Page 50 - MetalForming August 2014

Trends in ERP Converge
Preferences for Business Intelligence
No preference— depends on price and functionality
Strong preference for a separate (possibly) stand-alone application
Strong preference
for embedded module of ERP
Dashboards with pre-defined key performance indicators
22%
32%
46%
Business process modeling
25%
38%
37%
Financial reporting and consolidation
17%
34%
50%
Financial planning, budgeting/ forecasting
19%
35%
46%
Business modeling for business development strategies
24%
36%
40%
Sales forecasting
27%
34%
39%
Fig. 3
complexities that prevent them from answering questions, even if many of the questions are quite complex.
Moving Big Chunks of Data—Quickly
The term “big data” is thrown around quite liberally these days and it can mean different things to different people. Wikipedia defines it as “a col- lection of data sets so large and com- plex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.”
This definition would lead us to believe big data is a big problem for ERP,andinfactovertheyearsERPhas developed a bad reputation. It typical- ly is easier to get data into ERP than to get data (and decisions) out. While response times for transactions have improved exponentially, manufacturers still are not typically making decisions based on real-time data, for two rea- sons: speed and visualization.
Speed—Where there are large vol- umes of data, processing times become long and often are done “in batch.” Nobody wants to sit and wait while ERP crunches the numbers and pre- pares long reports. Traditionally, that processing occurred in the background or even overnight, based on a snap- shot in time. The problem was (and
still is) that by the time the long batch was processed, the data, or even the question, may have changed.
The ability to process data in mem- ory solves this problem. Instead of wait- ing for results overnight, a manager can run the analysis, look at it, make some notations or changes, and run it again. Suddenly he is making decisions from real and accurate data.
Visualization—Even if we can quick- ly process the data, becoming mired in long reports can impede progress. In order to quickly analyze the data, man- ufacturers must replace traditional reporting with analytics (Fig. 3). In addition to charts and process maps, we must be able to drill down to suc- cessive levels of detail. And once we’ve seen data in a single dimension (sales by territory, for example), we need to add new dimensions (sales by prod- uct line and sales rep, for example). And because we can’t always antici- pate what we want, we want to do it on the fly.
Social ERP Supports Collaboration
“Social,” another hot trend, gets interpreted differently depending on who you are and what perspective you take. From an ERP perspective, social should mean improved collaboration, visibility and connectivity. For the tra-
ditional businessperson accustomed to traditional means of communica- tion, social can have an unfortunate connotation.
An ERP system with social capabil- ities features easy and intuitive search capabilities and has a highly config- urable user interface to support a per- sonalized workspace. It pushes data to those that need to know instead of waiting for data to be pulled. And, it employs the concept of following—not just people but business objects and events such as sales orders, customers and products. A social ERP system can build activity streams that can be sub- scribed to and monitored. The result is better visibility, fewer surprises and more proactive rather than reactive management.
Applying social concepts to ERP can unlock much of its potential. By improving the user experience and making data more easily and naturally accessible, we remove a layer of dis- connect and improve transparency and visibility. This added visibility connects teams and supports collaboration.
Seldom has an entire market agreed on what trends are most influential, and yet today we see an unprecedent- ed level of consensus. ERP innovation must result in improved connectivity, visibility and collaboration and draw the biggest crowd of willing users. MF
48 MetalForming/August 2014
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