The Coronavirus pandemic caused people to take notice of what technology could do. The IDC has reported that over 65% of companies have accelerated digital initiatives. Recently, surveys have indicated that companies are optimistic about growth in 2021 and going forward. But as businesses navigate the new post-COVID world and assess opportunities for growth, many are having to evaluate technologies that are relatively new to them – that includes cloud computing.
Month: March 2021
Building a Case for Industry 4.0
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was Robert Shiller, a Yale University Professor of Economics and Nobel laureate who famously said “You cannot wait until a house burns down to buy fire insurance on it. We cannot wait until there are massive dislocations in our society to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” This quote has been particularly pertinent over … Read more
What Managing a Remote Team in the New Normal Teaches Us for the New Future
In the pre-COVID world, no one could have predicted the events that would happen over the coming months. Even today, when many businesses have had time to adapt to those events, we’re still struggling to plan for the future. Which changes will go away? Which are here to stay?
Managing Your ERP Vendor’s Software Partnerships
In 1969, the largest computer company in the world at that time, IBM, decided to unbundle its software from its hardware. This opened up the world to a new business – the independent software vendor – and led to partnering between different vendors. By the 1990s, many IT companies were establishing formal partner or alliances teams to ensure that the partnerships they entered into were successful and delivered value to the business and to customers.
Accountants at the Helm When Robots Invade
Could green ink flowing through human veins overcome a robot invasion? Not in a black-and-white arena. But our world is grey and demands judgement. That, and the embarrassing fact that accountants are only human after all, will ensure the profession’s survival.
How Cloud ERP can Help Manufacturers
“The future is no longer what it used to be” is a quote attributed to Paul Valéry describing the dramatically changed worldviews and new emerging mindsets that arose after the First World War. Many businesses are now facing a situation where their old assumptions are being challenged, and the rules of the old game are becoming obsolete.
How Automation Can Activate Your Digital Transformation Journey
During the pandemic, many industry players were caught off guard by inefficient business systems and manual processes. As workforces are being transformed, many manufacturers and distributors have started to see the true benefits of process automation. Businesses have realized that the digital toolkit available to them has grown and they can consider technology-centered solutions. In fact, our recent CFO 4.0 survey showed this, where 44% of businesses singled out warehouse and advanced manufacturing process automation as a key focus area moving forward.
Disruption as Usual: Building Business Resilience in Uncertain Times
We’ve now hit the ground of 2021 running, and to take the analogy further, if businesses are like athletes, they’ve certainly faced challenges of performance slumps, career transitions and illness in this past year. These adversities are set to continue as the pandemic is still surging, even with a vaccine in sight, and as organisations are experiencing management fatigue, financial recovery, a tired workforce, and overall uncertainty where expecting the unexpected has become the norm.
Take Control of Your Inventory in 2021
As the ripples from 2020’s global events are still being felt throughout the manufacturing industry, now more than ever it is essential for manufacturers to manage their supply chain, forecast demand, and use production resources as efficiently as possible. It is during challenging periods such as these that manufacturing businesses need to review the tools they use to plan and manage inventory and production. A tool which has received some attention is DDMRP (Demand-Driven Material Requirements Planning).
