Skip to content 
SYSPRO Corporate – September 13, 2018 -Manufacturing insights firm IDC believes by 2020, 60% of all enterprises will have fully articulated an organization-wide digital platform strategy and will be in the process of implementing it. They predict that by then, 50% of the Global 2000 will see much of their business depend on their ability to create digitally-enhanced products, services, and experiences.
IDC sees this expansion of Digital Transformation at a macroeconomic scale as a signal of a new, digital economy, and estimate the economic value of Digital transformation (DX) at $20 trillion, or more than 20% of global GDP.
The question businesses need to ask is whether they are ready for digital transformation, and whether they’ll find themselves forging ahead, or falling behind? It’s time to discuss how companies can better prepare themselves for Industry 4.0 and take that all-important step of digitizing their manufacturing facilities.
Paving the way for digitalization
The challenge for manufacturers lies in identifying the innovations that will provide the most benefit to their organization, and then successfully managing the integration of them into their current operations.
Kevin Dherman, SYSPRO’s Chief Innovation Officer, believes the best way to prepare your business for Industry 4.0 is to implement an ERP system that can pave the way for digitalization by providing real, working solutions that will enable manufacturers and distributors to leverage on new technologies and trends that are shaping and redefining the competitive landscape. It’s the reason the SYSPRO team has worked so hard to ensure that they have embedded the most pragmatic and useful features and functionality of Industry 4.0, into their latest release.
Creating more intelligent manufacturing processes
The inclusion of Industry 4.0 functionality in SYSPRO’s latest release helps to create a more intelligent manufacturing processes by combining humans with machines, resources with processes and systems.
Manufacturers will experience the benefit of increased accuracy and speed of automated data collection from machines and devices, for the measurement of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Real-time status-tracking of equipment and jobs, and greater accuracy of job costings are now possible, and the software supports continuous improvement and visualization of loss with out-of-the-box productivity and availability analysis and alerts.
The benefits of IoT
There are huge benefits to be able to arrive at your customer’s store to change light bulbs just before they go out, or to re-gas the fridges before they stop keeping your customer’s perishables cool – not only will you be able to fulfil your SLA agreements with your customers, you’ll help them fulfil theirs too.
Implementing IoT technologies opens a world of infinite possibilities for manufacturers, however the resulting data needs to be carefully managed and processed, which is why it is important to implement an IoT enabled ERP system. By allowing for business intelligence and alerts to be automatically delivered directly to relevant operators and service agents, not only will it facilitate more streamlined and automated business processes, thereby reducing the need for human intervention, it will also improve service delivery, and enhances the customer user experience. It will allow organizations to manage their warehouse inventory in real-time, using IoT sensors to monitor and track incoming and outgoing items. More than that, by incorporating data pulled from auto identification tags that are tied to GPS-enabled connections which continuously update location and movement, it is also able to improve traceability across the supply chain.
SYSPRO’s APIs and connected services also facilitate integration with other line-of-business, third-party products and online platforms such as e-commerce sites.
“When developing features for our latest release we focused on improving on our automation and data exchange capabilities to support the Internet of Things, and cloud computing to provide users with unparalleled deployment and usage flexibility, and to supply ubiquitous, real-time information through device- and platform-agnostic software,” says Dherman.
Tapping into the power of AI
The coupling of ERP and machine learning AI has allowed manufacturers to make sense of structured and unstructured data. Previously unidentified trends, exceptions, and anomalies in your business are brought to the fore, helping to improve decision-making.
The integration of AI means that detecting fraud or operator errors is easier as AI identifies anomalies in customer or internal sales orders, requisitions and purchase orders, and then alerts relevant people immediately. AI is also able to pick up trends in customer behaviour and then push relevant information to you, taking your ERP from a simple system of record, to one of proactive engagement. Collaborative filtering aids your sales team by examining past similar transactions and then revealing cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
The advent of Digital Citizens
The employment of Bots – or Digital Citizens has numerous benefits in the manufacturing environment. We’re all aware of a bot’s ability to eliminate repetitive tasks and free up resources, but how many of you have considered employing a Digital Citizen as the face of your business? The incorporation of AI into ERP software has facilitated the development and introduction of human-like chatbots which answer, and even predict, customer queries quickly. The (AI) web robot resides within the SYPRO ERP ecosystem and streamlines business functions through natural conversations with the bot.
By employing a Digital Citizen in your business, you could provide your customers and your suppliers with an always-on, consistent and improved customer experience, 24/7, across the globe. Digital self-service agents can even act as personal assistants within your business – providing insights and information, running price queries, stock lookups, order status and more. AI bots can predict trends and respond to queries quickly and accurately.
Familiar and personalized social ERP
The best way to improve collaboration between colleagues, departments, customers and suppliers today, is to implement social ERP, which allows you to communicate instantly with your network of associates.
Social ERP answers the needs of the millennial user by incorporating a familiar and personalized social media-type interface on which to do business. It increases responsiveness with an instant, and enables a real-time view into customer sentiments, relevant emerging data trends and significant business movements, such as the status of a job, overdue payments or potential late deliveries.
Sales people can choose to follow key information on specific customers. If anything in the ERP database affects those customer, like an address change, a new sales order, and invoice or even a credit limit update, the follower will see it in their feed, without them having to run reports or do queries. Similarly, buyers can follow stock codes and if anything happens against the stock code it shows up in their Harmony feed.
Opening the door to greater efficiencies
By embracing new, exponential technologies such as machine learning, A.I., and Digital Citizens, and by implementing a future-fit ERP solution that allows for their incorporation, organizations can not only make the digitization process easier, but also open the door to greater efficiencies and growth.
With features including actionable business insights; social media as a collaboration tool; exciting new IT capabilities and functions such as universal web-based interfaces and platforms across all devices; and the flexibility to deploy on-premise, in the cloud, or both, SYSPRO’s latest release will help organisations make the transition to digital and give them a competitive edge.
About SYSPRO
SYSPRO is a global, independent provider of industry-built ERP software designed to simplify business complexity for manufacturers and distributors. Focused on delivering optimized performance and complete business visibility, the SYSPRO solution is highly scalable, and can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or accessed via a mobile device. SYSPRO’s strengths lie in a simplified approach to technology, expertise in a range of industries, and a commitment to future-proofing customer and partner success.
SYSPRO has more than 15,000 licensed companies in over 60 countries across six continents.
