Guest Speaker:
Ravi Purohit
Senior Vice President and Global Head of ERP Business Unit
Senior Vice President and Global Head of ERP Business Unit
Anup Joshi
AVP – Client Partner and Sub Vertical Head – Consumer , Retail and Process Manufacturing
AVP – Client Partner and Sub Vertical Head – Consumer , Retail and Process Manufacturing
Transcripts
On tech Lyceum today we're going to be exploring ERP next, driving business value through a modern platform. Hey there I'm near Neerja, welcome to a brand new episode and driving this conversation today are Ravi Purohit is a seasoned business and tech leader with over two decades of global IT expertise from heading a cybersecurity firm to leading the Oracle Service line, retail CPG, vertical and more. Ravi brings a wealth of experience in fueling business impact and innovation. Welcome, Ravi.
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Speaker – Ravi – 00:45
Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker – Neerja – 00:46
And we have Anup Joshi, a manufacturing leader and a client partner with over 25 years of ERP experience. Anup is specialized in ERP transformation, and holds a vast manufacturing domain expertise, Anoop offers a global perspective from having navigated diverse environments. Hi Anup. It's great to have you here.
And we have Anup Joshi, a manufacturing leader and a client partner with over 25 years of ERP experience. Anup is specialized in ERP transformation, and holds a vast manufacturing domain expertise, Anoop offers a global perspective from having navigated diverse environments. Hi Anup. It's great to have you here.
Speaker – Anup -01:09
Thank you very much Neerja. It's my pleasure to be here.
Thank you very much Neerja. It's my pleasure to be here.
Speaker – Neerja - 01:12
Well, happy that we have you both on board to discuss this. So let's dive right in to begin our discussion. Ravi, if I may start with you.
Q: Could you elaborate on the significance and offerings of the modern platform ERP next, and tell us a little more about how it contributes to driving cross functional and scalable business values?
Well, happy that we have you both on board to discuss this. So let's dive right in to begin our discussion. Ravi, if I may start with you.
Q: Could you elaborate on the significance and offerings of the modern platform ERP next, and tell us a little more about how it contributes to driving cross functional and scalable business values?
Speaker – Ravi - 01:34
It's a wonderful question. In my role as an ERP leader, I'm fortunate to get a view of what various CXOs care about the challenges and technology and architectural capabilities within and around enterprise products such as SAP, Oracle, JD, Edwards, infor and Microsoft. three most important changes which impact our customers, our business leaders are expecting it to deliver outcomes. Applications must be omni channel and are often collections of solutions which are created enhanced, assembled and deployed. And ERP products have now become platforms embedding all next generation technologies, such as web social API security, AI ML mobility and general AI. manufacturers want to be adaptive to the customer needs. They find it extremely difficult to align their production supply chain, and supporting functions such as procurement and finance to this need of flexibility and adaptability. Here are some examples of how we address them. For an Oracle based customer we blended Oracle CPQ configure price and quote with Oracle Transportation Management OTM and JD Edwards to enhance configurability and customers Transport Orders so that they can cater to customers changing demands for SAP S for HANA rights customer we applied saps modern business technology platform BTP. To enable purchase order approval process over mobile phones expediting cycle time, as well as enhancing compliance executors today, I want to launch digital services and products and expect the entire business to be digital and adaptive. At the same time, investment dollars are hard to find. And hence CXOs are driving initiatives to generate cost savings internally across functions across verticals to fund innovation. Global as well as localized enterprises faces significant talent crunch in their core functions. Technology in the consumer world has advanced so much that the new generation workflows expect similar experiences from their enterprise applications, modern ERPs or platforms, traditional monolithic architectures have given way to modern ERPs product based process Standardization has given way to extensible platforms which allow ERPs to be composable and fit for purpose. As a business. Customers want to be able to pick and choose services that deliver business outcomes. We make it possible with ERP next, ERP next is build us a framework across leading ERPs such as SAP Oracle, JD Edwards, infor and Microsoft. I hope that answers the question. Thanks
It's a wonderful question. In my role as an ERP leader, I'm fortunate to get a view of what various CXOs care about the challenges and technology and architectural capabilities within and around enterprise products such as SAP, Oracle, JD, Edwards, infor and Microsoft. three most important changes which impact our customers, our business leaders are expecting it to deliver outcomes. Applications must be omni channel and are often collections of solutions which are created enhanced, assembled and deployed. And ERP products have now become platforms embedding all next generation technologies, such as web social API security, AI ML mobility and general AI. manufacturers want to be adaptive to the customer needs. They find it extremely difficult to align their production supply chain, and supporting functions such as procurement and finance to this need of flexibility and adaptability. Here are some examples of how we address them. For an Oracle based customer we blended Oracle CPQ configure price and quote with Oracle Transportation Management OTM and JD Edwards to enhance configurability and customers Transport Orders so that they can cater to customers changing demands for SAP S for HANA rights customer we applied saps modern business technology platform BTP. To enable purchase order approval process over mobile phones expediting cycle time, as well as enhancing compliance executors today, I want to launch digital services and products and expect the entire business to be digital and adaptive. At the same time, investment dollars are hard to find. And hence CXOs are driving initiatives to generate cost savings internally across functions across verticals to fund innovation. Global as well as localized enterprises faces significant talent crunch in their core functions. Technology in the consumer world has advanced so much that the new generation workflows expect similar experiences from their enterprise applications, modern ERPs or platforms, traditional monolithic architectures have given way to modern ERPs product based process Standardization has given way to extensible platforms which allow ERPs to be composable and fit for purpose. As a business. Customers want to be able to pick and choose services that deliver business outcomes. We make it possible with ERP next, ERP next is build us a framework across leading ERPs such as SAP Oracle, JD Edwards, infor and Microsoft. I hope that answers the question. Thanks
Speaker – Neerja - 04:12
so much for that. And I know as Ravi mentioned, these are esteemed providers, SAP Oracle in foreign Microsoft. So in terms of partnerships and collaborations with these providers, how does Birlasoft engage in these relationships? And also, if you could give us some insights on the evolution of ERP is and shed some light on the current focus areas of these providers?
so much for that. And I know as Ravi mentioned, these are esteemed providers, SAP Oracle in foreign Microsoft. So in terms of partnerships and collaborations with these providers, how does Birlasoft engage in these relationships? And also, if you could give us some insights on the evolution of ERP is and shed some light on the current focus areas of these providers?
Speaker – Anup -04:35
Absolutely. Neerja I'll be happy to. Birlasoft has established a strong partnership with all the leading ERP providers like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and in for Birlasoft has been and continues to be deeply involved in CO innovating and participating in the ERP roadmaps of many of these ERPs working directly with these providers. This has given us a unique insight into the evolution of ERP from a strong system of records to a platform for customer enablement and engagement. This combined with 100 Plus ERP customers within manufacturing has given us an unparalleled perspective on how customers are able to leverage and derive significant value from their investments in ERPs. Just like all aspects of technology today, the ERPs are also evolving at a rapid rate. The ERP owners are focusing on creating a very strong ERP platform through domain specific modules like retail, transportation, discrete manufacturing, and process manufacturing. They're also investing in next gen technologies like mobile compatible applications, cloud enablement, and as a service models, the ERP user community has also evolved significantly. From the green screen text based ERP user to the GUI based ERP user to the latest Gen Z users of portals and mobile applications. The new generation of tech savvy users are demanding more out of the ERP platform with the adoption of mobile applications, dashboards and data analytics for faster real time access to information in field transaction processing. And just in time decision making ability. Birlasoft has also created strong offerings aligned with these technology improvements and market trends, be it in the form of ERP based mobile applications or migrate to cloud offerings like the ERP next or domain specific solutions, like manufacturing B Mac. With our manufacturing B Mac and ERP next approach, we help our customers speed up their transformation, leveraging platform powered solutions that can be customized to meet their specific needs. Neerja whether it's about building a smart factory, or powering the supply chain, with AI and IoT, we ensure that our customers transformation happens at a very rapid pace.
Absolutely. Neerja I'll be happy to. Birlasoft has established a strong partnership with all the leading ERP providers like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and in for Birlasoft has been and continues to be deeply involved in CO innovating and participating in the ERP roadmaps of many of these ERPs working directly with these providers. This has given us a unique insight into the evolution of ERP from a strong system of records to a platform for customer enablement and engagement. This combined with 100 Plus ERP customers within manufacturing has given us an unparalleled perspective on how customers are able to leverage and derive significant value from their investments in ERPs. Just like all aspects of technology today, the ERPs are also evolving at a rapid rate. The ERP owners are focusing on creating a very strong ERP platform through domain specific modules like retail, transportation, discrete manufacturing, and process manufacturing. They're also investing in next gen technologies like mobile compatible applications, cloud enablement, and as a service models, the ERP user community has also evolved significantly. From the green screen text based ERP user to the GUI based ERP user to the latest Gen Z users of portals and mobile applications. The new generation of tech savvy users are demanding more out of the ERP platform with the adoption of mobile applications, dashboards and data analytics for faster real time access to information in field transaction processing. And just in time decision making ability. Birlasoft has also created strong offerings aligned with these technology improvements and market trends, be it in the form of ERP based mobile applications or migrate to cloud offerings like the ERP next or domain specific solutions, like manufacturing B Mac. With our manufacturing B Mac and ERP next approach, we help our customers speed up their transformation, leveraging platform powered solutions that can be customized to meet their specific needs. Neerja whether it's about building a smart factory, or powering the supply chain, with AI and IoT, we ensure that our customers transformation happens at a very rapid pace.
Speaker – Neerja - 07:19
Right Thank you for taking us through that. Now. Ravi. Within the extensive offerings of ERP next right Q: What core values are delivered to customers and perhaps you could also share some notable experiences and key learnings during the implementation journey?
Right Thank you for taking us through that. Now. Ravi. Within the extensive offerings of ERP next right Q: What core values are delivered to customers and perhaps you could also share some notable experiences and key learnings during the implementation journey?
Speaker – Ravi -07:37
Absolutely. ERP next delivers five core value proposition number one digital business digital business means modern ERP and new gen tech across the digital landscape of the customer business. Traditionally, customer used to do digital experiments, now it's all about digital business across the enterprise. We apply modern capabilities over and above ERPs. As an example, with SAP BTP. We eliminated manual steps to synchronize local warehouse management system and SAP base inventory and order management. We have also developed our own lightweight mobile application on top of ERP such as Oracle and JD Edwards leveraging their internal API's, we advise customer to select the right ERP platform and its services to transform that their business fully digital number two enterprise productivity in an ERP journey Future Focus implementation is a key learning and post implementation ongoing business case and value realization is very important. We apply process mining tools such as slowness and aligned the processes to their business KPIs across customer to order audit to cash and cash back to fun product innovation. KPIs include on time delivery, reduction in order cancellations or cycle time DSO free cash flow, and it helps operations procurement and inventory costs as well as revenue generation. In a nutshell, we unlock productivity gains or ERP and prioritize these investment dollars for the future needs. Number three Industry Solutions at the same most difficult but common industry specific challenges for our manufacturing clients. few examples connected inventory and supply chain visibility across various ERP and supply chain systems, configurable transportation orders, integrated logistics Auto Cash reconciliation and sustainability and reporting. This makes it easier for manufacturers who are also facing significant talent crunch across core functions. Number four outcome based functional technical offerings. Our offerings are aligned to the customer business case. Our three offerings are enterprise advisory and consulting which help customers shape the right choice and path number two, ERP specific implementation upgrades rollouts and cloud transformation. And lastly, smart AMS for ongoing value creation. and aided by our automation tools. We also help customer in their M&S carve outs, multiple ERP and composable ERP scenarios, our tools and accelerators uncover configurations and customizations, replicate environments, and also automate testing for ongoing SAS releases. And number five, responsive delivery. We build our talent using ERP next framework and develop and deliver long standing relationship using this value proposition. Our expectation from our teams and this promise to our customer is that we focus not only on the current needs, but also anticipated needs of the future.
Absolutely. ERP next delivers five core value proposition number one digital business digital business means modern ERP and new gen tech across the digital landscape of the customer business. Traditionally, customer used to do digital experiments, now it's all about digital business across the enterprise. We apply modern capabilities over and above ERPs. As an example, with SAP BTP. We eliminated manual steps to synchronize local warehouse management system and SAP base inventory and order management. We have also developed our own lightweight mobile application on top of ERP such as Oracle and JD Edwards leveraging their internal API's, we advise customer to select the right ERP platform and its services to transform that their business fully digital number two enterprise productivity in an ERP journey Future Focus implementation is a key learning and post implementation ongoing business case and value realization is very important. We apply process mining tools such as slowness and aligned the processes to their business KPIs across customer to order audit to cash and cash back to fun product innovation. KPIs include on time delivery, reduction in order cancellations or cycle time DSO free cash flow, and it helps operations procurement and inventory costs as well as revenue generation. In a nutshell, we unlock productivity gains or ERP and prioritize these investment dollars for the future needs. Number three Industry Solutions at the same most difficult but common industry specific challenges for our manufacturing clients. few examples connected inventory and supply chain visibility across various ERP and supply chain systems, configurable transportation orders, integrated logistics Auto Cash reconciliation and sustainability and reporting. This makes it easier for manufacturers who are also facing significant talent crunch across core functions. Number four outcome based functional technical offerings. Our offerings are aligned to the customer business case. Our three offerings are enterprise advisory and consulting which help customers shape the right choice and path number two, ERP specific implementation upgrades rollouts and cloud transformation. And lastly, smart AMS for ongoing value creation. and aided by our automation tools. We also help customer in their M&S carve outs, multiple ERP and composable ERP scenarios, our tools and accelerators uncover configurations and customizations, replicate environments, and also automate testing for ongoing SAS releases. And number five, responsive delivery. We build our talent using ERP next framework and develop and deliver long standing relationship using this value proposition. Our expectation from our teams and this promise to our customer is that we focus not only on the current needs, but also anticipated needs of the future.
Speaker – Neerja - 10:37
Great Ravi. Some very useful insights there. And finally Anup considering the unique needs challenges and expectations of manufacturing clients across the value chain,
Q: How is big law soft addressing them through ERP next few examples of major customer journeys and transformative enterprise processes could really help you.
Great Ravi. Some very useful insights there. And finally Anup considering the unique needs challenges and expectations of manufacturing clients across the value chain,
Q: How is big law soft addressing them through ERP next few examples of major customer journeys and transformative enterprise processes could really help you.
Speaker – Anup - 11:01
Absolutely Neerja. So what's happening is the manufacturing customers today are looking to leverage their ERP is to drive strong market differentiation by creating a truly connected enterprise. Some of the key business demands and strategic challenges include the reduction of duplicate systems and data to drive down their TCO, improvement in systems integrations and real time access to data and improvement and optimization of disjointed business processes. I'll cite an example. I was closely involved with one of our key customers who had multiple businesses and correspondingly multiple ERPs in their ecosystem. This naturally created challenges for both the IT and the business leaders in maintaining these multiple systems, and driving consolidated reporting and quick decision making. They embarked with us on a multi year program to consolidate their multiple instances of different ERPs into a single ERP instance across the globe. This allowed them to save significant cost and streamline their processes across the various different businesses globally. Having established a strong platform, they focused on customer centric agile initiatives that allowed their business users and customers to get more out of these platforms. These initiatives include implementing of domain specific modules like transportation, warehouse management and real estate, and the building of a strong mobile workforce through creation of ERP apps on mobile, that Ravi referred to. This allowed them to provide their end customers better real time visibility into their order status, and help their vendors to drive vendor managed inventory by integrating of IoT s with ERP. As a next step, they are now looking to reduce their TCO (total cost of ownership) by moving to cloud and enabling faster data driven real time decision making. Using latest cloud based data and analytical systems, the consolidation of these systems and creation of connected enterprise enables them to improve their stock utilization, reduce inventory turns, and provide customers with accurate global order promising driving higher customer satisfaction. The streamlining of their business processes has also ensured that IT which was considered an endurance in the past has become an enabler in their business growth, diversification and merger and acquisitions across the globe. I hope I was able to respond to that question.
Absolutely Neerja. So what's happening is the manufacturing customers today are looking to leverage their ERP is to drive strong market differentiation by creating a truly connected enterprise. Some of the key business demands and strategic challenges include the reduction of duplicate systems and data to drive down their TCO, improvement in systems integrations and real time access to data and improvement and optimization of disjointed business processes. I'll cite an example. I was closely involved with one of our key customers who had multiple businesses and correspondingly multiple ERPs in their ecosystem. This naturally created challenges for both the IT and the business leaders in maintaining these multiple systems, and driving consolidated reporting and quick decision making. They embarked with us on a multi year program to consolidate their multiple instances of different ERPs into a single ERP instance across the globe. This allowed them to save significant cost and streamline their processes across the various different businesses globally. Having established a strong platform, they focused on customer centric agile initiatives that allowed their business users and customers to get more out of these platforms. These initiatives include implementing of domain specific modules like transportation, warehouse management and real estate, and the building of a strong mobile workforce through creation of ERP apps on mobile, that Ravi referred to. This allowed them to provide their end customers better real time visibility into their order status, and help their vendors to drive vendor managed inventory by integrating of IoT s with ERP. As a next step, they are now looking to reduce their TCO (total cost of ownership) by moving to cloud and enabling faster data driven real time decision making. Using latest cloud based data and analytical systems, the consolidation of these systems and creation of connected enterprise enables them to improve their stock utilization, reduce inventory turns, and provide customers with accurate global order promising driving higher customer satisfaction. The streamlining of their business processes has also ensured that IT which was considered an endurance in the past has become an enabler in their business growth, diversification and merger and acquisitions across the globe. I hope I was able to respond to that question.
Speaker – Neerja -13:58
Absolutely. Anup, thank you. And we've come to the end of this conversation. But before you both sign off today, it would be great to have you leave us with some parting thoughts on the topic. Ravi, if you'd like to start us off?
Absolutely. Anup, thank you. And we've come to the end of this conversation. But before you both sign off today, it would be great to have you leave us with some parting thoughts on the topic. Ravi, if you'd like to start us off?
Speaker – Ravi - 14:12
Absolutely. Two thoughts. One is what are the most important ERP lessons learned by our customers? There are three- Future Focus implementation is the key. Entrusting their local and global teams on a value based partnership is important. And lastly, ongoing modernization composability and value creation is an important consideration as the chooser platforms with traditional ERP models. One can get process standardization and significant benefits with ERP Next, you can get business outcomes, which is the promise of ERP as a platform. That is what is the power of Birlasoft’s ERP next.
Absolutely. Two thoughts. One is what are the most important ERP lessons learned by our customers? There are three- Future Focus implementation is the key. Entrusting their local and global teams on a value based partnership is important. And lastly, ongoing modernization composability and value creation is an important consideration as the chooser platforms with traditional ERP models. One can get process standardization and significant benefits with ERP Next, you can get business outcomes, which is the promise of ERP as a platform. That is what is the power of Birlasoft’s ERP next.
Speaker – Neerja- 14:49
Perfect and Anup?
Perfect and Anup?
Speaker – Anup - 14:50
I 100% agree with Ravi, Neerja. As the businesses today get up to embrace modern technologies. ERP is continue to remain critical to the IT ecosystem of most enterprises with significantly increased expectations from users and the business. A modern ERP journey encompasses the following key milestones, standardize processes, implement or upgrade the ERP, consolidate multiple instances into one instance, integrate the IT and OT and then migrate to cloud and optimize the last office be Mac and ERP next allows customers to navigate this journey with speed and reliability.
I 100% agree with Ravi, Neerja. As the businesses today get up to embrace modern technologies. ERP is continue to remain critical to the IT ecosystem of most enterprises with significantly increased expectations from users and the business. A modern ERP journey encompasses the following key milestones, standardize processes, implement or upgrade the ERP, consolidate multiple instances into one instance, integrate the IT and OT and then migrate to cloud and optimize the last office be Mac and ERP next allows customers to navigate this journey with speed and reliability.
Speaker – Neerja - 15:37
Well, you've both given us something valuable to take away from this conversation. Thanks so much for taking the time out to be here and for allowing us to share in your wisdom it was great speaking with you both.
Well, you've both given us something valuable to take away from this conversation. Thanks so much for taking the time out to be here and for allowing us to share in your wisdom it was great speaking with you both.
Speaker – Ravi- 15:48
Thank you so much Neerja.
Thank you so much Neerja.
Speaker – Anup -15:50
Our pleasure, Neerja, and thank you for your time as well.
Our pleasure, Neerja, and thank you for your time as well.
This is tech Lyceum, a podcast from Birlasoft.
Speaker – Neerja – 16:02
Well, in conclusion, I think it's safe to say that ERP next is a transformative tool. And my thanks to our speakers today for coming on board and providing us with their insights. I'm gonna catch you on another episode of Tech Lyceum soon enough until then, it's me Neerja signing off. Bye bye.
Well, in conclusion, I think it's safe to say that ERP next is a transformative tool. And my thanks to our speakers today for coming on board and providing us with their insights. I'm gonna catch you on another episode of Tech Lyceum soon enough until then, it's me Neerja signing off. Bye bye.
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