we wanted them to talk about it, and to protect that brand I even had to do a short course with them before I could use their individual font in the presentation. Even though we were not part of the organization, we were an extension of the brand at that point.

No one link fits all chains – KPIs are in flux

When one of our current customers sends out a newsletter to its supply chain, they talk about how they are doing on their KPIs, and one I look at with interest is how promptly they pay their suppliers. I look at this because I know their new ERP is key to their improvements. Before their ERP project, they had good prompt payment statistics but not necessarily as good a process behind them. 

The problem came when looking for the right KPIs. Like most organizations, “No Purchase Order, No Payment” was a key requirement of the system, but it proved a big challenge when they first went live as they had underestimated how much purchasing in progress had bypassed this. 

It’s certainly not a unique occurrence; however much a customer is warned, it catches many of them out. Once they got over that challenge, the ERP now ensures not only correct process but facilitates those prompt payment KPIs as well.

Recently another US customer held a Technology Partner Summit, where all its technology supply chain was invited to see the business and hear the vision for its brand. 

I don’t think I really understood how much this was part of the procurement cycle. Becky Harris, from our bid support team at Inoapps, enlightened me. Naively, I thought we invested in a corporate response which we could use for each tender.

There is no single answer or standard you can attain. They differ by industry and region and customers want details – they rarely simply say, you must have a certain certification – and there is no guarantee that the next business will use them as pre-qualification or even accept them as an answer. It’s hoped that the new Procurement Act, due to go live on October 28, 2024, will be a step in the right direction here.

Industry requirements tend to be around what’s important for that industry. In the public sector there’s an emphasis on value for money and giving back; in more regulated industries such as financial services it’s around security and policies. Within the energy sector meanwhile it’s more about ESG and the environment; there will be synergy within the goals of the industry. 

Those organizations where profit fluctuates such as energy and utilities know that it’s perhaps the norm to ask their supply chain to reduce their costs when times are hard and even ask to have the right to negotiate in contracts. We see this every day in supermarkets where food suppliers are forced into ever smaller margins so prices can stay down.

Often the unseen side of bid management is answering the questions on an individual request for proposal (RFP). For SIs, telling your story the way the customer has asked may be an onerous task, but better that the RFP is transparent, and you know what to expect, rather than for a nugget of complication to hit you later. 

Incoming – sustainability standardization?

There is a buoyant sector that provides support for these subjective standards like Health and Safety, ISO etc., and supply chain, and it’s definitely a growth area. Companies like Achilles or B Corporation will assess your organization, and some customers will preapprove you for a tender if you comply. For smaller companies, this can be expensive, but if a customer or supplier demands it, you have no choice if you want to be part of it.

This supply chain scrutiny doesn’t stop at procurement – long-term customer contracts mean annual attestations, with examples including insurance, 2050 carbon neutral journey progress, SOCs reporting and credit scores.

Some things you can do in advance, some industries are more rigid in their requirements and if your business strategy includes them, then there are investments you can make upfront to be prepared. 

An example of this: We do a lot of work in the construction industry, and they even have a Supply Chain School that looks at all the aspects. Worth a look, full of ideas and a great diagram that shows the why, the what and the how. ERP is a “how”, an enabler. Much of it is free – it’s as much about education as certification – and they happily allowed me to use their graphic here (Fig 1).

Focusing on the built environment industry, it aims to equip industry professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to integrate sustainability practices into their supply chain operations. 

We all want to be ethical and equitable. There’s value in knowing and having a goal and tracking it, but it’s not a single thread. For SIs and vendors, opening an RFP is like opening a Pandora’s Box; it can be a big part of pre-qualification and due diligence is really important at this point, you may choose not to be involved with a potential customer if their values don’t match your own.

Ultimately, embracing sustainability and ethics in supply chain management is not just about compliance or risk management; it is about creating value for all stakeholders and ensuring the long-term viability of both businesses and the environments in which they operate.   

Debra Lilley is vice president of customer success at Inoapps.

The post There are no single threads in ESG software supply chains appeared first on ERP Today.

As a SAP professional working in the highly regulated tobacco industry, in a conglomerate that operates in more than 180 countries worldwide, the stakes for my IT team — like many global enterprises — are indeed high. We are presently T-minus 3.5 years away from what I am referring to as D-day (for the impending deadline). Please see Figure 1 for the Gartner estimates of the SAP S/4HANA Adoption Rates.

“As of Q42023, Gartner estimates indicate that approximately 64 percent of SAP EEC clients had not licensed SAP S/4HANA.” Given what it takes for companies to manage a migration project of this magnitude, as well as the limited availability of systems integrators (SIs) with the required craftsmanship, this adoption rate bodes ill for the industry.

So why are most of SAP’s customers waiting to migrate? From what I’ve experienced in the SAP professional user community, the top three reasons I hear are these:

“SAP already extended the upgrade deadline once, moving it from 2025 to 2027. Maybe they will extend again! Why rush?”

Personally, I would not be jeopardizing the operations of billion-dollar businesses in a game of who blinks first, would you?

“If I am not able to migrate by the deadline, so what? I will just opt for the extended maintenance option; it doesn’t have to be the end of the world!”

I agree that this can buy you some time, but the devil is in the details. Those of us who read the fine print see that this option is only available for “customers needing support for their applications in longer conversion phases to SAP S/4 HANA.”

In layman’s terms, this means that you would have to purchase the licenses for S/4 by 2027 anyway. No cost savings there! In addition, you would also incur a two percent extra cost on top of your current maintenance fees. While two percent may not seem like much at face value (for thriving companies with deep pockets), when you add your enterprise support factor, the relative cost increase is much greater. For example, for those on the existing support pack of 22 percent, this will actually result in an almost nine percent relative uplift, if you do the math.

Additionally, SAP has been very clear that extended support will be offered only for Business Suite 7 core applications. It is important to understand what this means for your business before getting too comfortable with extended maintenance. Will you really be getting the kind of support you would need to keep your business running or will it become a thin safety net that will just keep you afloat?

“Extended maintenance is not my cup of tea. I’ll just do nothing and let SAP automatically default me to its customer-specific maintenance offering.”

That could be risky. SAP has noticeably not published any pricing related to this option; they have not been specific about the scope of what will and will not be supported (core versus not core) and they have not mentioned the number of years they are willing to support you via this mechanism. Even without these vital inputs, it is logical to conclude that SAP will negotiate aggressively if you go this route: it will not be cheap, and it will not last forever.

Does this mean that everyone must adopt S/4HANA before D-day? Absolutely not: no business, regardless of size, should be forced to embark on a journey such as this, based only on technical drivers.  If we did, it might be akin to experiencing a slow-motion train wreck, while writing off millions of dollars from the balance sheet. To stay on track, business and IT must maintain a symbiotic relationship.

That being said, organizations cannot continue to wait and watch, hoping the chips will fall into place. Sitting motionless and avoiding change can be a quick road to obsolescence. So instead of focusing on the technical deadline, start by approaching the S/4 migration through this different lens before time runs out:

First, discover what benefits S/4HANA offers that are pertinent to your organization’s business goals in the mid-to-long term. Don’t try to sell the case just by relying on industry buzzwords: your benefits need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), and you need to first believe in them yourself.

Then, determine whether you will be able to rally the support of your management board and broader community beyond IT who will be affected by the upgrade. Can you get them behind the benefits that this multimillion-dollar change will enable for your organization?

The next step would be to ascertain whether your business case is being done bottom-up and will pass the test of time. Remember that this kind of project usually runs for a prolonged period and unforeseen changes will happen to both organization and strategy during that time. Is your case strong enough to withstand any unanticipated turmoil?

Additionally, understand the capabilities of your current SI in S/4HANA space. S/4 experts are in high demand but in short supply. You need an A-team from your SI to get this done successfully. Your SI must bring on experts, not just warm bodies to meet some impractical timeline.

Accept the fact that as a principal product vendor, SAP must have very thick skin in the game with you. If you are thinking that you will just raise Online Service System (OSS) tickets with high severity and get all the necessary help you will need during a crisis, think again. A team of dedicated experts from SAP Max Attention to augment your internal teams and SI is a must, not a luxury.

Finally, be clear about your expectations from the clean core concept that SAP promotes with S/4HANA. A clean core does not mean zero customization within the application boundary (AB). You will still be able to make modifications if you are staying within the controls defined by SAP. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to go into this without taking a proper inventory of all the beloved Z codes that have been developed by your SI over the past many years for your valued business users.  How many of those codes are still relevant and need to remain in some form? Which are no longer necessary because that functionality is now offered out of the box?  Not knowing these answers can make or break your journey.

Do not underestimate the importance of change management. However perfect your upgrade is, if your end user community is not buying in, you will have only a perfect implementation on paper with minimal-to-zero business benefits. Engage super-users early and take them along on a joint journey through and beyond your Go-Live to ensure that everyone is working together to maximize the return on investment (ROI).

Whether your business should opt for all, some or none of the bells and whistles that S/4 has to offer really depends on your business priorities, and the available options that you have on the table to enable those priorities. However, if you are a current SAP customer, the one choice you don’t have is to delay this heavy-duty discovery exercise any longer. You still have time to make an educated decision, based on drivers that are meaningful to your end users and will add value to the business you are trying to protect.

Do not let this golden opportunity pass you by. If you just keep waiting, you may be forced into an expensive upgrade or be left with only a thin safety net post-2027 for an exuberant price tag. Surely, we have a responsibility to our respective businesses to implement the best solution the market offers, no matter how challenging the transition.

The post SAP S/4HANA: To wait or not to wait, that is the question appeared first on ERP Today.

Is the employee experience the same as the customer experience and, if so, should HR approach their employees as customers? Such was the question I asked in a webcast series on lightbulb moments in the HCM discipline, run by Leatham Green, transformation director at Oracle. A contribution arguably intended to “turn up the flame” rather than be a real outright lightbulb moment for HCM, it nevertheless remains an important topic to fuel most conversations about reimagining the workforce today.

So why is employee experience important?

I remember arguing with the concept that HR was there to protect the employer. Now, employee experience is key in all HCM projects

Many years ago, when embarking on the people module for the Chartered Director program with the Institute of Directors, I remember arguing with the concept that HR was there to protect the employer.

In my role as a systems implementer, I think we have moved on from those days now, with employee experience being key in all HCM projects today and often part of an organization’s goals.

The change emerged steadily, and it first became key in the candidate process; organizations wanted software that could help them improve in that area. But, speaking with two companies at a software conference recently, their reasons were far beyond just the candidate experience – they also saw the bounce-back value to their organizations.

The first was a major European bank that needed the experience to be “beyond good.” They explained that even if a candidate was unsuccessful, they needed to feel the bank cared – after all, they could be an existing or future customer.

The other organization was a mining company, an industry that needs to work hard to sell what they do and communicate their impact at an even earlier stage if they are to get candidates at all.

They went further than most organizations, whose main driver for a positive candidate experience was to attract young people. It actually expanded on that, seeking to give an employee experience that also retained their people. Plus, with the desire to work with modern, intuitive systems ranking highly, avoiding the technology needed to help here

could even result in candidates simply seeing the employer as out of touch.

Just as the concept of employee experience was growing as an objective, the COVID pandemic rocket-fueled its growth right into inner boardroom conversations, with strong evidence to suggest that if you improve employee experience you will improve customer experience.

What’s in an experience?

To compare the employee to the customer, we need to explore the customer experience.

Let us start with a personal example of a great customer experience. Earlier this year, I had an accident and needed the NHS. Now, in the news, we hear all about the KPIs for the NHS, but they are about what the NHS does. They are not about how the patient feels.

I remember thinking and reassuring myself as I waited for them to arrive: “Yes, there will be lots of delays. But they are the best people.” And my thoughts proved true. When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics gave the best customer service. They gave empathy, quickly gave the trust I needed and were honest and open about my injuries.

It drew parallels with a TED Talk by Diana Dosik entitled “Why we need to treat our employees as thoughtfully as our customers”, which we’ll come back to later, but one thing she talked about was eliminating the pain points in the customer journey.

In my ambulance experience, they eliminated the pain points, no pun intended, but the drugs were well appreciated. The next most important pain point they eliminated was not knowing the seriousness of the accident.

That is what makes great customer service. Not the big things. Not the contract, but the things that make you feel valued and help you understand the situation.

Communicating the good and bad

Often when we discuss customer experience, we look at examples of when it is bad.

Several years ago, before as much was as online as today, I stupidly left my laptop bag on a train. Replacing the technology was quite straightforward but I lost my expenses envelope and needed to recreate an entire month’s expenses. It was such a mammoth undertaking that I wrote a blog about which companies gave me the best service and ranked them.

This was cathartic for me, but it also identified the pain points I had in the process and if it happened again today, the innovations offered by current technology will have more than likely been adopted by those companies to ease the process (not that I am offering to repeat the exercise).

When you ask people about what gave them a bad experience – communication is always high on the list. Sometimes good customer service is explaining others’ pain points, so people don’t feel injustice. A great example is the dandelion lanyards campaign which helped us to understand not all disabilities are visible.

There’s a saying that goes “good communication has a positive impact even when the news is bad, and poor communication can have a negative impact even when the news is good” and it fits in nicely here.

An example of this was a recent holiday flight – everyone boarded early, all excited to be off, when the pilot announced a hold-up as two passengers were not yet on the plane and would take some time to arrive. We needed to wait. That on its own would not have been enough to make the passengers feel better, although an improvement on no communication. But he went on to explain they had been given the wrong information at check-in and now were being escorted through the airport by airline staff.

He asked that we not give them a hard time when they eventually arrived as they were stressed enough already. That minute of communicating with the passengers meant we had empathy with them when they arrived and collectively reduced their stress.

Making the customer-employee connection

What if they directed some of that same energy at understanding and engaging their employees? What are the potential payoffs for a better motivated, more loyal and imaginatively innovating workforce?

So how does customer experience relate to employee experience?

Back to Diana Dosik’s TED Talk, Dosik pitched that “today’s companies know everything there is to know about their customers and will stop at nothing to ensure that their experience is pleasant and meaningful. But what if they directed some of that same energy at understanding and engaging their employees? What are the potential payoffs for a better motivated, more loyal and imaginatively innovating workforce?”

One main area she explored was that customer experience is segmented, not all customers have the same pain points, and yet in employee experiences, we are more single-threaded. Employee journeys are not all the same but we as employers can do much to improve the experience. We can also “nudge” our employees to follow our policy and meet our organizational goals. I use the word “nudge” because Dosik used it, as does my colleague Vicky Collier who utilizes behavioral economics in our change management.

Listening to the pain points

The place to start is to ask and then listen to your employees. A public sector organization once told me that they needed to improve employee adoption of their system, a few years after it had been implemented. I wanted to start by asking their employees about the pain points and, whilst they believed they knew the answer, they did allow a survey of the workforce.

It discovered that the employees felt there was a lack of training, not so much when they went live but afterward. If they didn’t use a process for a while and couldn’t remember, or someone new joined, each poor interaction just grew the problem.

The IT department were mystified, as they had great training available online. Then, when showing some of the participants of the survey the training, they were surprised; they didn’t know it existed let alone where to find it. It was a communication problem.

Innovations in the systems we use have all sorts of technology that can help and are designed to improve employee experience, but they can also help you identify some of the pain points. Live chat helpdesks and AI-fueled chatbots give us insight into what is being asked, especially when people give up trying to figure out the answer themselves, or from managers and colleagues.

Whatever you do to help your employees have the experience you think they want, make sure you have a simple path for when it isn’t a positive one. We tend to build for the “happy path” and when that isn’t the problem, automation may put HR even further away from the employee at a time when they need them most.

Discussing this at length with Oracle’s Green after the webcast, he offered this thought: “Employees want to know that their voices are heard and there is a purpose to what they do, and they will be treated as an individual with unique traits and aspirations – just as we all do in our lives.”

And the value to organizations that get this right? Green summed this up by saying: “If you have a great employee experience, hiring becomes easier, productivity increases and there is more collaboration and creativity. Also, a great employee experience is positively correlated to business success – organizations who can do this well will have higher levels of employee engagement, better company culture and productivity.

“It also improves the lives and well-being of your colleagues alongside your organization’s reputation. Organizations that succeed in recruiting and retaining top talent are those that help their employees explore their interests and passions, build their skills and grow their careers.”

It’s a win-win game, your employees should be your favorite customers, your inner circle of individuals that directly impact your business success, reputation and future, not to mention the experience of your actual end customers too.

So, surely by employing tactics like these to keep that lightbulb aglow – the notion of employee buy-in has never looked so bright.

Debra Lilley is vice president customer success, Inoapps.

The post The great employee glow up appeared first on ERP Today.

A study by cloud-based accounting provider FreeAgent found that 71 percent surveyed in the UK admitted to struggling with changes in their life circumstances. Over a quarter felt “physical panic” or “fear” when asked to break from their usual routines, with 15 percent refusing to adopt more efficient working policies or new office systems through fear of change.

The most predictable thing about change is its unpredictability.

Today, it is perhaps even more difficult to anticipate what the world will be like in 20 or 30 years. The impact of technological change is unprecedented and with the need to upskill and deal with change, preserving our mental balance is going to be crucial in our day-to-day lives.

Determining a change playbook

The heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” and, for me, this is the nature of change. Think back to the last time you were part of a major change of vision, direction or process. It is all about managing people, implementing processes and learning the techniques that make change easier to execute but, ultimately, it comes down to your determination to improve things.

Change is either forced upon an organization in reaction to external influences or through proactive moves to make the most of an opportunity yet to be identified. You need to sell the opportunity to your team; people are afraid and it is necessary to inspire courage before embarking on any quest to change the status quo. If your people are restricted by personal feelings, vendettas, loyalties or stubbornness against a new idea, they will cause change projects to stumble or even fail.

Most aspects of any well-run change management project within an organization are delivered in small, incremental steps. That way, it’s easier to sell the idea and manage your people’s emotions along the way.

Often, it also comes down to timing. Data analysts now study algorithms, trends and patterns to predict the likelihood of events and consumer behaviors. The fact is, change is inevitable, but positive progress as a result of change is not. Taking hold of the rewards of change requires constant attention as it rarely follows straight lines or linear progression. The nimbler you can become, the more likely you are to traverse the many highs, lows and pitfalls on your way.

Technology can even help with change

As organizations adapt to new disruptive technologies in 2024, leaders should encourage a culture of continuous learning and experimentation to foster innovation, with employees staying updated on the latest technological advancements and given the resources and training to adapt.

Investing in technologies such as blockchain, IoT, CRM, chatbots and other AI-driven tools can streamline operations, enhance customer experiences and improve overall efficiency. Implementing cloud-based solutions and adopting data analytics can also provide valuable insights for better decision-making and aid in understanding evolving consumer trends and preferences. Cybersecurity measures can protect sensitive data and alleviate security fears.

Investing in inclusive, collaborative tools to facilitate seamless communication and productivity, regardless of employee location, helps the flexible work preferences of the new generation.

By implementing these strategies, organizations can effectively adapt to new disruptive technologies in 2024 and beyond.

Yvonne de Ville is chair of the IoD Finance and FinTech Group and author of Managing Change: The Science of Happy Endings.

The post Managing Change: The Science of Happy Endings appeared first on ERP Today.

Imagine a world where the next generation of enterprise computing masterminds are born not in college labs or corporate boardrooms, but way back in the sandpits and treehouses of their childhood homes.

Early exposure to these fields is like sneaking veggies into a meal – it’s essential for growth, even if it needs to be disguised as something more exciting. Just like convincing a child that broccoli is a mini-tree for their toy dinosaur, making STEM and in particular technology subjects appealing from a young age is key.

From little learners to big innovators

Early engagement in STEM isn’t just about creating a workforce; it’s about inspiring the next Tony Stark or Shuri from Black Panther. This is where daydreamers become visionaries and doodlers become designers. The younger generations tend to digest information quickly and move on. The various forms of education need to play catch up, transforming from a snore factory to an emporium where Gene Wilder, in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, or Robin Williams, in Dead Poets Society, brings life to education at any age.

When done well, introducing kids to technology is like showing them a magic trick. Their eyes light up, amazed at what these tools can do. Having worked in the Oracle ecosystem since 1995, I still see Oracle as the cool uncle, telling them, “One day, you too could be a wizard, but instead of a wand, you’ll use a keyboard or a GenAI front end.”

Excitingly, with the right opportunities in place, enterprise technology giants like Oracle become the gateway to careers that haven’t even been invented yet.

Opening the door to a STEM career

Looking a few years ahead to entering the workforce, it’s become clear that to keep the magic alive, businesses need to use the right technology but, also, they need to create an open door for the next generation to upskill on it.

Speaking to one of our own from Veran Performance, Reuben Massay, explains, “As a Gen-Z, I grew up with digital devices, but as a generation, our ability to use and develop business technology is of serious concern. By next year Gen-Z (people born 1997-2012) will make up 25 percent of the workforce, so improving the digital literacy and the understanding of the needs of Gen-Z is crucial to the success of all businesses.”

Nobody should be a gatekeeper of knowledge in the STEM space, but instead behave more like tour guides through the land of innovation. When it comes to opening these doors for new entrants, one such community is really starting to bear fruit: Oracle’s intern and Generation Oracle (GenO) career initiatives are giving new entrants the opportunity to shine where they may not have had the prerequisites or openings to do so.

A career program that invites industry entrants of all backgrounds to immerse themselves in all areas of STEM within Oracle, GenO has over doubled in size since its first cohort two and a half years ago. It has expanded its training scope from its original 200 EMEA members to now seeing 4-500 new starters, cross-pillar, in this year alone, as well as expanding to 40+ EMEA countries.

Meeting with the inspirational Antonine Gibbons who runs the EMEA GenO career program, someone who dedicates her time in a rare altruistic way to help others, she gave her take on the next generation of STEM:

“As a new generation enters the workforce during this transformative age, they are redefining what it means to be a leader and they are reshaping the working world – we see it daily within the GenO community. They care more about having a sense of purpose and a positive impact on society and this is all amongst a period of automation where turbulent external forces are at play.”

The best thing we can do is to ask them to challenge our status quo and ask the hard questions to make their mark on projects that matter to our customers – Antonine Gibbons, Oracle

For Gibbons, there are a few key areas that businesses can support Gen-Z and beyond:

“Teams need to be adaptable and resilient as well as creative. Technical skills are crucial, but we put a lot of focus in the human qualities and transferable skills like communication, adaptability, collaboration. The best thing we can do to support our GenOs is to ask them to challenge our status quo and ask the hard questions to make their mark on projects that matter to our customers.”

Engaging the next generation in STEM is critical; it’s about building a world where learning is not just about filling heads with facts, but igniting imaginations with possibilities. The STEM field currently has a diversity palette similar to that of an old black-and-white movie. Engaging a diverse group of young learners is like adding color to that movie. It’s not just about painting a pretty picture; it’s about enriching the entire scene. By increasing diverse perspectives in STEM, we will foster more innovations, as varied and vibrant as the world itself. That’s also what UKOUG hopes to support with its new partnership with The Prince’s Trust too.

We are living in a world of turbulence and uncertainty in the short to medium-term. By infusing education with fun, diversity and real-world application, we’re not just preparing these young minds for a future career, we’re setting the stage for them to reimagine and reinvent the world.

Generation Oracle keeps on growing 

Stephanie Ijeomah 3rd cohort – GenO cloud platform rep (Ireland based)

Oracle has participated in driving diversity especially with the creation of the GenO program. As a GenO alumni, Oracle opened the doors to opportunities for people of different backgrounds in terms of knowledge, culture and exposure.

This has not only created a foundation for people that never saw themselves in tech, but also in turn drove success to Oracle’s global growth.”

Izzy Osborne – 4th cohort – GenO apps consultant (UK based)

“The GenO program provides a great entry into tech for people from all backgrounds and enriches the perspectives within the industry as a result. It’s exciting to see how this potential will be harvested as Generation Oracle grows.”

Mariana Da Costa Duarte – 3rd cohort – GenO HCM consultant (UK based)

“The program attracts new talent from all walks of life across EMEA, introducing us to different ways of thinking, working and problem solving. Being a part of the GenO program has provided me the opportunity to learn new skills that are invaluable and which I will be able take on with me throughout my career at Oracle. The program promotes innovation and creativity and that in itself is priceless. I believe the results speak for themselves with regards to the benefits of having a diverse program like the GenO Program.”

Tosia Ciszek – 4th cohort – GenO consultant (UK based)

“Being able to collaborate and network with individuals all across EMEA, who are also at the start of their Oracle journey, has exposed me to an incredible range of diverse talent. The GenO program encourages us to not only learn from each other but also share experiences, so that we continuously develop ourselves to be more inclusive.”

Richard Pepper is head of Oracle transformation, Veran Performance and president, UK Oracle User Group.

The post An open door to STEM appeared first on ERP Today.

Hours later, you’re looking with frustration at parts scattered on your floor. The instructions are confusing, you need parts, tools are missing and trial and error hasn’t solved the puzzle. What you thought would be a simple job has turned into an ordeal.

Similar risks await organizations that launch a composable ERP strategy without fully sizing up how it aligns with business goals and what’s needed to make it, well, composable.

The “what” and “why” of composable ERP

Composable ERP has emerged as a way to modernize legacy ERP environments to be more flexible and interoperable. The composable model is replacing the monolithic ERPs of yesteryear, so that you can assemble digital business capabilities as you wish – though often using cloud-based services.

The vision is compelling, but outcomes depend on ensuring your shift doesn’t take a wrong turn.

Core ERP capabilities like inventory and financial management might be delivered by the central platform, while best-of-breed applications handle satellite functions. Done right, composable ERP equips your business to be nimbler, make informed decisions and create or adapt business models on the fly.

The vision is compelling. All of a sudden, you’ve got that agility your C-suite has been talking about. You’re faster than competitors because you can roll out digital capabilities in bite-sized pieces that are easier to deploy and use. You’re smarter too, because you’ve got data at your fingertips to make informed decisions.

Plus, you’ve achieved AI readiness because your composable ERP environment lets you test and deploy AI with relative ease. Now, as everyone from CIOs to teenage TikTok-ers knows, AI is a very, very big thing, so this is a benefit that really can’t be overlooked.

Almost as a bonus, composable ERP eliminates the risk of a Big Bang ERP lift-and-shift to the latest version going horribly wrong. Of course, all these outcomes depend on ensuring that your shift doesn’t itself take a wrong turn.

The global shift to composable ERP

As organizations face end-of-life deadlines for outdated ERP systems and brainstorm over digital transformation, composable ERP sits at the leading edge of IT modernization. Its value is widely recognized, to say the least.

Some 94 percent of organizations worldwide are embracing a composable ERP strategy, according to a survey of 1,675 CTOs and enterprise architects conducted by Boomi. Of them, 76 percent are standardizing and consolidating applications, and 71 percent are moving to the cloud.

As composable ERP takes shape, we’re seeing several points of differentiation on what works and what doesn’t.

What works and what doesn’t

Composable ERP can’t be strictly an IT concern. Sure, it benefits IT with a lower total cost of ownership, reduced technical debt, faster development and deployment and reduced risk. Architecting composable ERP, however, shouldn’t be pinned to those IT goals.

Instead, design your composable ERP strategy around specific business objectives. What matters most to the organization whether increased customer loyalty, better sales rep efficiency, improved decision making? Whatever the goal, composable ERP lets you attack business priorities with speed and precision not possible with a rigid monolith.

Ongoing business and IT collaboration is required. You want to avoid anti-pattern scenarios in which composable ERP starts off with a lot of enthusiasm and executive backing, only to have momentum dwindle into half-baked shelfware.

At some organizations, recomposing business structures may be in order as well. A rigid and compartmentalized chain of command is contrary to the principles of composable ERP. It pays to bear in mind Conway’s Law, which holds that any system designed (such as composable ERP) will mirror an organization’s communication structure. It works best when the business itself is flexible and composable.

Composability requires connectability

Composable ERP that spans the core ERP and diverse cloud systems in a hybrid IT environment doesn’t just work out of the box. It’s a “some assembly required” proposition and its success depends in part on how that assembly is accomplished.

Integration technology to connect systems, standardize and share data and automate processes should be first on the technology shopping list.

In the age of monolithic ERPs, some organizations relied on vendor-supplied tools and APIs to devise integrations with any third-party systems that might be used. Many still do. They might have a great team of developers who can roll up their sleeves and custom-code connectivity using Python, JavaScript, .NET and other approaches.

But those outdated tactics don’t cut it in our ever-accelerating digital age. It’s not quick; development can drag on for months. It’s not easy and integrations are often brittle and can break with the slightest change. Nor is it sustainable, as developers skilled in legacy tools are harder than ever to find.

If cloud-first composable ERP is on your roadmap, equipping with the latest generation of cloud-based integration technology that can connect systems, standardize and share data and automate processes should be the first items on the technology shopping list. You want to be able to quickly and easily recompose your ERP environment, leveraging any API or building your own, as applications and objectives evolve.

Composability and AI-readiness

The advent of generative AI alone is arguably a reason to shift to composable ERP. The ability to test, deploy and iterate large language models swiftly has profound implications for business transformation that we will see unfold in the months and years to come. In essence, composability makes it possible to embed AI within core ERP capabilities, handing you what we can call “AI-readiness”.

We are already seeing AI introduce “systems of intelligence” that sit between the traditional systems of record and systems of engagement (those used by employees, customers and partners). As with a conventional application, AI is best anchored to business objectives and a sound foundation that can connect composable systems and share data.

When a new generative AI tool emerges, your composable ERP environment is tailor-made to test, tweak and move the shiny new AI tech into production.

So, the takeaway here: composable ERP gives you readiness for anything – be it a merger and acquisition activity, a new line of business or even a global expansion. The project is yours to pick, just be sure you have the right strategies lined up so that you can actually hop on that new exercise machine instead of looking with frustration at parts scattered on your floor.

The post Composable ERP: Some assembly required appeared first on ERP Today.

The dawn of the digital age has birthed numerous innovations and technological advancements, with ERP technology undoubtedly being one of its crowning jewels. It serves as a linchpin, seamlessly integrating various business processes, ensuring efficiency and optimizing resources. But beyond the allure of these innovations lies an unsettling truth; the vast gender disparity within the tech landscape.

A cursory look at statistics paints a grim picture. While women constitute a quarter of the tech workforce, a mere fraction of these are women of color. Such figures aren’t just cold data points; they are emblematic of the challenges, aspirations and triumphs of numerous women navigating this domain.

My tryst with ERP mirrors many of these experiences. Managing the delicate dance between my professional commitments in ERP, my roles as a doting mother of three and a partner to a husband embroiled in his demanding career is an art of its own. This dynamic becomes even more poignant given that only one in five leadership roles in tech are occupied by women. However, interspersed within these sobering realities are stories that uplift and inspire. Stories like Ann Blakely’s.

Ann’s trajectory is a tapestry woven with determination, challenges and a relentless pursuit of her dreams.

Our conversation on the WERP podcast was akin to embarking on a voyage of discovery. As we delved deeper into our chat, the differences in our geographies and cultures paled in comparison to our shared experiences and aspirations within ERP. Anchored in Milwaukee, USA, Blakely’s trajectory is a tapestry woven with determination, challenges and a relentless pursuit of her dreams.

It started with an unexpected choice

A remarkable facet of Blakely’s journey is its genesis, deeply influenced by family decisions. She reminisces: “My father actually was in seminary for 11 years, studying to be a Catholic priest and decided about a year before he would have been ordained that he wanted to leave the priesthood and it just wasn’t the life for him.”

This pivotal shift in her father’s career, diving headfirst into the world of technology, inadvertently set Blakely on a path that merged the realms of computer science and business, with her academic pursuits taking root at the University of Wisconsin.
ERP, with its multifarious challenges, has always demanded adaptability and a project that Blakely undertook in Alaska is a testament to this tenet. This significant undertaking was aimed at enhancing the prospects for at-risk children. She shares, “I was working as a team lead designing a child welfare information system, so it tracked child abuse, neglect, foster care, adoptions and all the provider payments around that.”

Her candid reflection highlights the emotional and professional tightropes she walked, striking chords with many of us attempting to balance professional obligations with personal life, not to mention a frequent commute of over 3000 miles home to Wisconsin.

After several years, Blakely sought a shorter commute and her career took root in accounting and consulting firm, Baker Tilly, focusing on HCM and ERP and balancing the relationships between customers and vendor partnerships such as the likes of Oracle and IFS.

Balancing professional and personal means pride, not guilt

Our dialogue inevitably touches upon the perpetual challenge of maintaining equilibrium between work and family. Blakely observes, “I think it’s been a really positive experience. My kids are now 13 and 15. So, I feel like I’m maybe on the other side of what my husband and I called ‘the fog’, which was pretty much from newborn to maybe seven years old.”

While juggling professional demands with parenting her kids, Ann has adopted the principle of establishing clear boundaries and refraining from guilt for being a working mom.

“We can be our own worst enemy; we feel like we have to do it all ourselves, we feel we have to have an A+ grade in everything we do. So, for me, it was really an exercise of letting some things go. I had to recognize that I needed more help at home and outsource.
“By setting ground rules pretty early in terms of what I wanted helped to set the stage for how we divided and conquered.”

Blakely notes a specific piece of advice that resonated deeply with her: “I received a piece of advice, actually from a mentor. She said don’t ever apologize to your kids about work. Don’t ever apologize because you’re not actually sorry. You’re choosing this every day.”

This counsel not only influenced Blakely’s personal outlook but underscores a universal truth; our careers, filled with passion and purpose, should be a source of pride, not guilt.

Taking a leading role at Baker Tilly Digital

Today, Blakely leads all digital solutions for Baker Tilly Digital, heading the outward market-facing presence for all Baker Tilly’s technology-related services offered to clients. Just over a year and a half ago, Blakely also oversaw the company acquisition of Vanilla Solutions, a UK IFS partner.

Discussing her responsibilities as managing partner, Blakely shares the transition that comes when rising to these kinds of roles.

“The job has evolved. Being client-facing in market and delivering the technical solutions and being that translation agent – I’m not as hands-on with that anymore,” she explains. “Being managing partner essentially means I’m doing more of the looking out to the next three to five years; where are we going, looking at what new bets we’re going to make, new technologies are coming out, leading all acquisitions – more of those across digital initiatives. We have a big initiative to build additional off-shore capability for our teams; we’re driving a deeper level of technical competency models to all the teams, and all the fun things like budget planning, forecasting, reporting.”

She says, “When I joined Baker Tilly, I was consultant number 25. I think we have 3,000 consultants today and the growth has been so fun, and it’s so fun to be entrepreneurial and think about what our clients need and evolving our services and technologies in accordance with that.”

Blakely’s reflections on her journey with Baker Tilly radiate with enthusiasm and pride. Emphasizing the richness that diversity brings, she champions the cause of varied perspectives and approaches in creating innovative solutions. Talking about the GROW initiative (the growth and retention of women) at Baker Tilly, Blakely expresses the need to give women a voice in the workplace.

“Helping to give a voice and courage and understanding of options and choices is important. We like to be good at what we do, we like to know we can handle what is coming around the corner. We certainly have the capability, but we sometimes just don’t get selfish enough to ask for more or for what’s next.”

The national program has been built to include everything from networking opportunities, book clubs, providing resources and navigation techniques and mentorship matching to learn from varying experiences. It comes down to getting more representation in leadership, but also ensuring flexibility in the workplace for both men and women to stop that dropping out of the workforce, explains Blakely: “It’s about how we elevate to leadership, to show the health of a successful pipeline of successors and candidates moving through the ranks that represent the female population.

“But it’s also about providing flexibility, maybe offering to slow to part-time or internal assignments for a little while to control schedules better, for men and women, while ensuring that doesn’t deter from ramping back up again after you get through whatever transition you’re going through. It’s creating that notion of eliminating the ‘up and out’ progression and removing the stigma from that. Giving the permission to create that space for yourself.”

An anthem for change

Ann Blakely’s narrative isn’t just a singular tale of achievement. It’s an anthem for change, a call to arms for the ERP industry to pave the way for a more equitable and unconventional future. Laden with insights, her experiences offer invaluable lessons on fostering gender diversity in ERP. As we navigate this ever-evolving landscape, tales like Ann’s serve as beacons, illuminating our path toward a more inclusive future. Together, let’s sculpt a corner in technology where gender parity is the norm and every voice is celebrated.

Abigail Allman is the founder of the Women in ERP community, host of WERP podcast and head of strategic partnerships at Resulting IT.

The post The unconventional journey of a female leader in ERP appeared first on ERP Today.