Reinventing the ERP engine

I recently had the opportunity to attend a conference of a major ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) vendor to learn about technology advances on the horizon and meet with top executives from across the globe, both those just exploring the capabilities of ERP systems, and those with multiple implementations under their belts. While I’m always interested in new technical capabilities, what really captured my attention was hearing how technology leaders are taking advantage of the reinvented ERP engine. 

Let’s face it. Those three letters – ERP – can be very scary to the uninitiated and downright frightening to anyone who’s been through a failed implementation. Historically, ERP implementations have been expensive and time consuming, and are seen as rather pedestrian when compared to newer technologies like social, mobile, and cloud. Often, technology leaders new to the world of ERP want to know what they can minimally get by on, so they can move on to focus the latest and greatest tools to hit the market and appeal to their business users. Seasoned veterans want to know how they can improve their systems and keep up with new technology without starting the process from scratch. Technology leaders find themselves in a crunch between either maintaining traditional ERP systems, and sustaining business operations, or offering their business users the latest technologies to gain competitive advantage. The reinvented ERP engine puts these polar viewpoints to rest, and delivers far more than in the past.

More ubiquitous, more responsive, and more flexible than ever before, the engine of ERP is the force behind many newer technologies. Reinvented to handle an event driven rather than process driven world, the ERP engine now readily responds to changes in conditions, surges of information, and explosions of service interactions. Bolt on peripherals have been assumed within the ERP engine; connections have been made to smartphones, your inbox, and social channels; and core workloads run on less gear, more quickly. And, you don’t have to scrap your entire system to achieve the benefits of the new engine- make technical upgrades to overhaul the core function and drive efficiencies, then add on leading-edge solutions that offer competitive advantage and reshape or reimagine how the business can run.

So, how are businesses taking advantage of this shift? One mobile service carrier was able to meet their marketing goal of increasing the number of customers upgrading to smartphone data plans. Understanding if customers responded to service offers had been taking up to a week. By implementing a scalable analytics solution to provide customer insights in near real-time, taking advantage of in-memory technology that now supports data processing and analysis within seconds, the company significantly shortened the time needed to analyze customer data, allowing the marketing team to make more timely decisions on offers.

The reinvented ERP engine is more ubiquitous, more responsive, and more flexible than ever before. What will your business do differently now?

For more information on this topic download the Tech Trends 2013 chapter, Reinventing the ERP engine, or watch the video.

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Bill Allison is the Global Consulting Technology Leader, responsible for the delivery of full lifecycle technology services to member firm clients around the world.  A principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP since 1999, Bill has more than 25 years' experience in the analysis, design, and implementation of information systems, systems strategy, and business process improvement and has worked with some of the largest, most complex technology clients in the world. Currently, he acts in a risk and advisory role on many of Deloitte LLP's most significant engagements.

Insights on Brazil

I returned from another interesting week in Brazil and with each visit I find that I get a better glimpse of the dynamic changes happening in this market. This was my second visit in the past six months, and given the deep and ongoing interest by manufacturing companies, it certainly seems to be a place that deserves increasing attention.

During this most recent trip, I had the opportunity to meet with several senior executives at top Brazilian and multinational companies. It was fascinating to receive firsthand accounts from these manufacturing leaders on both the strengths and challenges of the current business environment in Brazil and their outlook on prospects for the future. Not surprisingly, despite the diverse manufacturing sectors these leaders represented, their insights had very common themes.

A view of U.S. Manufacturing

Recently I had a chance to spend two days with a group of CEOs leading manufacturing companies around the United States (U.S.). I find that participation in these types of meetings provide a great venue to discuss top industry issues. In addition to world-class speakers at the meeting, one of the things I find particularly refreshing is the chance to interact with the leaders from large companies as well as small and medium size manufacturers to get a pulse of what is happening in manufacturing.

A high-point of the session was a CEO panel which featured a vibrant discussion on the key issues facing manufacturing today. These leaders have a relative consensus that business domestically is continuing to grow, although this growth is somewhat muted by the many headwinds that exist in the current manufacturing environment. Unanimously this group of CEOs indicated that they are spending more time than ever before in Washington, D.C. as they find it is critically important for them to ensure that legislators are well aware of the issues that are important to them as the primary providers of employment.

Manufacturing in China during the Year of the Snake

In late January, I traveled back to China for a series of client meetings. My visit was coordinated to join a group of Deloitte partners from our member firms in the U.S., Germany, and Japan as part of a week-long program to take a closer look into the local automotive industry. Each time that I return to the country, I learn something new about this dynamic and changing market.

At the close of the Year of the Dragon – viewed by many Chinese as extremely prosperous – indices appear to signal a mild recovery for China’s manufacturing industry. For example, the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, rose to 52.3 in January 2013, up from 51.5 in December 2012. Indeed, the Deloitte China partners and various clients that I met with seemed cautiously hopeful that this pick-up in activity will continue into the New Year and that the Year of the Snake will bring improved domestic conditions in China.

Looking to the future: Young scholars awarded global opportunity

On February 13, Professor Donna Street, Mahrt Chair in Accounting at the University of Dayton and IAAER Director of Research and Education Activities, and I launched the new Deloitte IAAER Scholarship program. By connecting young professors to the global accounting profession and academic world, the program should bring a broader perspective to local accounting education. It provides the link between “local” and “global” accounting developments, reflecting the global progression of the profession and business in general--a path that will continue into the future.

The Deloitte IAAER scholarship program will benefit future accounting professionals who go on to become auditors, preparers of financial statements, budget holders, or financial controllers, just to name a few. In the long term it will help raise the quality of accounting, auditing and financial reporting in markets around the world.

I want to share with you an interview with Donna  as she shares her thoughts on the program, as well as the views of the five young associate professors who are the inaugural Deloitte IAAER scholars.

Making a genuine gender difference

It is one of the enduring paradoxes of working life: Advancing women in business life seems common-sense but in practice appears to flounder and not make the headway we all expect. The reasons for this were a topic of discussion at the recent OECD Gender Forum – Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, where I joined a distinguished group of participants, including government and business leaders. It was clear from our discussion that challenges remain.

Take diversity for example. Deloitte Australia has recently carried out ground-breaking research (“Waiter, is that inclusion in my soup?”) in the manufacturing, retail, and healthcare sectors. When modelling the relationship among diversity, inclusion and business performance, the research found that when both diversity and inclusion were high, there was an uplift of some 80 percent in perceptions of business performance. Buoyed by these results, the research was widened to include customer service, innovation and engagement. And the same thing happened: Perceptions of business outcomes are always significantly higher with high diversity and high inclusion. Another finding was that where employees perceive their organization is committed to and supportive of diversity, and where employees feel included, they are 80 percent more likely to believe they work in a high-performing organisation.

Mainstreaming impact investing: Overcoming the hurdles, addressing the skeptics

Asset management is in a state of flux. Trillions of dollars are expected to change hands over the next number of years as baby boomers begin to transfer their wealth to the next generation – a generation that has grown up in a culture that calls on business to play a more active role in building a better society.  In this context, the field of “impact investing” has taken center stage as a means to enable and empower for-profit business models to address society’s toughest challenges.

But what exactly is impact investing, and isn’t all investing intended to create impact? First coined by the Monitor Group in 2009, impact investing is an emerging industry that places capital in businesses (or entrepreneurs) that intentionally seek to create social or environmental value. This could be an investment in a dairy products producer in Nairobi that works to increase the efficiency and production levels of small-scale farmers in rural Kenya. Or, it could be an investment in an innovative program that seeks to reduce youth recidivism (repeat criminal offense) in New York City. The common thread among impact investments is the notion of intent – when the investor intentionally seeks to create social or environmental value, the investment is an impact investment.

A sense of optimism

During this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Deloitte UK CEO David Sproul provided daily recaps on his experience at the Forum. Below is an excerpt from his latest blog post. To read the full article as well as previous days' posts, please visit the Deloitte UK Responsible Business blog.

Reflecting on the many conversations I’ve had with clients, and others, this week, it’s clear that there is a definite sense of optimism compared to the position at the start of 2012.

The concerns of last year—particularly of a eurozone exit—have receded materially. Despite the continued low growth in Europe there is a definite feeling of greater resilience and a growing confidence that economies are improving, albeit slowly. I’ve also seen much greater recognition of the need for business leaders to have a stronger voice in making the case for responsible business.

Alongside client meetings, Davos has also again provided a good opportunity to engage with the media—with the BBC, the Telegraph and the Times all carrying interviews.

Bringing female perspectives in the boardroom – Challenges in Japan

I have the honor to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos as one of the five representatives from Deloitte this again year. Deloitte LLP, the U.S. member firm, was the first professional firm that launched an initiative for the retention and advancement of women in the United States. Started in 1993, the Women’s Initiative changed the firm culture to retain and advance female professionals with leaders’ solid commitment.

Within 20 years, the U.S. firm achieved quite a number of goals: closing the gender gap in retention and promotion (female partner ratio from 7% to 23% and female board member from 1% to 30%). This was, of course, a turbulent journey, but does prove that we can make it happen if we believe in it.

Nurturing innovation

“Innovate or Die” is not a phrase that is easily translated to be understood in Japanese. Everyone acknowledges that over time emerging countries or companies can catch up with developed countries by becoming more innovative. However, over the past 20 years many Japanese companies and citizens seem to have gradually lost their determination to innovate.

As a run-up to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Deloitte conducted a Millennial survey targeting those born after 1982 in 18 countries worldwide (300 targets per country). Overall, responses from Japanese indicate that they’ve lost confidence in their ability to be innovative. For instance, the positive response to the question “Do you work for an innovative company?” was only 25% in Japan compared to 60% for the global average.  Also, of the positive responses to the question “Do you consider yourself as innovative?” responses for Japan were only 24% compared to 62% on average globally.

Will Japan keep losing its determination to be innovative? Of course, it shouldn’t. The country needs to revitalize by breaking through the barriers of innovation.