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In late 2022, Blue Diamond improved its processes by implementing SAP Transportation Management (TM) systems for global transportation. Although the issue of getting available containers was resolved with SAP TM, the company continued to incur a high cost of transportation as vendors would give their estimated costs and Blue Diamond would accrue them until containers became available, due to a lack of a proper forecasting and accrual system.

But that changed in 2023, when the company upgraded its integrated planning with the SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) system.

The four pillars of technology

“Like most companies, our ocean freight supply chain suffered immensely during the pandemic and that was our primary driver to embed SAP TM on our SAP S4 system,” says Steven Birgfeld, Vice President, Information Technology and Services at Blue Diamond Growers. “After that it was only a matter of leveraging the Business Network for logistics in this integration.”

It helped that around 80% of Blue Diamond’s carriers were already in the Business Network making the update to SAP IBP easier for the company. Blue Diamond went live with these integrations for its export market in late 2022 and by July 2023, they went live for their domestic logistics. These updates helped the company with better visibility planning and making sure they got a carrier on time.

According to Birgfeld, a faster turnaround time for the company’s customer service team was also achieved due to the integration, as they now only had to refer to one system to get all the answers instead of different ones, leading to better accruals, flexibility, and supply chain resilience.

“We also have better insights into the information going into the system. If there is a discrepancy we get alerted immediately, so that helps us understand the issue swiftly and work with the carrier accordingly,” he explains.

Blue Diamond is focusing keenly on ESG metrics

Birgfeld gives an example of a typical order that the integrated system generates today. “Suppose we have a shipment that is ready to be sent out. The system will provide us answers like who will be able to ship overseas or deliver domestically, which carrier has the best rate and best timing so that we can pick that carrier accordingly. The system provides these answers along with an estimated delivery date.”

Additionally, there’s Project 44, a visibility extension that works with SAP IBP, SAP TM, and SAP Business Logistics Network (BLN).

“Project 44 is an SAP partner that captures data from hundreds of thousands of carriers in almost real time,” says Birgfeld, adding that this system also uses a degree of artificial intelligence (AI). “For example, it will let you know that though the carrier might be predicting a Thursday delivery, there’s a risk of the delivery being delayed to Saturday,” he says.

A lesson in integration

The biggest change from this integration was felt by Blue Diamond’s logistics team, though it took some time to adjust from the manual processing they were using. The key was trusting the data. Birgfeld notes, “Change management and data management were a big part of our learning.”

“In 2022-2023, when we were implementing these systems, the data being sent back to our team was not complete as carriers were not giving them accurate or timely information. So, we had to work with SAP and Project 44 to let them know we were seeing gaps in their data and checking on what we could do to close that gap,” he says.

Understanding the process flow after the integration was also a challenge. “We sometimes sent the wrong code to the system resulting in gaps for data and time accuracy,” he says, adding that training, especially for the company’s logistics representatives, made a big difference in overcoming these issues.

Additionally, the company ensured that the right elements or data were input into the standard integrations between the four systems to reduce these gaps, by communicating more with the carriers.

It helped that Blue Diamond had strong partners in SAP and Project 44, who helped the team get trained on the integrated system and tweak the process to make it work more accurately for them. It was also about encouraging the team to embrace the system through reports and case studies that showed the system would make their lives easier. The continuous learning process also gave better insights to Blue Diamond’s technology partners on what the company needed.

Next steps

Today, the four systems, which have an on-premises license running in a hyperscale environment and hosted on Google Cloud, are running seamlessly.

The company is now evaluating an upgrade to RISE with SAP. Birgfeld believes that this is a natural progression in his team’s quest to ensure they have a seamless logistics and supply chain network.

“The question is not if we upgrade to RISE but when we do it, especially since sustainability and AI are the way forward. Both these features are available on RISE Private Cloud.”

With the logistics part of the company’s digital transformation sorted, Birgfeld and his team now aim for a digital transformation of the company’s production and plant maintenance processes.

“We have a basic third-party maintenance system now, but we want to implement a new system from the SAP ecosystem such as production planning and detailed scheduling (PPDS). “We see it really closing the whole extended planning and analytics capability gap,” he says.

He is also planning for some updates on the visibility aspect of shipments. “Project 44 has got some additional capabilities like a world map or dashboard to show exactly where the cargo is and that is an interesting addition to the system,” Birgfeld says.

The team is also focusing on continuous optimization to build flexibility and resiliency in their supply chain. Giving the example of the Baltimore Harbor accident in 2024, Birgfeld says, “The incident did not impact us directly, but it was an event that could not be predicted. It led us to look for alternatives like trucking and rail to ensure we did not fall back on our delivery schedules.”

Blue Diamond, like many other companies, is also focusing keenly on its environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) metrics and has upgraded to the 2023 version of SAP S4, which has sustainability metrics built into it. “We can now get metrics like carbon footprint from our freight shipments through this upgrade,” Birgfeld notes, “We want to leverage that aspect and make sure we are lowering our carbon footprint.”

Blue Diamond is a California-based company and the state’s recent strict ESG mandates have made the company even more focused on ensuring that they remain a responsible almond grower and supplier.

“We want to plan our logistics just-so, to save gasoline, resulting not only in lower costs but reduced environmental impact as well,” Birgfeld says.

To ensure these projects meet the company’s needs, Blue Diamond is investing in upskilling its SAP talent. “We want to further strengthen our backend, see how we can leverage low code/no code and get away from the standard work,” says Birgfeld. He adds that to achieve this the company is strengthening its data and analytics team to come up with better ways to model and shape their AI initiatives. “It eliminates the need for heavy-duty data scientists but boosts the need for AI experts,” he says.

Betting on AI

Beyond 2025, Birgfeld hopes to have a complete ERP or Analytics suite in place at Blue Diamond. “We are focusing on the data and analytics part and also trying to figure out the true business value of using AI and going beyond using features like Copilot or Chat GPT.”

He believes that it is only a matter of time before a solid business case can be made for AI. “We are already seeing its impact in areas like marketing, where the team has realized six-figure savings by using AI in their operations,” he says, adding that his own team is experimenting with the technology and has developed a chatbot for the IT Helpdesk in the company to reduce the load on the team.

Blue Diamond experiments with AI to help with crop forecasting and taste trends

His team has also developed an AI tool for the services unit called Sprinkler, which takes customer calls and helps service agents gauge customer mood during and at the end of the call to help them provide better service and answers. Blue Diamond is now experimenting with AI to help with crop forecasting and taste trends. For the former, it seeks to layer aspects like weather patterns to predict the crop yield going forward, while for the latter it is working with a vendor to see if AI can predict taste trends and project the next cool flavor for almonds or even new product simulations to see if consumers will like it or not.

Still, Birgfeld believes that they are just getting started on AI. “There are many opportunities, but we need to figure out how best to use those, how we can take advantage of Gen AI. Although it seems like a light lift, we must consider a lot of aspects like data and governance before we build a clear path to using the power of AI,” he concludes.

What this means for ERP Insiders

In the ever-evolving landscape of supply chain management, Blue Diamond Growers—a leading almond producer and exporter—has emerged as a shining example of how modern ERP systems can transform logistics and operations. Between 2022 and 2023, the company embarked on a digital transformation journey, tackling challenges ranging from container shortages to sustainability metrics. For ERP professionals, their story offers valuable insights into leveraging technology for resilience, efficiency, and innovation.

1. Strategic Integration of ERP Systems Enhances Supply Chain Efficiency

Blue Diamond integrated SAP Transportation Management (TM) with SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) to streamline its global logistics. These systems, coupled with tools like SAP Business Logistics Network and Project 44, allowed the company to automate carrier selection, improve visibility, and forecast transportation costs. The result was a unified platform that reduced manual errors, accelerated service timelines, and enhanced accrual accuracy.

2. Data Management and Change Adoption are Crucial for Success

Implementing new systems revealed challenges in data accuracy and team adaptation. Blue Diamond tackled these issues by collaborating with partners like SAP and Project 44, improving data flow, and upskilling its logistics team. Comprehensive training and a focus on change management were pivotal in building trust in the system and ensuring seamless operations.

3. Leveraging AI for Sustainability and Innovation

Blue Diamond is exploring AI-powered tools for crop forecasting, taste trend prediction, and customer service optimization. By integrating AI with its ERP ecosystem, the company not only enhances operational capabilities but also aligns with ESG (environmental, social, and governance) goals. For instance, the updated SAP S4 system helps track carbon footprints, enabling more sustainable logistics planning.

Blue Diamond Growers’ journey underscores the transformative potential of ERP systems in navigating supply chain complexities, driving innovation, and meeting sustainability goals. ERP professionals can draw from their example to optimize systems, prioritize change management, and embrace emerging technologies.

The post The Power of 4: Blue Diamond’s Transformation Journey appeared first on ERP Today.

The collaboration combines L’Oréal’s expertise in cosmetic science with IBM’s AI technologies for scientific discoveries, to unlock a future where science and technology can inform solutions that are both ecologically responsible and innovative. To preserve Earth’s natural resources, most consumer products companies are exploring renewable, sustainably sourced raw materials when developing products. This effort will contribute to helping L’Oréal meet its L’Oréal for the Future’s target of sourcing most of its product formulas based on bio-sourced materials and/or the circular economy by 2030.

“Building on years of unique Beauty science expertise and of data structuring, this major alliance with IBM is opening a new exciting era for our innovation and development process”, said Matthieu Cassier, Chief Transformation and Digital Officer, L’Oréal Research and Innovation.

The creation of this AI model will use a large number of formulations and component data points to accelerate multiple tasks to be performed by L’Oréal, including the formulation of new products, reformulation of existing cosmetics and optimization for scale-up production – tools that will better equip L’Oréal’s 4,000 researchers worldwide over the next several years. In addition, IBM Consulting will support L’Oréal in its aim to rethink and redesign the formulation discovery process. Understanding the behaviors of renewable ingredients in cosmetic formulas will help L’Oréal build out more sustainable product lines with greater inclusivity and personalization for its consumers around the world.

“This collaboration is a truly impactful application of generative AI, leveraging the power of technology and expertise for the good of the planet”, said Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow, Vice President Europe and Africa and Director IBM Research Zurich. “At IBM, we believe in the power of purpose-built, customized AI to help transform businesses. Using IBM’s latest AI technology, L’Oréal will be able to derive meaningful insights from their rich formula and product data to create a tailored AI model to help achieve their operational goals and continue creating high quality and sustainable products.”

Foundation models are a type of AI model trained on a broad set of unlabeled data, capable of performing various tasks and applying information from one situation to another. These models have significantly advanced the field of natural language processing (NLP) technology over the past several years, and IBM is pursuing applications of foundation models beyond language, in areas such as chemistry, time series and geospatial modalities. IBM’s AI technology has the potential to augment L’Oréal’s creativity in finding new cosmetic formulations to transform the beauty industry. L’Oréal, together with IBM’s expertise and technology, aims to shape a future where innovation meets sustainability, delivering unique, customer-driven products.

What this means for ERP Insiders

The intersection of AI and sustainability is well-trafficked. Syntilay introduced the world’s first AI-designed, 3D-printed shoe, with 70% of its design generated using AI technology. Customers can personalize the fit by scanning their feet with a phone camera, ensuring a custom fit and reducing waste associated with traditional manufacturing processes. Amazon Fresh grocery teams are using machine learning-based solutions to automate store shelf monitoring for fruits and vegetables. This AI-powered system analyzes images to detect visual imperfections, helping to reduce food waste by ensuring only quality produce is sold. Eugenie.ai is an emission intelligence platform that assists manufacturers in industries like metal, mining, oil, and gas to decarbonize their operations. By utilizing AI, Eugenie.ai helps companies achieve higher environmental regulation compliance and promotes sustainable growth. Stylumia is an Indian software as a service company that provides AI-driven fashion analytics tools to apparel industries. Stylumia has helped reduce the fashion industry’s carbon footprint by 60 million garments per annum through accurate demand prediction and trend forecasting, minimizing overproduction. And Infineon Technologies Austria launched the ALL2GaN project to improve energy efficiency by up to 30% using energy-saving gallium nitride semiconductors. This technology has the potential to save an estimated 218 million tons of CO₂ worldwide.

ERP providers are leveraging AI to help health and beauty customers achieve sustainability goals. SAP offers the Green Ledger, a carbon accounting software integrated with financial systems running on SAP S/4HANA Cloud. This tool enables companies to track, measure, and report carbon impacts at a transactional level, aligning carbon and financial data to enhance decision-making and sustainability reporting. Epicor’s ERP solutions incorporate AI to help manufacturers, including those in the health and beauty sector, decarbonize operations. By integrating tools like the Advanced Manufacturing Execution System (MES), companies can monitor machine cycles and energy consumption, allowing for more efficient production processes and reduced carbon emissions. And while not a traditional ERP provider, Persefoni offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that integrates with existing ERP systems, such as SAP or Oracle. Their solution automates the calculation, management, and reporting of carbon usage data, enabling companies to monitor emissions and meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance goals.

AI is transforming the jobs of product designers within consumer product companies. As is the case with L’Oreal’s collaboration with IBM, AI tools will analyze the carbon footprint of materials and suggest sustainable alternatives (e.g., EC3’s AI-driven sustainability reports). And GenAI can help redesign packaging to minimize material usage while maintaining aesthetic appeal. AI-driven trend analysis tools (e.g., Stylumia, Heuritech) will predict consumer preferences and design trends based on social media, sales data, and competitor movements. GenAI tools like DALL·E and Adobe Firefly will assist in quickly generating mood boards, product sketches, and packaging concepts. And AI will analyze historical design success rates to suggest product improvements. AI will automate CAD modeling and prototyping with tools like Autodesk’s AI-powered Dreamcatcher, allowing for rapid iterations. AI-generated material optimization models will suggest eco-friendly, cost-effective materials based on product specifications. And virtual testing through AI simulations will predict durability, sustainability, and manufacturability before a physical prototype is made. Collectively, these advancements are estimated to drive 50% faster product development cycles, cost reductions, and more sustainable design choices. AI will enable hyper-personalized product designs that adapt to individual preferences (e.g., AI-assisted custom skincare formulas, 3D-printed custom footwear). And tools like Zoe AI for beauty and Nike By You’s AI-powered customization will make it easier to design consumer-specific products at scale.

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Customizations can introduce additional steps, validations, or dependencies in the order entry workflow, making the process slower. Moreover, employees may need to spend more time manually navigating through the system, leading to inefficiencies and increased labor costs. For businesses in retail, slow order processing also impacts on the overall customer experience due to delayed order fulfillment and errors.

Making music with an updated ERP

The Zildjian Company, a Norwell, Massachusetts-based manufacturer of high-performance musical instruments like drums, cymbals and percussion mallets since 1623 faced a similar issue. The company’s products are sold worldwide, under the Zildjian, Vic Firth, and Balter brands.

The company used a legacy version of Infor Syteline ERP and was experiencing slow order entry due to customizations, security issues, and cumbersome reporting processes. It approached Godlan, a gold channel partner for Infor, with these issues and opted to update its system to the latest version of Infor Syteline.

The upgrade resulted in a tangible performance improvement of its order entry and report generation processes. The latest features of Infor Syteline not only improved and streamlined Zildjian’s workflow but also enhanced efficiency due to performance increases and improvements in the user interface. This allowed the sales support staff to respond to customers quickly with relevant information and documentation through reporting. Multiple versions of forms and reports were also standardized during the implementation, reducing the burden on support staff generating modifications.

Infor SyteLine ERP has advanced manufacturing and supply chain planning capabilities built in, including role-based dashboards and KPIs, in-context data visualization, and more built into the core solution. All these features helped Zildjian achieve more efficiency from its ERP system upgrade.

What this means for ERP users

Enhance security with regular updates to your ERP. Zildjian was struggling with the security in its legacy ERP system when it chose to upgrade to Infor Syteline as older versions are more vulnerable to breaches. The upgrade was timely as operating an older system can lead to data loss, compliance issues, and financial damage. Studies indicate that the global cost of cybercrime will escalate at a rate of 15% in 2025 and beyond, highlighting the growing need to ensure a secure environment for business data. New ERP systems utilize advanced security measures such as Zero Trust architecture and end-to-end encryption, which are vital to safeguarding sensitive information and data. SAPinsider research also indicates that data storage and protection requirements, in combination with cloud-based data encryption and protection, help increase the security of cloud-based systems.

ERP upgrades significantly enhance compliance. A survey showed that 75% of organizations reported improved compliance after implementing or upgrading to a new ERP system. With government regulations changing constantly, organizations must ensure they are updated with the latest compliance standards to avoid the risk of non-compliance fines and penalties. Upgrading ensures that the ERP system mitigates these risks by aligning with current regulatory requirements.

Leverage the latest features to optimize your processes. According to an SAPinsider survey, organizations that are implementing or updating their systems over the next 12-24 months are those that are either new to cloud ERP or are looking to better utilize the environment. The survey suggests that cloud development tools help organizations with developing new applications in cloud environments, while AI and machine learning are capabilities that can come into their own with the performance and capacity offered by cloud environments.

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One such company that found itself in need of a transformation to facilitate efficient data integration and improved query speeds is US-based company, Chewy, one of the leading online retailers of pet food and products.

With approximately 18,000 employees, serving about 20 million pet parents, Chewy faced a significant challenge with its user-friendliness of BI Publisher Admin, a tool used for data consolidation, reconciliation and reporting. 

This left it with a hindered ability to efficiently query data from various systems and extract meaningful insights. The challenge then prompted Chewy to seek a solution that will enhance its data querying and reporting capabilities.

Reforming querying and reporting processes 

In its pursuit to streamline data querying, Chewy decided to incorporate the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tool by SplashBI, SQL Connect, created to bridge gaps left by Oracle’s standard tools or similar offerings.

Aravind Chencharapu, lead software engineer at Chewy, shared that “SQL Connect has greatly simplified the integration of Oracle ERP with other microservices and Warehouse Management System (WMS) systems at Chewy”.

This contributed to seamless data consolidation and reconciliation, efficient query execution, data validation and report generation.

Chencharapu shared: “SQL Connect has reformed our data querying and reporting processes at Chewy. Its user-friendly interface and powerful features have significantly improved our efficiency” as the team also found SQL Connect to be an invaluable tool for quick data analysis and information extraction.

A “positive impact” on decision-making processes

By leaning on SQL Connect, Chencharapu’s team of 11 successfully addressed the challenges with data querying and reporting as the team benefited from executing tasks with increased efficiency. 

“With SQL Connect, we can now analyze data and retrieve information quickly, which has had a positive impact on our decision-making processes,” Chencharapu added.

SplashBI’s case demonstrates how receiving help with organizing data and leveraging its abilities can positively contribute to the success of serving millions of its pet customers.

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Its online stores enable customers to order products directly to their homes and the wider Coop Group additionally includes other online stores for DIY, furniture, electronics, perfumeries, and watch and jewelry stores. All-in-all revenues for the firm for 2023 reached CHF 34.7bn.

Having completed a successful initial migration to SAP S/4HANA in 2020, Coop Switzerland was next needing to start the second phase of its shift. This included upgrading to SAP S/4HANA 2022 and taking two substantial SAP systems – a CTC trading system (one terabyte) and a CCR retail system (eight terabytes) to the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud.

Critical for Coop’s operations, these systems generate approximately CHF 16bn revenue annually, almost half of Coop’s total revenue. The aim was to achieve minimal downtime and maximal operational continuity.

An SNP bridge to SAP migration for Coop Switzerland

Coop Switzerland partnered with SNP to assist with the migration project, and leveraged SNP’s CrystalBridge Transformation software to migrate the systems and SNP Validate for data testing and validation. The aim was to achieve minimal downtime and maximal operational continuity.

Given the combined nine-terabyte size of the systems, extensive testing and validation were required, with three test cycles completed before go-live. SNP made vital tweaks and improvements following each of these cycles to help ensure a straightforward and error-free transition.

The entire project spanned 11 months, and a tight 18-hour window of downtime was granted to complete the migration of both systems in May this year. However, with SNP’s expertise and tools, not only was the migration smooth and accurate but the downtime finished eight hours ahead of time, completing in just ten hours altogether.

The SAP migration project was no doubt a challenge, but thanks to Coop’s partnership with SNP, the process was able to be “effortless” for Coop.

Stefan Gempp, head of IT marketing and purchasing at Coop said: “SNP exceeded our expectations by completing the migration of our SAP systems to the cloud in just ten hours, well ahead of the planned downtime. The entire process went smoothly, allowing us to seamlessly continue our operations with enhanced performance and reliability.”

The post Just ten hours downtime: SNP rapidly shifts Coop to the cloud appeared first on ERP Today.

One of the world’s leading athletic performance footwear and apparel manufacturing companies, Under Armour, has recently facilitated its SAP migration with the help of the AWS Professional Services team, shifting its SAP landscape to the cloud.

The Baltimore, Maryland-headquartered company, founded in 1996, now boasts $5.6bn of revenue and a 17,500-strong global workforce. Through its migration, the business aimed to modernize and secure its extensive SAP environment in the cloud while minimizing disruption for the growing brand.

The company completed the migration of its SAP environments to AWS in 2021, impressively not needing to appoint an outside organization to facilitate the migration. Instead, the company used Under Armour’s designated team with an SAP focus and an AWS Professional Services team working closely alongside them.

As part of the migration, the business moved its ERP, supply network collaboration, global trade services, enterprise reporting (BI, BOBJ), integration (PI/ PO, data services), SAP Fiori and solution manager workloads to AWS.

Under Armour decided to select AWS as its preferred cloud provider for SAP environments due to its “extensive global cloud infrastructure” as the cloud provider has many regions with three or more Availability Zones. Another factor that impacted the company’s decision was the AWS Professional Services’ availability, which plays the role of speeding up and safeguarding mission-critical migrations, as well as AWS’ comprehensive security services and support of 143 security standards and compliance certifications.

Leaning on the migration, Under Armour managed to secure a foundation for improving performance and visibility across its design, merchandizing, planning, manufacturing, supply chain and sales distribution channels.

The company’s move to the cloud was facilitated through “a short six-month lift and shift migration project” as detailed at SAPinsider Vegas by Gaurav Singh, SAP cyber security manager at Under Armour. Simultaneously the team made sure they have a policy and a standard for cloud from the get-go and followed the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmark.

“We created our own kind of business baseline for those services we needed to enable, at least in a six-month period; you can always fine-tune later,” Singh says. “But for the migration project itself, we wanted to make sure our security underscore was at least 90 percent.”

As part of their strategy, he details that the team established the principle “Identity is the new perimeter” as they minimized privileges using identity access management (IAM) and role-based access control (RBAC). They then employed single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication and used identity federation and temporary credentials.

“One thing we did differently when we wanted to migrate to AWS was saying: ‘We want to make sure we bring the security mindset from GRC [governance, risk and compliance]. And then that cyber mindset and understanding of the policies you have as a company,” Singh explains. “We said security has to be baked into the project, even though it was an aggressive timeline we were running with. So we made sure it was not an afterthought.”

The approaches that helped the company adopt a GRC-focused mentality included unifying the organization’s governance and risk management with its technological innovation and adoption, using an enterprise risk management program to predict potential problems, minimize losses and take an SAP-based approach (i.e. User Access Review; Segregation of Duties).)Working to establish a controls process, the team geared up to set up and govern a secure, multi-account AWS environment with an intentional controls process by employing robust AWS account strategy and management process (e.g. Separate Prod AWS Account vs. Non-Prod). Another key action as part of this principle was using AWS Control Tower and Organizations, implementing service control policies (SCPs) and other controls to ensure accounts stay within access control guidelines.

Pointing out the value of versatile cloud knowledge across the teams with various expertise, Singh says: “Your security teams should ramp up; they should also have at least some knowledge of AWS. I’m not trying to be an AWS guy, I’m still an SAP security guy. But it does help you if you wear multiple hats, as you have a cybersecurity mindset and cloud security expertise.”

As part of its approach, the team then set out to actively monitor threats to ensure ongoing security, especially important for mission-critical systems like SAP – by actively monitoring through Amazon GuardDuty and taking direct action on anomalies. In addition, they also sent Amazon GuardDuty logs to the broader security IT team, providing a holistic view of any threats and “building a squad” to tackle SAP security with a holistic approach.

The completion of the AWS migration allowed Under Armour to maintain optimum system performance and minimize downtime and data loss with a cross-region disaster recovery solution that includes 65 servers replicating from one AWS region to another.

Following the six-month initiative, Under Armour set out to integrate its SAP environments with AWS’ set of technologies, including analytics, machine learning, compute and storage, with the modernization also bringing a range of AWS capabilities to fuel innovation in areas like 3D apparel and footwear design, digitally connected footwear and apparel, resource-efficient production, direct-to-consumer sales and global wholesale distribution.

In other words, Under Armour bolstered its armor to be more secure and agile in the cloud age.

The post Under Armour and the strength in going over to cloud appeared first on ERP Today.

In a recent IFS sustainability roundtable discussion, it became clear that pursuing ambitious sustainability goals takes much more than just good intentions, as Sophie Graham, IFS global sustainability director, explained, ESG and sustainability might often be treated as one standalone topic, but, in fact, they come down to a series of trade-offs and decisions that need to be made in various departments of the organization with great intention.

So boiling down those hundreds of decisions being made in companies to shape and sustain an ESG strategy, creating a robust case requires a solid buy-in from company leaders all the way to the top, to trigger a truly holistic approach embedded in the thread of the organization. It’s a phrase often spouted in many a business transformation but, in the sustainability space, it takes on new importance to carefully analyze the impact of business action. 

“Something might be good for the environment but bad for communities nearby and so on,” Graham says, further exposing the need for that considered top-level involvement and skilled people across the business, along with data at their fingertips to make informed decisions.

Using data to paint a vivid picture 

Moving beyond the assumption that sustainability efforts end with reporting and disclosure, Graham points out that instead, it is much more about updating how businesses operate, and changing what happens before they get to that disclosure and regulatory output. 

For instance, a popular directive currently bringing sustainability reporting in line with financial reporting, the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is ‘looking under the hood’ at how businesses run and how they can transform into a more sustainable way of operating – focusing on resource allocation governance, how the business is making certain prioritization in terms of sustainability or how it is managing the risks and opportunities associated with it. 

“And so it’s not just about that endpoint,” Graham clarifies, “But it’s really about how you manage and approach sustainability through the year and integrate that within your business. And I think to do that, the starting point has to be good data. We’re seeing that data is really the starting point before you can get to those transformation and business model conversations.”

Sharing more about their experience as a paint manufacturer on a journey to make operations as sustainable as possible, Gareth Hayfield, head of research and technical development at British firm Farrow & Ball, explains how without using the facilities of an ERP system, IFS in its case, the team would not have achieved that granularity of data so easily that allowed it to have its successful starter journey in sustainability.

Taking difficult and bold decisions over the previous years, including a transition from a solvent base to a water base paint to reach a greater degree of sustainability, the company has come a long way since.

“We were the first company in the world that I’d been able to find that did that and people looked at us and thought ‘That’s a brave decision to make’ because we had to bring not only people internally to understand that it was the right thing to do through facts, figures, data testing, but also our customers for whom it was a very different concept,” Hayfield recalls.

Helping convince partners and customers in the effectiveness of the new products, Farrow & Ball used data to bring these people along and demonstrate its degree of high performance. Even more, over time, it has allowed the company to make sustainability a key part of the decision-making process of the business, instead of being a second thought or a standalone metric.

“And I think we’re in the same situation now for sustainability, bringing transparency on data is going to be key to allow customers to understand why decisions are being made and bring people along with them,” he says.

But what happens if organizations used the latest optimizing tools available, to not only obtain clear and definitive data but also streamline this experience, leaning on the good old ‘work smarter, instead of harder’ strategy?

As part of its journey with IFS, Farrow & Ball has managed to reach seamless omnichannel returns, reduce customer duplication by 85 percent and save 90 resource hours a month.

Later, the manufacturer also changed its strategy during the offset of the pandemic and adapted its entire manufacturing strategy to redirect focus to online sales, instead of mostly selling through third parties, in approximately 90 percent of cases, prior to that.

Then, the journey to sustainability might be even faster, as Mark Moffat, recently appointed CEO of IFS, details how, shortly before joining the roundtable discussion, he was looking into a case study with a company that also recently implemented one of IFS’ solutions.

“As a consequence of using one of our AI-based solutions to optimize how they organize their field force and all the travel and logistics that go with that field force, this customer saved €13m on an annual basis. There are €13m saved across a 2,500-person workforce.”

However, the impact of using precise numbers and statistics doesn’t stop there and one could see it even making a full circle to securing a greater degree of sustainability buy-in higher up in the organization. This is the added advantage that sustainability professionals can leverage to make the case for prioritizing ESG and paint a clear picture of its impact and future potential.

“Now you get that story into the organization just to make the point and suddenly they are gripped by the articulation of these types of benefits into the customer base. And that’s massively powerful that it suddenly gets everyone engaged in a way that regulation won’t do just by itself,” Moffat explains. “Storytelling and business outcomes are critically important, if we could do both those things in parallel we will come a significantly long way and really embed the change.”

How’s that for a bunch of numbers on a page?

The post IFS and Farrow & Ball talk sustainability: it needs all the backing it can get appeared first on ERP Today.

During its ten-year collaboration, the duo plans to leverage their respective strengths in offering scaled digital platforms to public sector organizations and consumers across Europe and Africa.

As the main goal of the partnership, the companies will collaborate to transform Vodafone’s customer experience leveraging Microsoft’s GenAI, hyperscale Vodafone’s leading managed IoT connectivity platform, develop new digital and financial services for businesses – particularly SMEs across Europe and Africa – and overhaul the telecommunications company’s global data center cloud strategy.  

In the meantime, Vodafone is gearing up to invest $1.5bn over the coming decade in cloud and customer-focused AI services developed in conjunction with Microsoft, as Microsoft will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services.

The digital services generated by the new partnership will use the latest generative AI technology to create a highly personalized and differentiated customer experience across multiple channels. They are poised to be built on unbiased and ethical privacy and security policies under Vodafone’s already-established framework for responsible AI.  

Emphasizing the advantages of this partnership to consumers, Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group chief executive, called it “a bold commitment to the digital future of Europe and Africa,” adding:

“This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies, and step up the quality of customer experience for consumers.”

As part of its grand ambition to accelerate digital transformation across Africa, Microsoft intends to help further scale M-Pesa, already the largest financial technology platform on the continent, by housing it on Azure and enabling the launch of new cloud-native applications. 

In addition, the partners are launching a purpose-led program that seeks to enrich the lives of 100 million consumers and 1 million SMEs across the African continent with the goal of enhancing digital literacy through youth outreach programs, as well as offering digital services to the underserved SME market. 

IoT and cloud advancement

The Gates-founded tech corporation also revealed an envisioned investment in Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform, that connects 175 million devices and platforms worldwide, which is planned to become a standalone business by April 2024. With this step, the duo hopes to attract new partners and business customers, driving growth in applications and expanding the platform to connect more customer devices, vehicles and machines.

Expressing hopes that the new generation of AI will unlock new opportunities for every organization and industry around the world, Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft, commented: “We are delighted that together with Vodafone we will apply the latest cloud and AI technology to enhance the customer experience of hundreds of millions of people and businesses across Africa and Europe, build new products and services, and accelerate the company’s transition to the cloud.”

As one of the partnership’s key goals, Vodafone will accelerate its cloud transformation by modernizing its data centers on Microsoft Azure. This will help improve its responsiveness to customers while simplifying and reducing the operational costs of its IT estate. 

As an outcome, Vodafone plans to replace multiple physical data centers with virtual ones across Europe, simplifying and reducing the operational costs of its IT estate, as well as reducing energy requirements and helping deliver on its sustainable business strategy.

Last but not least, as part of its strategy to become Europe’s leading platform for business, Vodafone will extend its commitment to distributing Microsoft services, including Microsoft Azure, security solutions and modern work offerings such as Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile. 

This will allow business customers to deploy Microsoft’s cloud-based services at pace with low adoption and running costs, as well as support the estimated 24 million SMEs across Europe through the provision of a managed platform that grows with their business.

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