Rootstock Software’s latest
release takes full advantage of Salesforce’s Lightning user experience and its
“clicks not code” approach to deliver agility, speed and intelligence to its
Cloud ERP customers. Much more than a pretty new user interface, Lightning also
includes Lightning Flows, an App Builder, Community Builder and Artificial
Intelligence (AI) tools, all designed to put more power directly in the hands
of the business users on the front line during these volatile times.
Of course, the risk of disruption is not entirely new. Last year our Mint Jutras Enterprise Solution Study found 90% of companies already believed they face some level of risk in their businesses being disrupted by new innovative products, new ways of selling or pricing existing products or services, entirely new business models, or some combination of all of the above. On top of these are all the traditional forms of disruption like expansion, reorganizations and regulatory compliance. And now… a global pandemic. Not only has COVID-19 wreaked havoc on manufacturing, distribution and supply chains, it has also abruptly forced many companies into new ways of conducting business.
This abrupt change has a
cascading impact on the enterprise applications used in running the business,
especially on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). And let’s face it… it has not
always been easy for ERP solutions to turn on a dime. Without the latest in
advanced technology, business users needed to wait in line for busy Information
Technology (IT) departments or hire expensive consultants. Meanwhile, the pace
of change continues to accelerate and the coronavirus has put it into
overdrive. If you must wait for IT to work off its backlog, by the time it gets
to your request, things will likely have changed again. And so, being able to
quickly respond has gone from being a luxury (available only to those with deep
pockets) to necessary for the very survival of your business.
And therefore, Rootstock’s
timing of this release couldn’t have come at a time when it was needed more. Click
here to read the full report to explore what this “clicks not code”
approach can deliver (registration required).
Manufacturers today face
extraordinary challenges as the world is plunged into an unprecedented crisis. Even
as we see efforts to recover, everyone was and is affected, though not
necessarily in the same way. Some industries were completely shut down while
others (think software and professional services) could close offices and still
remain at least somewhat productive. Manufacturing lies at both ends of the
spectrum. Obviously you can’t make industrial or consumer products from home –
at least not at scale. But within the realm of manufacturing, we see a widely
diverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, depending on what is being
manufactured. Cloud computing and advanced technology that supports
connectivity, collaboration, automation and agility have eased the burden for
some, while others struggle (still) amidst shelter-in-place orders that caught
many flat-footed.
Those companies operating
on the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform are among the more fortunate, whether
they are manufacturing products deemed “essential” or not. Of course no piece
of software can fully address the crisis of needing to completely shut down production.
But even those businesses still have cash to collect and customers to support. As
administrative and support personnel were locked out of their offices, Plex’s native
Software as a Service (SaaS) deployments allowed employees to start working
from home immediately. And as many manufacturers have had to pivot their
businesses, efforts from Plex over the past several years to provide
automation, collaboration capabilities and an added level of agility are all
paying off.
For anyone who still questioned the value of cloud, SaaS
and digital transformation at the beginning of 2020, the words of Plex Systems
CEO, Bill Berutti, should ring true. “This crisis is shining a whole new light
on the power of technology and the power of smart manufacturing, to make us
more agile in times of crisis, to allow us to adapt.” Let’s take a look at a
few of the ways Plex’s solution provides some relief from the headaches that
come along with this crisis.
SaaS Proves its Value
Let’s start with the obvious. The capability to access
anytime, from anywhere is inherent in software solutions that are accessed via
the cloud and delivered as a service. Mint Jutras has been extolling the
benefits of cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) for many years now,
but in spite of all the hype associated with cloud and SaaS, we still see
evidence that many don’t fully understand the difference between the two or the
benefits SaaS can bring. Whether you run a solution on your own premises or in
a private or public cloud, the ability to access anytime, from anywhere is a
significant advantage and web-enablement opens the door for the kind of
connectivity you need as workers work from home. The ability to connect is
critical, but how you connect is equally important. This issue surfaces when suddenly office
workers became remote, work-from-home workers.
One of Plex’s customers, Accuride, provides the perfect example. Accuride primarily makes steel and aluminum wheels for the heavy trucking industry. As a global company that made a recent acquisition in Europe, Accuride runs the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform in some of its divisions, but not all. While workers in the locations using Plex were able to start working from home almost immediately, it took several days of frantic work to support remote workers where solutions were still on premise. The recently acquired division in Germany is still running an SAP solution on premise. It needed to upgrade from 100 VPN connections to support 250 newly remote users very quickly – not an easy task. This only served to validate Accuride’s strategy to move to the cloud and SaaS.
Trojan Battery is another example. A longstanding Plex
customer, it completed its shift to SaaS at the end of 2018. It not only runs
Plex, but also Dropbox, RingCentral, Workday and Salesforce. But the company
was subsequently acquired by C&D Technologies, which still uses on-premise solutions.
While Trojan Battery employees were able to take their laptops and mobile devices
or just sit down at their home computers and have full and immediate access to
the same data and systems they had in their offices, those from C&D
Technologies that were still using on-premise applications had a much different
experience. They needed access through a VPN, which proved to be a significant
pain point, especially for those employees who had never before been issued a
laptop (having no need for one). As IT Director Matt Irey points out, “We can’t
open our corporate network up to unsecured machines, so they’ve got to be using
company equipment.”
This also raised the
issue of network performance. Mr. Irey goes on to say, “There’s limited
bandwidth — guaranteed Plex, Workday, Dropbox, have a heck of a lot more
bandwidth than I do going into my location.”
Plex was an early
pioneer of SaaS. It has offered its solution exclusively as a multi-tenant SaaS
solution since 2001, long before cloud and SaaS were even part of the
vocabulary of the typical manufacturer. Back then most manufacturers weren’t
even knowingly and willingly considering SaaS. And so, for many years, the company was successful in spite of, rather than
because of its pioneering efforts in SaaS. The key to this success lies in
offering a more complete solution for manufacturing, stretching beyond the
typical boundaries of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
The 4 Pillars of Smart Manufacturing
This has led it to its current offering, the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, a rather unique combination of ERP, Manufacturing Execution (MES), Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), supply chain management, industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and analytics.
What makes the platform
a “Smart” platform is data, often described as the “new oil” or the most
valuable resource of today. Plex recognizes that the four pillars of a Smart
Manufacturing Platform are:
to connect and integrate to data sources
(including machine data)
to automate (processes and data collection)
to track (and trace)
and analyze that data
In addition, the system, along with the data, must also be available, reliable, scalable, secure and agile. Over the years Plex has excelled in areas like availability and reliability. Its service level agreement (SLA) promises 99.99% availability and it has delivered 99.996% availability over the last four years, with an average of just 22 minutes of unplanned downtime each year. With those statistics on the books, along with an impressive track record of security, last year it decided to focus more heavily on agility.
The Increased Need for Agility
The need for agility has been on the rise for the past
several years. We live in disruptive times.
Figure 1: How much risk do you face in your industry being
disrupted?
Source: Mint Jutras 2018 Enterprise Solution Study
Back in 2018, the Mint Jutras Enterprise Solution Study
found 89% of manufacturers believed they faced some level of risk in their
businesses and/or industries being disrupted by new innovative products, new
ways of selling or pricing existing products or services, entirely new business
models, or some combination of all of the above. And then of course there were
(and still are) the more traditional disruptive factors like expansion and
growth, organizational restructuring and regulatory changes, just to name a
few. And now… a global pandemic.
While different industries and individual companies face an
incredibly diverse range of challenges, there is one constant today, and that
is an element of uncertainty. No one really knows what the “new normal” will
be. Some Plex customers have already had to pivot their businesses very
quickly.
As noted earlier,
this global crisis has impacted different industries in very different ways.
While some making products that are not deemed “essential” have been forced to
close, others are struggling to keep up with higher demand. Select food,
beverage and personal care products are experiencing a boost in demand. Manufacturers
of medical supplies and equipment (think ventilators and face masks) are facing
increased demand that can far exceed capacity. Others making industrial or
non-essential consumer products are forced to re-tool and ramp up production
for new and different products. We see hair care manufacturers making hand
sanitizer and automotive suppliers making ventilators or personal protective
equipment (PPE).
Each option brings its own set of challenges, often
requiring new supply sources and processes that include shop floor redesign or
limiting capacity to create social distancing. Some are responding quickly, but
many are not, as evidenced by shortages of staples like toilet paper,
disinfectants, flour and other necessities. We’ve seen evidence of brittle
supply chains and manufacturers that remain rigid and inflexible. While enterprise
software solutions can’t (all by themselves) overcome all these hurdles, they
certainly can contribute to the pain or ease the burden as innovative companies
undergo a paradigm shift.
One Less thing to Worry About in Shifting Gears
Creative Foam,
another Plex customer, is one manufacturer that has quickly pivoted its
business. The company turned 50 years old this year and specializes in foams,
nonwovens and adhesives in industries that include transportation and
healthcare. Creative Foam engineers seek to create products that are quieter,
stronger and lighter.
But in the wake of the crisis, the company was able to
quickly shift gears. Tareq Falah, Vice President of Information Technology and
Information Systems tells us, “Nobody had a crystal ball. No one could have
predicted anything that is going on now during this COVID crisis – not when,
not who, not how. Before, we had always asked ourselves, ‘What can we do to win
business?’ But in response to this crisis, we went through a paradigm shift. Now
we ask, ‘What else can we do to help?’”
Essentially Tareq was talking about helping the front-line
workers in the field of medicine. They began with PPE, face shields to be more
precise. This meant sourcing new materials, coming up with an initial design
and then refining that design. And throughout this pivot, office workers went
home to work. While there were many issues to resolve like getting people
laptops and rerouting phones, according to Tareq, “We didn’t have to worry
about Plex. Support of our business has been phenomenal.”
Another success story in responding to this global crisis is
Olde Thompson. Founded in 1944, the company started out manufacturing houseware
products, including salt and pepper mills. Today 80% of its business is in the
powders that might go into the original products, including salt, pepper and a
wide array of spices. While other businesses have slowed or stopped production,
Olde Thompson has doubled its monthly output in response to increased demand.
Plex’s inventory management capabilities and its supply
chain planning tool were key to Olde Thompson’s ability to respond to this
spike in demand while its competitors simply could not react as quickly. When
India shut down all spice manufacturing, Olde Thompson was able to locate and
engage with other suppliers. This opened the door to acquiring three new
customers. Being able to quickly bring on new customers using Plex’s new Smart
EDI, a more scalable and flexible approach to onboarding new customers, meant
this new business was not just a short-term blip, but the beginning of
long-term relationships with three new customers.
But the real key to winning this new business was in Olde
Thompson’s ability to ramp up production quickly. And the key to that was
integration – pulling data out of machinery and automating machine setups using
data within Plex. Process improvement is a key focus looking forward and Olde
Thompson will be relying on Plex to provide visibility to their yields and support
continuous improvement and long-term growth.
Speaking of Supply Chain Planning…
Plex also recently made another announcement that will
assist customers in reducing the risk associated with market volatility, a
subject that can strike fear in the hearts of many manufacturers today. On May
14,2020 it announced the release of the Plex
Market Forecast Manager, now part of the Plex Supply Chain Planning Suite. Creating
and maintaining a viable forecast has always been hard, but the uncertainty
introduced with the COVID-19 makes it even more difficult.
According to Plex:
“Plex Market Forecast Manager
enables manufacturers to integrate internal and external data points alongside
demand plans to drive more accurate inventory decisions, gain market share, and
evaluate and scale the supply chain. The initial release will provide automated
access to IHS Markit’s Light Vehicle Forecast, helping automotive manufacturers
form more accurate and timely forecasts. IHS Markit is a
world leader in critical information, analytics, and solutions for the major
industries and markets that drive economies worldwide.”
While the initial release of this new module specifically targets the automotive industry, perhaps Olde Thompson will not immediately benefit, but we suspect it will be able to at some point down the road. One of the industries IHS Markit follows is agribusiness, which of course supplies the food, beverage… and spice market.
Focus on Automation
Beyond the ability to connect, another of the four pillars
on which the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform is built is automation. Certainly,
automation also plays a key role in alleviating some of the pain associated
with the COVID-19 crisis. For decades now manufacturing has been investing in
automation on the shop floor. Automation can speed production, eliminate
variability, improve quality and reduce costs. An unfortunate side effect has
been that it has also cost some jobs. But in all fairness, it has also created
jobs, although these new jobs require different skills.
Now in the midst of a global pandemic, when the health and safety of
workers is top of the list in terms of priorities, there is a silver lining in
the reduction in workers required to keep production running. If you simply
need a handful of employees to monitor automated production, those employees
are more likely to be able to maintain acceptable social distancing and product
continues to be produced. And now as this automation (think robots, PLCs,
mechanical devices) are increasingly connected to the Internet, taking
advantage of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), perhaps production can
be monitored remotely. Even remedial work might be done through augmented
reality, with limited staff on site.
Plex’s engineering team, led by CTO Jerry Foster, is
constantly investigating and experimenting with leading edge technology
including augmented reality (think hands free and/or remote monitoring and even
remote repair). Those investigative efforts also led to the acquisition
of DATTUS in 2018 to accelerate IIoT adoption through connectivity, data
management and data analysis.
But there is more to automation than machines and robots on
the shop floor. There are many processes that must occur in the back and front
offices of manufacturers that can be streamlined and automated, freeing office
workers from repetitive tasks. And therefore, on May 14,2020, Plex announced
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can now be added on to the Plex Smart
Manufacturing Platform through a new partnership with business technology
solution provider Thirdware.
An early adopter Plex customer Stant Corporation, a
tier-1 automotive supplier of thermal and vapor management parts, worked with
Plex and Thirdware to implement RPA to manage its invoice delivery. This was a
labor-intensive and error-prone process, spread across multiple technology
solutions. With the help of a bot on the Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform, Stant
has been able to reduce its invoice backlog from three weeks to four days, with
100% data entry accuracy. Now, 80% of invoices are able to move to processing
without intervention, enabling the Stant team to focus on more valuable
problem-solving activities. And of course, a bot never has to move to a remote
working location during a global pandemic. After this first (successful) application of
the technology, Stant went on to work with Plex and Thirdwave to create more.
It now uses multiple bots for accounts payable, accounts receivable, customer
service, and supply chain processes.
Summary and Recommendations
Manufacturers across the globe face many different
challenges as the world tries to emerge from a global pandemic. Depending on
where you live, the worst may be over. Or not. And even as we see signs of
recovery, there is a high likelihood that things will never go back to exactly
the way they were before. These factors combined reinforce the one common theme
that confronts us all: uncertainty.
One thing is certain. As the communication and interaction
around the world continues down the path of becoming more digital and more
virtual, cloud computing and advanced technology that supports connectivity,
collaboration, automation and agility step out of the realm of “nice to have”
and become table stakes. Those manufacturers operating on the Plex Smart
Manufacturing Platform are fortunate in that the solution that runs their
businesses allowed them to immediately support workers remotely. Plex also continues to innovate to bring more
automation, to connect and integrate, to track and analyze.
If you are a Plex customer today, our advice is to hold the
fort and continue to consume as much innovation as Plex can throw your way. If
you are not a Plex customer and you are still struggling to connect newly
remote workers, if you don’t have the agility to support whatever the new
normal way of operating becomes, you might be thinking implementing a new ERP,
MES, or MOM solution is the last thing you want to tackle right now. You could
be dead wrong. If business is slow, take advantage of the down time. It’s okay
to be dead wrong. It’s not okay to let your business die.
Health and well-being is
undoubtedly top of mind today. We are all concerned not only about our own
personal health and that of friends and family, but also the health of
businesses and the economy in general. And as we focus on staying safe and
healthy, we find ourselves turning to tools and technology to help us through
this global crisis. Amidst the disruption caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, FinancialForce has announced the
general availability of its Spring 2020 Release, highlighting features that
help customers navigate increasingly remote work environments and rapidly
changing market dynamics. Obviously the design and development of this latest
release was in the works long before COVID 19 changed the world. And yet one of
its primary tenets – supporting customer agility – is perfectly aligned to the
preservation and improvement of the health of businesses today.
Built natively on the Salesforce development platform,
FinanicalForce’s solutions are cloud native, providing the kind of connectivity
that has become an absolute imperative as so many workers have instantly been
transformed into remote workers. Furthermore, this new release takes advantage
of many of the advanced technologies in which Salesforce has invested,
including its Lightning Experience (LEX), Lightning Web Components (LWC) and
Einstein Analytics. These advanced technologies, coupled with new features and
functions, serve to enhance insights, provide personalization and tailorability
without expensive, invasive code changes.
Why Is Agility So Important Today?
Even before the COVID 19 pandemic hit, we were already
living in disruptive times. The 2018 Mint Jutras Enterprise Solution Study
found 90% of companies believe they face some level of risk in their businesses
and/or industries being disrupted by new innovative products, new ways of
selling or pricing existing products or services, entirely new business models,
or some combination of all of the above (Figure 1). And then of course there
are still the more traditional disruptive factors like expansion and growth,
organizational restructuring and regulatory changes, just to name a few. And
now, a global pandemic.
Figure 1: How much risk do you face in your industry being
disrupted?
Source: Mint Jutras 2018 Enterprise Solution Study
While only 7% of our 2018 survey participants felt that risk
was high and/or imminent, most do understand the risk is real. While 84% felt
the risk was low to medium, we have to ask: How do you think the taxi industry
might have answered this question on the eve of the launch of Uber? Do you
think the hotel industry anticipated Airbnb? Did Block Buster foresee the ruinous
impact Netflix would have on its business? Could anyone have estimated the
devastating impact of a global pandemic?
In the past, much of the potential for disruption came from
the introduction of new, innovative products. Back in 2018 and even throughout
2019, it was more likely to come from new ways of selling/pricing existing
products (think subscription to services), entirely new business models, or
some combination of all of the above (Figure 2). These factors, as well as
today’s crisis, have less to do with new products and more to do with new ways
of conducting business.
Figure 2: What is most likely to cause this disruption?
Source: Mint Jutras 2018 Enterprise
Solution Study
This kind of disruption has much more of a cascading impact
on business application requirements, making agility – the ability to easily
innovate, evolve and change – more important than ever before. Software alone
does not guarantee your success but can directly contribute to your failure.
You can’t afford to have the software that runs your business be the reason you
can’t adapt to change.
Change is inevitable, bringing about new requirements. As
your business changes, along with the world around you, the speed with which
new features and functions can be developed, delivered and consumed will
clearly impact your agility. Software delivered as a service is only one of the
ways innovation is delivered and consumed faster and more easily. How you go
about adding that functionality can lead you down a path of stagnation, or a
path to growth and prosperity.
Platform is Key
This speed is largely dependent on the platform on which
your ERP and other applications are built. A development platform can provide
“application services” for things like file handling, security, searches and
access from mobile devices. These and other requirements may be hidden from
view for the business user but add to the time and effort required by
developers, which in turn determines how much and how quickly they can deliver.
Developers benefit from using the services delivered with a
good platform, speeding the development process. And in fact, it is the
“platform” upon which a solution is built that also determines whether or not
you can tailor or configure a solution without invasive custom code. So, a good
platform is more than just a tool for the developer. It actually adds value to
the business as well, by making applications more agile.
FinancialForce develops natively on the Salesforce Platform.
Salesforce estimates the platform speeds development by a factor of five and
cuts the cost of development in half. As a result, leveraging the Salesforce
Platform has been a big win, not only for FinancialForce, but also for its
customers. Both benefit from the ease and speed of development, as well as the
vast ecosystem that has grown around the platform.
For FinancialForce, it means fewer wheels to (re)invent, by
taking advantage of application services already built into Salesforce
including:
Support for a multi-tenant SaaS environment,
which is a key enabler in delivering more innovation, faster
A workflow engine, access and identity
management
Other rapid developer services include the
Lightning Experience (LEX), (business) object orientation and built-in mobile
support, and Lightning Web Components (LWC)
Embedded analytics with Einstein, a cloud-based
data platform as well as a data-analysis front end designed to analyze not just
data in FinancialForce, but also any third-party app data, desktop data, or
public data you bring in
The platform contributes to the robustness of the Spring
2020 release.
Spring 2020 Release
FinancialForce’s Spring 2020 Release was developed around
five themes (Figure 3).
Figure 3: FinancialForce Spring 2020 Release Themes
Source: FinancialForce
Intelligent Project & Resource Management
As the company name implies, FinancialForce started out providing accounting and financial management. But since its founding in 2009, it has continued to broaden its footprint and today promises “a complete, customer-centric view of your business with ERP and PSA,” encouraging customers to “see your customers in full color.” Accounting guidance can also be taken from various sources – use Archimedia Accounts here. With an eye towards full engagement with its own customers, from opportunity to delivery and revenue, it focuses on industries like:
Professional Services and Consulting
Business Services
Health and Life Sciences
Media and Digital Communications
Software, High-tech and IT Services
Telecommunications
This is the world of projects and resource management, where
“resources” are largely human. The impact of the coronavirus crisis has been
anything but uniform across these types of industries. Some are still able to
deliver services remotely while others are forced to keep highly skilled and
often highly paid people on the bench. Health and life sciences may be
overwhelmed with work while non-essential types of service businesses may be
shut down. One result that is consistent across all of these businesses is the
high level of uncertainty, the need for added visibility and the need to be
able to react fluidly.
The specific functional area of investment around “intelligent
project management” is more anchored to the software category of professional
services automation (PSA), helping customers manage projects more proactively
and with greater visibility and control with tools like its new Project Burnup
report, which limits project overruns. Here are some highlights:
Proactively keep projects on
track An enhanced Gantt chart gives customers both greater discipline around
project management as well as overall improvements to user experience. In
addition, the Project Burnup view, powered by Einstein and embedded in the
Project, limits project overruns and warns when exceeding contracts.
See staffing supply and
demand at a glance As the world demands easier, more adaptive staffing and resource management
capabilities, FinancialForce PSA now enables customers to optimize staffing
with a unified view into supply and demand, including advanced visualization of
resource schedules against requests.
Streamline the
sales-to-service handoff FinancialForce PSA can now automate opportunity milestones and project risk
templates, removing manual steps and ensuring continuity between sales and
services.
Forecast faster and
more accurately Accurate services forecasting is more important than ever. Using the latest
version of FinancialForce PSA, services organizations can now plan for the
future faster and more accurately, using enhanced support for fixed-fee
forecasting supporting all revenue treatments, opportunity forecasts, and
forecast scheduling.
Global Accounting
To help companies manage their global operations better,
FinancialForce Accounting & Reporting now offers several new features, including
multi-book functionality for maintaining separate books by entity, French and
Spanish localizations and financial reporting, enhanced currency management
revaluation and translation, and the ability to easily tailor language packs.
FinancialForce now features global value-added tax (VAT) support through an
integration with Avalara.
Two other areas specific to accounting are also worthy of
mention:
Accounting & Financial Reporting:Personalizing
analytics to customer needs
It will be particularly important for any company to keep close tabs on cash
flow, revenue and expenses. The Spring 2020 Release of FinancialForce
Accounting & Financial Reporting offers more powerful personalization of
analytics. Additionally, the new Deferred Revenue Reconciliation Report reduces
manual reconciliation and data export for faster period close, while the Aged
Analysis Report introduces new insights and predictability.
With the increased level of uncertainty, it is now critical
to streamline the invoicing and collection of cash. Every bit of revenue may
count, now more than ever. The Spring 2020 Release offers Billing Central in
Salesforce Lightning Experience (LEX), improving user productivity and further
automating billing processes.
Next Generation User Experience
With Billing Central now fully available in LEX, the Spring 2020
Release brings FinancialForce closer to providing a complete suite of LEX-only
solutions. Across the board, the new release offers a modern, fully
personalized user experience with embedded Einstein Analytics, actionable data,
custom objects, and workspaces.
Accelerate Time to Value
Last May, FinancialForce introduced FinancialForce Accelerate,
a set of service and product solutions created to accelerate customer value
across the entire customer lifecycle experience. Featuring both paid and
non-paid services, in addition to tools, methodology, and product, the goal is
to deliver on accelerated outcomes for customer success. Unlike other programs
aimed exclusively at speeding implementation, the Accelerate process starts
earlier and has no end.
FinancialForce Accelerate kicks in during the pre-sale phase
as prospects start their evaluation, identifying specific value to be realized
through use of the software. That might be addressing low utilization or
revenue leakage, or any number of other potential improvements and cost
savings. A business capability model is created, which in turn helps guide the
implementation, training and onboarding of employees. But it doesn’t stop
there. It continues throughout the entire customer lifecycle, with continuous
updates and always an eye towards improving performance.
The Spring 2020 Release includes enhancements to Accelerate, including the launch of the FinancialForce
Customer Lifecycle eXperience Hub (CLX Hub). CLX Hub is a collaborative
workspace complete with preconfigured application packages, best practices, and
a business process model. For Spring 2020, there are nine pre-configured
Accelerate Builds that support functional capabilities for specific industries,
with Software, High-Tech and Professional Services being the initial industries,
with more to come in future releases. In addition to a number of pre-configured
capabilities that support added functionality, workflows and meta-data are also
pre-configured.
Actionable Analytics
The need for better reporting and analytics has been growing
and this need has only accelerated with the onset of the latest crisis. As
we’ve seen in previous sections, FinancialForce has responded by embedding
analytics directly into transactions, which makes them far more actionable.
Einstein Analytics from Salesforce makes this possible, allowing you to explore
all of your data quickly and easily with AI-powered advanced analytics,
right in FinancialForce. There is no need to create separate databases or data
warehouses. The data sets for reporting and analysis are the same as those that
power transaction processing.
Summary
As we progress through this new phase of our global economy,
it is absolutely critical to deploy every tool at our disposal to navigate the
disruption and the uncertainty it brings. This kind of disruption has a
cascading impact on the business applications we use to run our businesses, and
makes agility – the ability to easily innovate, evolve and change – more
important than ever. Deploying the right solution alone cannot guarantee your
success, but not having a modern, technology-enabled solution can cause you to
fail. You simply can’t afford to have the software that runs your business be
the reason you can’t adapt and respond to change.
Like any innovation to ERP or PSA solutions being delivered
right now, the design and development of FinancialForce’s Spring 2020 Release
was in the works before this global pandemic struck. But FinancialForce has
been preparing for just such an eventuality for years by adding a level of
responsiveness and agility to its solution that can only come from a strong
platform and advanced technology.
Is the ERP that is running your business able to help you effectively
achieve your goals in the current market? Does it take advantage of the kind of
advanced technology that we have all come to rely on in our personal lives? Is
it agile and flexible? Does it adapt easily to our rapidly changing world? Does
it provide the level of connectivity needed to successfully operate in today’s
global, digital economy? Or are you running a solution that may have once been
state of the art, the best of the best available at the time, but is now stuck
– stuck on an older release because of customizations that built barriers to
innovation? Or stuck because you simply can’t justify the cost and effort of
upgrading for the limited business benefit, because you’ll still be constrained
by older technology?
If you are indeed stuck, your best path forward is most
likely replacing it. But for decades ERP replacement was likened to brain
surgery. It was reserved for dire cases only. “Rip and replace” was to be
avoided at all costs. Today these perceptions are just as outdated as the
solutions to which they apply. Yes, early ERP solutions were rigid and
inflexible, limited in functionality, hard to install and implement and even
harder to use. Innovation was painfully slow due to rigid architectures and
older technology.
You can’t really blame those early solutions or the software
companies that created them. The kind of technology needed for flexibility,
ease of use and agility simply didn’t exist, making those conclusions
justified. Why go through all the blood, sweat and tears, not to mention the
cost, of implementing a newer solution just to wind up right back where you
started?
But the world, and your business continued to change, and so
have newer, next generation ERP solutions. Solutions now are far more flexible
and technology-enabled, provide many more features and functions, are easier to
install, easier to implement and easier to use. They bring far more benefits
than ever before, but for those with lingering (mis)perceptions about ERP today,
they remain hidden. And in today’s fast-moving, global, digital economy, you simply
can’t afford to ignore them. The key to unlocking these secret benefits is in
understanding the potential and then mapping out a plan to realize them.
Advanced Technology Holds the Key
What makes today’s next generation ERP so different? A
variety of different type of advanced technologies can be embedded in
enterprise applications today. It is through these kinds of embedded
technologies that new ERP systems provide additional value. Of course, some
vendors do a better job than others in leveraging them, and hence provide more
value than others. This is why I’ve included a section later that provides some
insight on how to best evaluate ERP solutions in order to ensure success. In
the meantime, Table 1 presents some results from my 2019 Enterprise Solution
Study, on the perceived value of several of these technologies. Note this study
collected feedback from 464 survey respondents from companies of all shapes and
sizes.
Table 1: Perceived Value of Advanced Technologies
Source: Mint Jutras 2019 Enterprise
Solution Study
While a growing percentage of respondents perceive these
technologies as providing strong value, on average (across all) 30% are unsure
of the value. Essentially, they are saying, “Show me.” More than one in five
(22%) see little or no value and another 10% simply don’t know. And therefore,
it falls to industry experts and the vendors themselves to educate their
audiences in order to prove the value and unlock these secrets. Let’s start
that process by exploring a few of these.
Platforms and Architecture
Development platforms and microservices architectures,
on which applications are built, provide the perfect example of those secret
benefits. For the reader with a technical background, a microservice
architecture is defined (by Wikipedia) as an architectural style that
structures an application as a collection of loosely coupled
services. For those nontechnical readers, think of it as constructing a
solution from a set of Lego building blocks.
Think about how you build a structure
from Legos. Each Lego block is made of the same kind of material and is
attached (connected) to the other Lego blocks the same way. In many ways they
are interchangeable. But by choosing different colors and sizes, and connecting
them with a different design, you can make a structure that is very unique. And
once constructed, if you want to change it, decoupling some of the blocks and
replacing them doesn’t destroy the parts that are not affected. There is far
less disruption introduced than if you had constructed it with a hammer and
nails.
These platforms and technologies
provide a level of agility, configurability and extensibility to today’s
applications to help us respond to change.
Cloud and SaaS
We see more interest in cloud enablement and Software as a
Service (SaaS). Indeed, whether you run a solution on your own premises or in a
private or public cloud, the ability to access anytime, from anywhere is a
significant advantage and cloud-enablement opens the door for the kind of
connectivity you need as a full and active participant in the digital economy.
Yet still, last year only half of our survey participants perceive it as bringing
strong value. We suspect that if we were to ask this question today, given the
current need for distancing and remote work, this might change.
But there are other benefits to moving to the cloud in
general and SaaS in particular. We see subscriptions to software rapidly
replacing the traditional license. When you license a copy of the software you
take on the responsibility for maintenance and upgrades. This is especially
important in light of the fact that when asked to select the top three challenges
in achieving maximum value from ERP, “cost
and disruption of upgrades prevent us from innovating” was at the very top
of the list, selected by 40% of our respondents. With a SaaS solution, the
solution provider assumes that responsibility and does the heavy lifting for
you.
Artificial Intelligence
Technologies like machine learning, natural language
processing and other forms of artificial intelligence have become quite
prevalent in consumer technology (think Siri and Alexa, or GPS that learns your
favorite route). Now is the time to bring them into the enterprise, much like
they were insinuated into our personal lives – by adding value and embedding
them.
Apple customers didn’t demand the ability to converse with
their mobile devices. Apple just delivered it, not as an option and certainly
not without adding to the cost. But they didn’t charge extra for it. Other
device manufacturers followed suit. Pretty soon virtual assistants became
commonplace features. And people got hooked. It was only after this secret was
unlocked that people willingly went out and bought stand-alone devices like the
Amazon Echo Dot and Google Home.
Make no mistake – the same thing is happening with
applications for the enterprise. Modern platforms add a level of
configurability and extensibility that adds agility needed to keep pace with
the unprecedented pace of change in technology and business. Cloud and SaaS add
speed and contribute to affordability. Pretty soon all sorts of artificial
intelligence technologies will be generally available for the enterprise, but
you won’t be able to take advantage of them if you are still stuck on old
legacy solutions.
Automation
Robotic Process Automation (RPA), as the name implies, is
all about automating routine tasks in order to free up time available to
perform tasks which require more strategic thought and therefore contribute
more value to your business. For decades ERP has claimed to streamline and
automate these processes, but the term “automate” was used quite loosely, to
say the least. Today’s technologies truly enable these tasks to be performed
with little or no manual effort. Automating the filing of travel expenses,
reconciling data for a month or year-end close, three-way matching and applying
cash to outstanding invoices are all examples of routine tasks that can be
largely automated, requiring manual intervention only when exceptions are
detected.
And of course, the more intelligence you can add to these
automated processes, the fewer the number of exceptions that require manual
intervention. Embedding artificial intelligence and machine learning enables
RPA to better detect anomalies and prevent errors. With these added
capabilities, the more they are used and the more data that is collected, the
more they continue to learn, adding more intelligence over time. Today’s
“intelligent ERP” solutions are nothing like legacy applications of yesteryear.
Advanced Analytics
The addition of advanced analytics, often in the form of
predictive or cognitive analytics, is another way to make ERP smarter. Early
ERP solutions were notorious for being far easier to get data into than
information out of. You had to know exactly where to look and how to get there
if you had any hope at all of getting answers to business questions. And you
had to ask all the questions because the solutions didn’t offer up much to
notify you of issues.
That has all changed with new next generation solutions.
Today decision makers are often greeted with role-based, personalized dashboards
with data presented in charts, graphs and other visually appealing and
meaningful ways. These dashboards become their portal, a gateway so to speak,
to all the data previously hidden in applications. They get alerts and
notifications on those dashboards and on their mobile devices. Not only have
user interfaces become more intuitive, making systems easier to use, some have
even learned to “listen” and “speak.”
All next generation solutions today do a better job of
presenting data to you. But data driven decision-making requires more than just
reporting. Predefined reports help you answer relatively static questions like:
How much did I sell by customer type or region? Analytics present the bigger
picture and can help you figure out what questions to ask like: Where and how
will I have the most success in regaining and /or growing revenue? In your
quest to answer that you might ask: Are all sales down, or only by region or
customer type or sales rep or product? This might take several iterations and
the exact path you will take in your questioning won’t be apparent until you
start to drill down.
Smarter analytics (like predictive and cognitive analytics)
can spot patterns that produce fewer sales. Smarter analytics can do predictive
scoring and modeling to identify those patterns early and exploit them for
guided decision- making. The smartest solutions will then continue to learn,
getting better at spotting issues earlier, hopefully in time for you to course
correct.
Tips For Your Evaluation
Looking for a
new ERPsolution is not something you do every day. If it has been awhile
since you have been through this exercise, take note: A lot has changed.
Whereas fit and functionality
once drove most decisions, basic and even not so basic features and functions
are table stakes today. While an 80% fit used to be acceptable, today’s
flexible and technology-enabled solutions should get you much closer to 100%
than ever before, without the need for invasive customization. Of course, you still need to perform due
diligence and confirm robust functionality, including industry-specific
features and functions, but if you haven’t looked around for awhile, expect to
be pleasantly surprised.
Yet while features and
functions are indeed important, there is danger in making a decision solely
based on what you need today, because it might not be what or all that you need
in the future. Last year my Enterprise Solution Study found 90% of companies
believe they face some level of risk in their businesses and/or industries
being disrupted by new innovative products, new ways of selling or pricing
existing products or services, entirely new business models, or some combination
of all of the above. And don’t forget all the traditional forms of disruption
like expansion, reorganizations and regulatory issues. All this disruption can
have a cascading impact on business application requirements, making agility –
the ability to easily innovate, evolve and change – even more important than
current functionality. For that you need the right approach to innovation and
the right architecture and platform to support it.
Also equally important today is the whole user experience,
including easy navigation, visual appearance and personalization. And don’t
forget integration capabilities and the quality of built in reporting and
analytics. Any evaluation today requires you to raise the bar in terms of your
search.
So…Where do you Start?
The answer to that question may be closer to home than you
think. Just because you are not running a next generation ERP, enabled with the
latest and greatest technology, doesn’t necessarily mean your current ERP
solution provider hasn’t stepped out ahead of you.
SAP might be the perfect example of this. A longtime leader
in the market, SAP is perhaps one of the very few, if not the only “household
name” in ERP. However, many of its customers have yet to move to its latest,
most technically advanced product, SAP S/4HANA. While SAP also has products
that target the small to midsize market (SAP Business One and SAP Business
ByDesign), it is also the incumbent in many very large multi-national enterprises
that have invested heavily in predecessors to S/4HANA. And if these solutions
date back far enough, chances are they have been heavily customized. Without
the advantage of platforms and architectures available today, any kind of
modification or invasive customizations created barriers to moving forward. And
therefore, the move to S/4HANA is certainly no simple migration.
However, if you are currently running your business on an
outdated solution, whether it is an older version of SAP’s ERP or a legacy solution
from any vendor, simply migrating to a newer, more technology-enabled system
means you will drag along decisions that were made when ERP was far less
feature rich, technology enabled and flexible. You shouldn’t be looking to
recreate what you are doing today, but instead automating, improving efficiency
and productivity, providing added visibility and giving yourself the ability to
make more data-driven, strategic decisions. You should also look for a return
on your investment (ROI) in terms are real cost savings and/or the generation
of increased revenue. For this, you need to treat it like a re-implementation,
with all the careful planning and commitment that implies.
Not sure where to look for this kind of ROI? I would
strongly encourage you to examine these real-world
SAP Success Stories.
Conclusion and Recommendations
If you are currently running an ERP solution that you cannot
legitimately call modern, intelligent or next generation, you might still be
viewing its replacement like brain surgery. I prefer to treat it more like
joint replacement. You suffer with that bum knee or hip until you can’t stand
the pain any longer, or you simply can’t function properly. Many ERP
implementations today suffer from pain, and prevent you from being flexible and
able to do what they need to do.
Whether you view ERP as brain surgery or joint replacement,
there is no such thing as non-invasive surgery. It can and should have a
serious impact on your business, but hopefully in a positive way.
Here are a few recommendations for a successful ERP journey:
Don’t
wait until the patient is critical. Making a selection and running an
implementation project when the business is under duress does not create an
atmosphere of careful consideration, planning and execution. You will be
tempted to take shortcuts that you may later regret.
Need it
but can’t afford it? Consider the potential cost savings. Most ERP
solutions pay for themselves in less than two years. If capital funds are not
available to support the project, consider SaaS deployment with less up-front
cost.
Set goals
and measure. Before embarking on your ERP project, decide which metrics
will measure success. Establish a base line, set goals and measure progress
against those goals. When you reach them, set another goal. Continue to measure
and continue to reap more benefits.
An ERP implementation is not easy. Just like surgery, there
will be some “recovery” time. But that doesn’t mean your business stops during
that recovery period. It just means you need to take extra care to insure a
full recovery, with the result being a healthy business that is able to
function better than ever.
An Innovative Approach to Business, Coupled with Continual
Product Innovation
Acumatica, a prominent provider
of cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, has been calling itself “the
world’s fastest-growing cloud ERP company” for several years now. But growth can
be measured in many different ways – as an absolute or a percentage increase,
measured by revenue, number of customers and/or employees, just to name a few.
This opens the door to multiple competitors claiming that top spot of “fastest
growing.” But as Acumatica shared some statistics at its recent Acumatica
Summit 2020, it would appear that it is indeed moving away from the pack.
As a subsidiary of Swedish
investment firm EQT Partners, Acumatica does not disclose revenue, but does
share some numbers. License revenue from all deployment models grew 72% year
over year. Acumatica signed on 1,300 in 2019, bringing the total to over 6,500.
A year ago there were no user groups. Today there are nine. In 2019, 1,500 people
attended the annual conference. This
year, over 2,500 were in attendance at Acumatica Summit 2020, with thousands
more tuning into the live stream.
Given the growing
acceptance of cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) in recent years, Mint
Jutras has been expecting (hoping) to see at least one of the native cloud
solution providers enter a period of explosive growth. Thus far we have been
disappointed, but now Acumatica appears to be doing just that. How has
Acumatica been able to achieve what others have strived but failed to do? We
see several factors combining synergistically to create a perfect storm to
drive growth. The common theme across all these contributing factors is
Acumatica’s ability to continually innovate, not just in terms of the product,
but in terms of its own business model.
Click
here to read the full report where we will look at how innovation fuels
growth from both of these perspectives, starting with how Acumatica does
business.
Deltek is unique within the world of enterprise applications. Focused squarely on meeting the needs of project-driven businesses, on the one hand, it is like hundreds of other solution providers offering some flavor of project management software. On the other hand, it is unique in offering an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) designed specicially for projects-based businesses. Yes, other ERP vendors target similar industries and also offer complementary project management solutions, but no other vendor combines these two software categories quite like Deltek. In the realm of (just) project management, Deltek must face the challenge of differentiating itself in a highly fragmented market. But in creating a software category where only a single vendor qualifies, a different kind of challenge looms. Competitors bring validation.
While Deltek is
laser-focused on project-based businesses, this “sector” also brings a
tremendous level of diversity. Government contractors are starkly different
than advertising, PR and marketing agencies. Architecture, engineering and
construction (AEC) differs from legal, healthcare or management and IT
consulting services. Energy, oil and gas is different than aerospace and
defense. Operating a for-profit business is different than running a nonprofit.
Some sectors are heavily regulated; others operate under few constraints. Some
manage projects that last days or weeks and others span multiple years. And yet
Deltek addresses the needs of all these different types of project-driven
businesses – and does it very well.
A general-purpose kind of
solution can’t do this effectively, and therefore over the years, through internal
development and acquisition, Deltek has collected quite an array of products, leaving it with the added challenge of
providing continued innovation across a broad portfolio. And yet it has proven
over time its ability to leverage this portfolio to go beyond the traditional
80/20 rule of ERP to deliver last-mile functionality.
And of course, Deltek is
confronted with some universal challenges all software companies face today. Technology
is rapidly changing the way we do business. At the same time, the workforce is
undergoing a generational shift and the access anytime, from anywhere,
collaborative promise of the cloud is becoming a “must have.”
Can Deltek’s plans to
leverage technology for “purposeful innovation” address these challenges and
also unlock the potential for more opportunity for both Deltek itself and its
customers? Let’s see.
The Challenge of Being “One of a Kind”
In today’s global, digital
economy, competition is fierce and every company strives to differentiate
itself. So at first glance, being the only software company competing for
market share in a particular software category may appear to be a good thing. Yet
while it does put that company in a position of strength, it never means
winning business is a slam dunk. Every company has competition, and Deltek is
no exception. On the plus side, Deltek recognizes this and never attempts to
beat its chest and portray itself as truly “one of a kind.” But, the type of
competition it faces will vary depending on what the prospect does and what it sets
out to buy.
If a Deltek prospect, say a
government contractor, is looking for ERP (think accounting, procurement,
inventory, manufacturing, etc.), Deltek will face certain qualified ERP
providers. The prospect may not even necessarily think, “I need to find an ERP
solution to support my project-based business.” Instead it thinks, “I
need a software solution to run my business.” And therefore, Deltek’s
differentiation as ERP for project-driven businesses doesn’t necessarily narrow
the field of competition at the outset. The door is open for any or all ERP
competitors. It then falls on the Deltek sales team to educate the prospect on the
differentiating features for a project-based government contractor. When that
effort is successful, then the tables are turned and that “one of a kind”
status will serve to eliminate the other contenders.
But if the prospect, say a
professional services organization, is simply looking for a better way to
schedule projects, Deltek has moved away from the “one of a kind” challenge.
Here it faces a whole different set of potential competitors in the category of
project scheduling software. And this field is
highly fragmented, with offerings that range from simple desktop
solutions to robust, multi-faceted solutions for budgeting, project accounting,
scheduling, risk management and analytics.
Here oftentimes the issue is
the age-old debate between a suite-based solution or a “Best of Breed,” and
this debate has been hotly contested for just as long. An integrated suite that provides a complete
end-to-end solution (including project management) on which to run your
business has been the holy grail of the ERP world for decades. For
project-based businesses, this is the premise behind Deltek’s ERP. But if the
prospect is just looking for something to help them manage the projects
themselves, putting a full ERP solution in front of them will appear as
overkill.
To better determine where we stand today in this debate, we
asked survey participants in our 2019 Mint Jutras Enterprise Solution Study to
choose between a “Suite in a Box” – a complete end-to-end solution that is
pre-integrated and ready right “out of the box,” or a more “Best of Breed”
approach with a strong core, coupled with the ability to purchase or develop
additional functionality and easily (we use the term loosely) connect it back to
the core. We recognize the choice is not always so cut and dried, and therefore
added some options that are more of a mix but leaning in one direction or the
other. Figure 1 paints an interesting picture, made even more interesting in
the context of project management.
Figure 1: Which approach is most appealing to you?
Source: Mint Jutras 2019 Enterprise
Solution Study
Over time the pendulum has swung back and forth between
preferences for the two choices, predicated primarily on two factors. When the
debate first emerged, the proponents of an integrated suite pointed to the ease
of integration. If you used the functionality built into your ERP, there was no
added cost or effort in integrating multiple applications. But the “Best of
Breed” camp reasoned against this approach, using the “depth or breadth”
argument. They implied integrated suites were a mile wide, but an inch deep,
pointing out that the functionality built in was lighter and less feature-rich
and definitely not “best of breed.” This is the exact assumption Deltek
disproves with its project-based ERP.
And yet, Figure 1 shows the Best of Breed approach is
favored over the full suite 2:1. There are actually some very good explanations
for this preference amongst project-driven businesses.
Take, for example, a small professional services firm with
10 to 20 consultants. This type of small business may think it is too small for
ERP. While Mint Jutras would disagree, we do recognize many might be adequately
served by solutions like QuickBooks or desktop or cloud-based simple accounting
systems. Yet projects are the lifeblood of their businesses and therefore they
need robust tools to schedule and manage those projects.
At the opposite end of the spectrum you might also have
large enterprises that have invested heavily in a corporate ERP system chosen
for its depth and breadth of administrative and financial capabilities. Many of
these corporate ERP solutions lack the operational capabilities required to
help the business function efficiently. And therefore, divisions or entire
corporations turn to Best of Breed solutions to better manage projects. Deltek not
only has that base covered, but also makes it easy to integrate back to any ERP.
Deltek’s
broad portfolio of products helps it turn the challenge of being “one of a
kind” into a strength. Rather than attempting to serve the varied needs of a
very diverse market with a single general purpose, horizontal solution, it
offers several different suites targeting the needs of different verticals, as
well as a more “best of breed” project and portfolio management solution. But
the breadth of its product portfolio comes with its own set of challenges.
The Challenge of Last Mile Functionality in
a Diverse Market
The ERP market has long been
dominated by the 80/20 rule. With few
exceptions, most early solution providers cast a wide net. Unwilling to turn
any potential business away without a try, they came to market with very broad
solutions. By trying to please everyone, they never had a complete solution for
anyone. The 80-20 rule prevailed. Nobody expected a solution to satisfy
all their needs (an 80% fit was often the goal), resulting in complexity, as
well as invasive (and sometimes expensive) customizations that built barriers
to further innovation.
Deltek has been unique in never
succumbing to this 80/20 rule, choosing instead to acquire and develop
purpose-built solutions that address the needs of specific industries,
including what many view as the elusive “last mile functionality.” Its latest acquisition
of ComputerEase is
yet another example of this pursuit. ComputerEase is the recognized standard in
construction accounting, project management, and field management software for
contractors.
Earlier in the year, Deltek acquired
Avitru to bolster its Specification Solutions with a library of master
specifications (MasterSpec®), specification writing software and professional
and spec-writing services. These are just two examples of how Deltek
delivers true last mile functionality to the AEC industry.
While these requirements are
very unique to AEC, even functional areas that might seem quite generic to
other businesses have some unique characteristics across different
project-based businesses. Procurement for government contracts differs (a lot)
from procurement in residential or industrial AEC sectors, and these
differences carry over into accounts payable , otherwise typically a pretty
generic function.
But as different as these
businesses are from each other, they always share some common
requirements. General ledger is general
ledger, even though projects may carry into the chart of accounts. Cash
collection is cash collection. Currency conversion, tax rates and multi-company
consolidations are applied universally.
Both of the acquisitions above
are examples of how Deltek extends the functionality of its core solutions,
rather than embedding features through invasive code changes. Yet the types of
(potentially shared) services are typically built into the core solution,
rather than included as extensions.
Embedding core functionality is reflective of how ERP has
traditionally been built, and Deltek ERP solutions are no exception here. Early
ERP solutions were monolithic structures. They were likely comprised of modules
(e.g. general ledger, accounts payable, inventory management, purchasing, order
management, etc.) and certainly some were optional, but none of these could
stand alone. All modules shared a common database and all were developed using
the same tools and technology. The good news: they all moved forward in lock
step, data redundancy was eliminated along with any need for separate
integration efforts. But this approach makes it hard for different solutions to
share commonly required features and functions and means Deltek must develop
the same or similar functionality within several different software suites.
Disruption: A Contributing Factor
This wasn’t too much of problem when requirements for this
type of core functionality were quite stable. That is no longer the case. We
live in disruptive times. The pace of change and the pace of technology
innovation has accelerated beyond anyone’s expectations and it doesn’t show any
signs of slowing down.
We asked our 2018 Mint Jutras Enterprise Solution Study
participants to assess the level of risk their industries faced in terms of the
potential for disruption.
Figure 2: What risk do you face in your industry being
disrupted?
Source: 2018 Mint Jutras
Enterprise Solution Study
While all but 10% acknowledged some level of risk, the
majority (84%) feel the risk is low to medium rather than high or imminent. Yet
we feel compelled to ask the question: How do you think the taxi industry would
have answered this question on the eve of the launch of Uber? Nobody saw that
disruption coming and therefore few (if any) were adequately prepared.
This type of disruption is unlike the disruption of the past
that was largely due to new innovative products. Not only can it bring change
almost overnight, but it can fundamentally change the way we do business. That
kind of change has a cascading impact on the core requirements of ERP.
Technology Helps
Fortunately, today technology exists that can help companies
like Deltek to address new or changed common requirements once and apply that
solution across different solutions. This kind of technology is foundational.
While early ERP solutions were rigid, monolithic structures,
today’s modern solutions are more component-based, also referred to as
microservices architectures. Every technologist in our audience knows a microservice
architecture is defined as an architectural style that structures an
application as a collection of loosely coupled
services. For those nontechnical readers, think of it as constructing a
solution from a set of Lego building blocks. Purists hate this analogy, and
yes, it is an over-simplification. But it is an effective analogy that
resonates with most business users that don’t have the interest or inclination
to dive deep into technical jargon.
Think about how you build a structure
from Legos. Each Lego block is made of the same kind of material and is
attached (connected) to the other Lego blocks the same way. In many ways they
are interchangeable. But by choosing different colors and sizes, and connecting
them with a different design, you can make a structure that is very unique. And
once constructed, if you want to change it, decoupling some of the blocks and
replacing them doesn’t destroy the parts that are not affected. There is far
less disruption introduced than if you had constructed it with a hammer, timber
and nails.
With this type of architecture, enhancements, customizations
and extensions can be built and consumed much more quickly, and companies like
Deltek can develop functionality once and deploy it across multiple products. Not
all of Deltek’s solutions today are there yet, but that doesn’t mean they can’t
be refactored to take advantage of this kind of technology, and in fact its
Vantagepoint product already does.
This noninvasive approach was
instrumental in bringing a new, modern user interface, Deltek iAccess, to all
its applications. While each Deltek customer will likely be running only
one of Deltek’s ERP solutions, Deltek has been delivering more and more
functionality via cloud-based add-ons, including Deltek CRM, Deltek Resource
Planning and Deltek Talent Management. With iAccess providing that front end
across all products, users experience a consistent look and feel throughout,
making the integration appear seamless. Mint Jutras expects that this kind of
approach will eventually be used to bring change and new innovation to the
different cores as well.
In the meantime, iAccess is also
a step in the right direction to address another challenge – that of the
generational shift in today’s workforce.
The Challenge of A Generational Shift
This generational shift is a given today. Baby Boomers are
retiring at an accelerating rate, passing the torch primarily (but not
exclusively) to Generation X. But it is not the Gen Xers as much as the
Millennials that are creating demand for access to data from anywhere, from any
device, with a new and improved user experience. This generation never knew a
world without the Internet, smart phones and on-demand access to technology.
They never used software that came with (or needed) a user manual. And they are
more transient. Employees don’t come to a company and stay forever or even for
a long time. As more Baby Boomers retire, the tribal knowledge they have
accumulated over decades goes out the door with them, contributing to a skills
shortage.
Many of the younger generation have developed a dependency
on technology. Without decades of experience, they have come to rely on it to
guide them through business processes. At the same time, we’re all asked to do
more, and we’d love to accomplish this without working longer hours and making
sacrifices. Never before has the home/work life balance been more top of mind.
New intuitive user interfaces, like iAccess, are certainly a
giant leap in the right direction. But this is just a start. Deltek is also
taking two other, equally important steps through adding automation and
intelligence.
Robotic Process Automation for the Mundane
Have you ever secretly wished for a personal assistant who
could relieve you of the burden of repetitive, mundane and time-consuming tasks
that really don’t require the kind of smarts or skills you hope you bring to
your job? If you are a Baby Boomer who launched your career in a business
setting back in the 1970’s, you probably had access to the services of a
secretary or an administrative assistant. After all, you couldn’t survive
without one to help navigate the administrative nightmare of a generation that
was completely dependent on paper and manual processes. Today technology has
made us far more self-sufficient, but we’re also expected to get more done – a
lot more. While nobody misses those golden olden days, everyone from every
generation sure could use some help today.
Often called “bots,” Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can in
fact relieve employees of repetitive, mundane and time-consuming tasks. RPA is
part user interface, making use of natural language processing (think Siri or
Alexa for the enterprise) and part artificial intelligence (AI) to help people
automate and complete repetitive tasks in a fraction of the time it has always
taken, without introducing the occasional (but inevitable) human error. Adding
bots to your workforce can boost productivity, thereby helping humans get more
of the “real” work done. It sure would be nice if Deltek customers could
say, “Hey Deltek! Help me out.”
And so…Deltek is partnering with Alirrium, an authorized
reseller of UiPath, a leading Robotic
Process Automation software provider, to offer Deltek customers RPA for
automating processes within and across Deltek solutions, as well as between
Deltek and third party applications.
In addition to natural language processing (NLP) for voice
communication, it will also use optical character recognition (OCR) and in the
future, combine it with machine learning (ML) in order to turn OCR into ICR or
intelligent character recognition. For example, if you take a picture of your
receipt, that added intelligence can distinguish a receipt for a meal from a
parking receipt. In many of the industries served by Deltek even time and
expense reporting is compliance driven. Deltek’s goal therefore is to make it
easy by combining mobile, OCR, machine learning and GEO location tracking to
not only improve efficiency and assure compliance, but also add a level of
intelligence.
Building the Company Brain
While automation is a necessary
step in making companies and people more efficient and productive today, it is
really just the first step in a longer journey. As noted above, Deltek’s
innovation strategy also includes adding intelligence to both processes and
decision-making. Deltek views this journey as an evolution of the company
brain.
Project-based companies today are awash with data from
operations, customers, projects, the workforce… The question is: What to do
with all this data. The possibilities are endless to augment human
decision-making, making it more predictive with AI and ML. Whether they realize
it or not, everyone makes decisions constantly that involve prediction:
What is the probably of winning a deal?
Is this prospect a good fit?
What is the probability of project success?
What will be the schedule outcome?
Will a vendor deliver on time?
What makes an employee a “good employee”?
Who should we hire next?
How can we improve days sales outstanding (DSO)
and cashflow?
In order to make the best decisions, with the most
predictable outcome, we consciously or perhaps unconsciously look for patterns
in data to determine what makes projects, teams and resources successful. But the human brain is limited in how much it
can examine, absorb and analyze. AI and ML know no such limitations and can
operate at speeds that can only be described as super-human. This is power
Deltek is looking to leverage.
An early example of this is its
recently launched Acumen
Touchstone , the first product in the next generation of Deltek’s Project
and Portfolio Management (PPM) tools and a key step towards its Project
Intelligence Cloud (PIC). According to Deltek:
“The Project Intelligence Cloud is a technology refresh
designed to solidify Deltek as the industry leader in the PPM space. This web-based
technology will ultimately have many functions designed for project-based
business, including cost, schedule and risk management, analytics and workflow.”
The immediate benefit of Deltek
Acumen Touchstone is in its time-saving capabilities, automating the project
schedule process. Schedule submissions are analyzed using schedule diagnostic AI
for quality and deliverability. If it does not meet the required standard, the
submitter is automatically emailed a report showing the metric score and
deficiencies to be corrected.
This is the kind of purposeful
innovation that not only helps Deltek overcome its own challenges, but also
assists customers in seizing opportunity.
Wrap Up
In the world of project-driven business, Deltek is both
unique and one of many. As a pure play project management solution provider, it
must differentiate itself in a fragmented market. It does so through its depth
and breadth.
But if you are looking for an ERP solution provider that
focuses exclusively on project-based business, there is only one: Deltek. Yes,
other ERP vendors target similar industries and also offer complementary
project management solutions, but no other vendor combines these two software
categories quite like Deltek.
However, the market in which Deltek competes is far from uniform.
Government contracting, AEC, A&D, professional services, management
consulting, legal, healthcare, creative agencies, energy, oil and gas are all
very different from one another. A one size fits all solution simply doesn’t
work. Deltek’s broad portfolio of products helps
it turn this challenge into a strength. Rather than attempting to serve the
varied needs of a very diverse market with a single general purpose, horizontal
solution, it offers several different suites targeting the needs of different
verticals.
This
too presents its own set of challenges, but advanced technologies like
microservices architecture, cloud-based computing and all the various forms of
AI are the key to turning those challenges into real opportunity. But
leveraging technology for technology sake is not the answer. Purposeful
innovation that effectively leverages technology to produce real, tangible
value is Deltek’s answer. But this is a long and evolutionary process – one
that we will be watching closely, not necessarily from afar, but from the
outside. If you are a project-based business, you might want to consider
watching from inside the fold.
Available Stand-Alone or Fully Embedded within Plex ERP
Late last year (November 2019), Plex Systems announced its manufacturing operations capabilities were available as a best-of-breed, shop floor-specific offering called the Plex Manufacturing Execution Suite (Plex MES). This cloud-based suite is designed to satisfy a full spectrum of manufacturing needs from MES to manufacturing operations management (MOM). While MES capabilities are not new to the Plex solution, this is a departure from the past when those capabilities were always deeply embedded within its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite. Plex MES can now stand alone, alongside any ERP.
Since
2001, Plex Systems has been dedicated to serving the needs of manufacturers (originally
targeting small to mid-size companies and more recently serving larger
enterprise organizations), not only in the back offices, but also deep down
into the shop floor. Its solution reaches well beyond the typical features and
functions of ERP and includes strength in quality, inventory and production management.
In the past, some industry observers and competitors made the assumption that many
Plex customers simply used Plex as a point solution. That assumption was (and is)
just plain wrong.
A
good representative sample of Plex customers has been participating in my
annual Enterprise Solution Studies for many years. Over the years I have
collected data on completeness of solution and employee engagement. Year after
year, Plex customers tend to purchase and deploy a more complete solution than
the typical manufacturer, and the percentage of employees that use the Plex
Manufacturing Cloud (ERP) on a regular basis far exceeds the norm – the average
over the past five years was 77%.
That
begs the question: If Plex has been successful providing a complete suite, why
carve MES out now? Does this reflect a change in philosophy or purpose? I don’t
believe so. I think it is more reflective of the changing times and the needs
of today’s global, digital economy. For those prospects that fit the profile of
a current Plex customer, I don’t think a lot will change. They will continue to
reap the rewards of a complete solution. But it allows Plex to satisfy the
needs of more manufacturers now, not just when (and if) they ever get around to
replacing underperforming ERP solutions. And who knows… perhaps a little (or a
lot) of added value might just provide enough incentive to get rid of those old
solutions that might be holding them back.
Changing Times
What kinds of changes are we talking about? First, the
Internet has changed the world. It has leveled the playing field, bringing unprecedented
opportunity to all manufacturers, but it has also significantly increased the
risk of disruption and the need for speed. The accelerating pace of business
only serves to increase the need for visibility. And yet, even today, the shop
floor remains a black hole. While basic capabilities of ERP help with planning production
and procuring materials, once material is issued to the shop floor, visibility
is quite often lost.
Larger companies struggle with this when their corporate ERP
solutions, chosen for their financial capabilities (think multi-company
consolidation), can’t adequately support their (manufacturing) operations.
Small to mid-size manufacturers are often saddled with legacy solutions that
might have once been “state of the art,” but now simply don’t have the technology
needed to provide the connectivity and agility required. Can you significantly
improve all of the above, but especially this visibility, without a wholesale
replacement of ERP?
The answer is yes, and Plex MES is one way to do it. But is
the market ready? To answer this question, we need to re-examine a debate that
has been waged throughout the world of enterprise applications for decades: choosing
an integrated suite or “Best of Breed” approach. Many ERP vendors have been
preaching the benefits of a complete, end-to-end solution and arguing against
the proliferation of disparate applications for almost as many decades. This is
exactly what Plex has been delivering, but Plex is also changing with the
times.
To get a better sense of preferences today, we asked the
survey participants in our 2019 Enterprise Solution Study to denote their
preference for a “Suite in a Box” – a complete end-to-end solution that is
pre-integrated and ready right “out of the box,” or a more “Best of Breed”
approach with a strong core, coupled with the ability to purchase or develop
additional functionality and easily connect it back to the core. We recognize
the choice is not always so cut and dried, and therefore added some options
that are more of a mix but leaning in one direction or the other. Best of Breed
was preferred more than 2 to 1 over a Suite in a Box (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Which approach is most appealing to you?
Source: Mint Jutras 2019 Enterprise
Solution Study
We combined these results with follow up discussions with
many manufacturing companies. While most are interested in a fully integrated,
fully functional solution, they also want the freedom and flexibility to
implement incrementally, in their own determined sequence. They want the
ability to attack their most pressing needs, without creating a nightmare of
disparate and disconnected solutions. In other words, they want to have their
cake and eat it too.
We find many articulate their desire as a “Best of Breed”
approach because they equate the suite to a monolithic architecture and an “all
or nothing” kind of decision. In some ways that is true, but not entirely so.
Most any ERP solution is comprised of modules (e.g. general ledger, accounts
payable, inventory management, purchasing, order management, shop floor
control, etc.) and certainly some are optional. There is always a preferred
logical sequence to implementation because of dependencies in the data.
Foundational data like charts of accounts, customers and part or product
masters must be established early. But once the foundation is built each
company is free to decide what comes next and how far to go. This is certainly
the case with Plex ERP customers. Most go live when they have the basics
established, but then have further steps planned.
But with a monolithic architecture few, if any of the
modules are designed to stand alone. Sure, you can just implement general
ledger, or inventory management perhaps, but you can’t just implement the MES
that is built into ERP. Or the Quality Management System (QMS). Which is one of
the primary reasons why Plex Systems is actively engaged in decomposing its
monolithic solution and reconstructing it as loosely coupled components. This
represents the first fruit of that labor.
Development platforms and microservices architectures are
key to this decomposition. For the reader with a technical background, a
microservices architecture is defined as an architectural style that structures
an application as a collection of loosely coupled
services. This is the process of decomposition to which Plex refers in its
roadmap. For those nontechnical readers, think of it as constructing a solution
from a set of Lego building blocks. Purists hate this analogy, and yes, it is
an over-simplification. But it is an effective analogy that resonates with most
business users that don’t have the interest or inclination to dive deep in technical
jargon.
Think about how you build a structure
from Legos. Each Lego block is made of the same kind of material and is
attached (connected) to the other Lego blocks the same way. In many ways they
are interchangeable. But by choosing different colors and sizes, and connecting
them with a different design, you can make a structure that is very unique. And
once constructed, if you want to change it, decoupling some of the blocks and
replacing them doesn’t destroy the parts that are not affected. There is far
less disruption introduced than if you had constructed it with a hammer, timber
and nails.
Plex is actively engaged in developing
this type of platform and has already successfully de-coupled MES, but with an
eye on integration capabilities. Importing of data and/or access to data from
external systems is designed into the architecture. Plus, it is delivering
value through other associated technologies, starting with the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT).
Plex’s customers aren’t asking Plex to “decompose” its full
suite, but enterprise customers that operate Plex in some of their divisions,
while also running other “corporate” solutions such as SAP and Workday, see the
benefit of being able to insert (Plex’s) MES in other divisions not currently
running Plex.
Other Plex prospects are also in the midst of a transition
to cloud solutions. This may mean a complete shift, starting with the migration
or replacement of an on-premise ERP solution. Or it may mean a more gradual
shift, often leaving in place on-premise ERP solutions and surrounding them
with cloud-based added apps. Offering MES as a stand-alone solution falls into
this latter category, allowing those running on legacy solutions to take an incremental
step into the cloud, perhaps leaving on-premise ERP in place (for now).
Summary and Conclusion
All this potential for change and disruption, shifting
priorities and technology innovation makes the foundational work Plex is doing
invaluable. And so are the new technologies it is introducing to its solution. If
you are a small to mid-size manufacturer today, or perhaps an operating
division of a large corporate enterprise and you don’t have the operational visibility
you want or need to compete effectively today, Plex MES may just be your ticket
to a whole new view. And it also may be a good first step in becoming a
connected and agile manufacturer.
Challenging the Status Quo, In Pursuit of the Extraordinary
IFS is in hot pursuit of the “challenger.” Being a challenger isn’t
about market position or size, but more of a mindset. It’s about challenging
the status quo, in pursuit of the extraordinary. Challengers have an appetite
for something new. They aim to stand out, to transform their businesses. And
while IFS is committed to empowering the world’s challengers in five select
industries, it is also intent on being a challenger itself in the world of
enterprise applications.
In the eighteen months since Darren Roos took the helm as Chief
Executive Officer (CEO), he has sharpened the focus and brought consistency,
collaboration and authenticity to its global operations, without damaging a
corporate culture built on trust. Already a strong solution provider, IFS has developed
products with deep industry functionality by listening to and working closely
with its customers. That depth is now complemented with embedded, enabling
technology that brings agility, usability, extensibility and more innovation. Under
Darren’s leadership IFS challenges the status quo by being a software solution
provider that prides itself on “Saying what we [will] do, and doing what we say.”
Here we take a look at what IFS has done to enable it to empower the
world’s challengers.
Sharp Industry and Solution Focus
IFS has always focused on asset-intensive and product-centric
businesses, but it has sharpened that focus to five industries:
Aerospace & Defense
Energy, Utilities & Resources
Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure
Manufacturing
Installation, Repair and Maintenance Service
While sometimes prospects might pull it into some related,
under-served markets that share some common characteristics (like mining and
oil & gas), these five are the segments it will use to provide direction to
its product roadmaps and its go-to-market strategy. Unlike some of its
competitors, interested only in grabbing market share, IFS is sticking to the
industries it knows best, and for which its solutions have been designed and
tuned. Rather than offering a general-purpose, one size fits all solution, it
develops one that is purpose-built.
And while some of those same competitors are also trying to
be one-stop shops for all enterprise applications, IFS focuses on three
specific solutions that are individually deployable, yet inherently integrated.
They are:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
Field Service Management (FSM)
However, when combined, these three cover a very broad
footprint. Indeed, many ERP solution providers today claim to provide a
complete “end-to-end” solution, to the extent that it is often hard to tell
where ERP ends and other applications begin. But is this really what companies
want today or is it just another land grab?
We asked our 2019 Enterprise Solution Study participants to
choose between a “Suite in a Box” – a complete end-to-end solution that is
pre-integrated and ready right “out of the box,” or a more “Best of Breed”
approach with a strong core, coupled with the ability to purchase or develop
additional functionality and easily connect it back to the core. We recognize
the choice is not always so cut and dried, and therefore added some options
that are more of a mix but leaning in one direction or the other. Where one
approach was clearly preferred (i.e. not a mix), we found the “Best of Breed”
approach preferred 2:1 over a “Suite in a Box” (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Which approach is most appealing to you?
Source: Mint Jutras 2019 Enterprise
Solution Study
This may seem like the integrated suite versus “Best of
Breed” arguments that have waged throughout the world of enterprise
applications for decades. That debate was always about the tradeoff between
sacrificing “best of breed’ functionality for ease of integration. But there
are some subtle and not so subtle differences. Nobody today is willing to
sacrifice features and functions. And everyone wants an integrated solution. But
they also want it “their way” and at their own pace. And they don’t necessarily
like to be locked in with a single solution or vendor.
ERP itself is an integrated suite. Mint Jutras defines ERP
as an integrated suite of modules that provides the operational and
transactional system of record of your business. As such, it is comprised of modules,
some of which are core to any business (e.g. general ledger, accounts payable, accounts
receivable, purchasing, order management, etc.) and some specific to a type of
business. Product-centric businesses, particularly manufacturers, also need
logistics and production capabilities. But ERP doesn’t necessarily address the
needs of sales, service or marketing. And seldom does it address all the
special needs for asset maintenance and management or field service.
For these asset-intensive industries, IFS has chosen to
address the special needs of field service (FSM) and enterprise asset
management (EAM), but don’t expect it to acquire or develop a CRM system any
time soon. It will leave sales and
marketing to the likes of Salesforce and Marketo, and payroll to the likes of
ADP, Paychx and CloudPay. And it is not afraid to use technology from partners
like Microsoft to address industry-specific needs like ITAR (International
Traffic in Arms Regulations) compliance in the United States.
Of course, a lot of development effort internally goes into
developing and innovating these solutions. But IFS has also invested in
acquisitions, including the acquisition
of Workwave in 2017, and the most recent
announcement of a definitive agreement to acquire Astea Technologies, a
well-recognized player in the FSM arena. According to the announcement, “The
combined company will have strengthened leadership position in Field Service
Management (FSM) by integrating two of the most established and well recognized
players in the market.”
It is clear, IFS will stick with what it knows best,
leveraging its deep domain expertise, but also provide strong integration
capabilities. This is not only possible today, but is also the key attraction
to the most popular option in Figure 1 – the ability to assemble exactly what
is needed, with the caveat that it must be easily connected back to the core…
which brings us to the product(s).
Delivering on its Promises
IFS prides itself on the philosophy of transparency: We say
what we do and do what we say. But the cadence and volume of innovation is also
important. IFS has a spring and fall release each year. But it is also
establishing an ‘evergreen’ approach, which gives customers the option to
always be on the latest version of their applications without the disruptions
that come with full-scale upgrades. The applications are continuously updated, and
new features are optional.
This re-imagined application life-cycle experience does not
require the customer to be running in the cloud. Unlike other vendors that seem
more intent on being the biggest (in the cloud) than on delivering what
customers really want, IFS offers the choice between cloud and on-premise, with
the same software available regardless of which deployment option is chosen.
While there are some obvious advantages to the cloud, including this
‘evergreen’ approach, IFS offers no incentives to move to the cloud, leaving
the choice entirely up to the customer.
Architecture is Key
The secret behind IFS’ ability to keep a steady cadence of
both features and technology improvements is the attention it has paid to
laying the proper foundation. Oftentimes today, in selecting a new ERP (or FSM
or EAM), there is a tradeoff between a solution that has matured over years or
even decades, and one that has been developed more recently, based on the
latest and greatest technology. IFS is one of the very few solution providers
today that has survived the evolution from mainframes to component-based, cloud
native architectures, without abandoning its original solutions or leaving them
behind to ride out their final years on old and outdated technology.
“IFS has been evolving its
technology foundations over an intensive and sustained period of engineering
development.”
This statement was included in its recent announcement
of what it calls its “evolved industry-focused architecture.” Scheduled for
availability in 2020, this new architecture will lay the foundation for IFS’s
entire portfolio of products.
“In essence, this new approach
will allow customers to integrate enabling technologies such as internet of
things (IoT), augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR), artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning (ML) in pragmatic and focused ways so they can optimize,
automate, predict and interact better across their business.”
But IFS customers don’t have to wait until next year to reap
some benefits. The current underlying architecture is already component-based
and this is, in fact, how IFS has been successful in delivering last mile
functionality, not only to its declared focus industries, but also to
individual verticals within those segments. Process manufacturing industries,
like food and beverage, provide the perfect example. Keeping up with different
regulatory requirements across the globe has always been a challenge, but one
IFS has readily accepted. But it has not burdened other industries with the
specific requirements needed for compliance. Instead, it has developed a series
of components that can be assembled and integrated seamlessly into the core ERP
product.
How does this work and how does it set IFS apart from rivals
that have similar maturity of feature/function, but perhaps not the technology
enablement to meet rising expectations today?
In the past legacy solutions were developed as monolithic
structures. Adding very narrowly focused features and functions added to the
complexity of the solution and also made it rigid, hard to maintain and
innovate. IFS was among the early pioneers in moving away from this monolithic
approach. Its journey to a component-based architecture began in 1994 when it
introduced its Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). Today it is moving
steadily towards a microservices architecture, with specific mention of
container technology and Kubernetes,
but that is a more technical discussion than most business leaders care to dive
into.
Every technologist in our audience knows a microservices
architecture is defined as an architectural style that structures an
application as a collection of loosely coupled
services. For those nontechnical readers, think of it as constructing a
solution from a set of Lego building blocks. Purists hate this analogy, and
yes, it is an over-simplification. But it is an effective analogy that
resonates with most business users that don’t have the interest or inclination
to dive deep into technical jargon.
Think about how you build a structure
from Legos. Each Lego block is made of the same kind of material and is
attached (connected) to the other Lego blocks the same way. In many ways they
are interchangeable. But by choosing different colors and sizes, and connecting
them with a different design, you can make a structure that is very unique. And
once constructed, if you want to change it, decoupling some of the blocks and
replacing them doesn’t destroy the parts that are not affected. There is far
less disruption introduced than if you had constructed it with a hammer, timber
and nails.
IFS has already evolved from the era of the mainframe,
through the client/server era where the graphical user interface (GUI)
dominated, followed by web-enablement and the cloud era. IFS has declared the
next era to be the era of intelligent and autonomous enterprise solutions.
In a world where self-driving cars are a reality, why shouldn’t enterprise
applications be smart enough to automate processes and help you make
intelligent, data-driven decisions? So how is this transition coming along?
Tracking IFS Progress
When the latest IFS Applications 10 was announced last year
at its 2018 World Conference, it included new features and functions, but also
introduced some key areas that show IFS moving in this general direction. Let’s
take a look back on each and get an update.
A New User Experience (UX)
IFS Applications 10
introduced a brand new, intuitive user experience, called IFS Aurena. The new UX
was well received when initially launched. It has now been extended across all
IFS solutions (FSM, ERP, and EAM), and (impressively) it was delivered ahead of
schedule. Aurena provides customers with a truly responsive design. This means
it responds to the environment on which it is used, based on screen size,
platform and orientation. Whether you use it on iOS, Android or Windows, the
applications take advantage of the native capabilities of the device, giving
them a familiar look and feel, with support for offline scenarios and
device-specific capabilities such as GPS and camera. In addition, IFS
Aurena BOT is now generally available. This is essentially a virtual assistant
that allows the user to interact with the system via voice or text. It can
connect to any of the popular messenger apps (Skype, Skype for Business,
Facebook Messenger, etc.) and is making use of artificial intelligence (AI) to
make it an intelligent bot.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
Last year IFS started adding APIs to open its applications
to new paths to extensibility and integration. Whether you prefer a Suite in a
Box or a Best of Breed approach, nobody runs a single application today. And no
application can afford to be an island. IFS has now developed over 15,000 APIs,
which means connecting, extending or integrating into the IFS core is quick and
easy. As
a new
member of the OpenAPI Initiative (OAI), IFS promotes open
applications in order to give customers and partners total freedom to develop
and connect data sources to drive value in a way that is meaningful to
them. IFS Aurena uses the same set of APIs which are now generally
available for every function in every IFS application.
Connecting Smart Devices
IFS is constantly
evaluating the potential new digital technologies have in providing real value
to its customers. Projects are led by a small development group called IFS
Labs. IFS Labs is focused on solving the problems of tomorrow – or perhaps the
problems and opportunities customers don’t (yet) realize they already have. With
this approach, IFS Labs hopes to provide guidance and inspiration to influence
customers to disrupt, rather than be disrupted.
But this is not
technology for technology sake. These endeavors are essentially “proof of
concept” projects, often conducted with real, live customers in order to solve
real problems. IFS Labs keeps the projects small because, with the requisite
license to fail, it must decide to pursue the concept and apply it universally
or fail fast in order to move on to the next potentially disruptive project.
Much of this
pioneering, experimental work is done quietly in the Lab and yet the results of
several of these projects were demonstrated at the most recent IFS World
Conference.
On stage and on the
Exhibition floor at the 2019 World Conference, attendees watched as Marvin, a
small, self-driving, robotic forklift delivered materials to the shop floor. Marvin
is very real and working at Cheer Pack, a US manufacturer of spouted pouches
used in the packaging of baby food, children’s snacks, yogurts, pet foods,
dressings, condiments and other food & non-food items… and an IFS customer.
While humans are still
loading and unloading the materials, CheerPack intends to connect it directly
to material handling equipment in the future to further automate the
process. In the meantime, no human is
involved in guiding the little robot to its pickup and drop off locations. ERP
drives what it carries and where it goes.
The audience also
watched as remote technicians guided the diagnosis and repair of Marvin. Think
of it as Facetime for the enterprise. An operator on stage was able to share a
live view of Marvin with a remote technician, who was able to guide her through
the diagnosis and resolution of the problem. Think of the possibilities this
might present to asset-intensive companies running a 24/7 operation, but with
technicians only on site one shift. Or those operating in remote parts of the
world where it makes no economic sense to have technicians remain on site
constantly when they are seldom needed.
Attendees of the
conference could also don a HoloLens and be guided through the replacement of
an integrated circuit board. While this type of augmented reality has been
available for a while, in the past it was hard to operate and required far too
much skill and use of the wearer’s hands, when in fact the biggest benefit
should be for hands-free operation. This
technology has now reached the level of maturity where a novice (like the
author) can pick up the device and use it with little or no instruction.
While some might call them “next gen” capabilities, these
are among those IFS has deemed to be “now gen,” ready for prime time. But these
efforts continue.
Look for the introduction of a new Machine Learning (ML)
Service coming in 2020. While asset-intensive industries are ripe with
possibilities for accelerating the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in
practical ways and connecting applications to devices and the Internet of
Things (IoT), there are also challenges. It is very difficult to prepare the
right data, often requiring a data scientist and competency in machine learning
technologies. There is always the risk of a communication breakdown between those
data scientists and technologists and business leaders with business goals.
The new ML Service
is being designed to be easy to use, enabling business users to solve specific
business problems with the automated selection of ML algorithms, based on their
own data. These new services will be “explainable.” In order to build trust in
the data and the algorithms, ML can’t be a black box. The user should be able
to understand why an algorithm is being used. IFS agrees.
Expanding and Strengthening the Ecosystem
In conjunction with
opening up its architecture with APISs and modern component architectures, IFS
is also investing in its partners. Its mission is to triple the resources, but
also create one IFS team, while providing its customers more choice. Many
customers prefer to work directly with a more local partner, but since IFS
requires all to be 100% certified on the applications, customers should see no
difference in quality in working with IFS or a partner.
While in the past
partners were very likely to build customizations for customers, we see a huge
potential for them to transition to building extensions. As IFS opens up its
platform to partners, this presents an opportunity for them to package up
potential modifications, providing themselves further revenue sources while
also extending the IFS applications deeper into the vertical and even micro-vertical
segments within the sectors in which IFS plays well. This removes barriers to
consuming IFS innovation that customizations create, while also creating
opportunity for IFS, its partners, and its customers.
Summary and Key Takeaways
IFS customers don’t necessarily hold the top spots in their
chosen fields. As a result, the old advertising slogan, “We’re number two. We
try harder” might very well apply.
To IFS “For the challengers” means:
Helping customers differentiate
Focusing on industries and solution sets
Providing agility and better time to value
Value and results for the customer
Choice – how licenses are consumed, and software
is deployed and who delivers (partners, IFS, both)
IFS clearly believes in the world’s challengers, encouraging
and enabling then to gain a competitive advantage and create value through
innovation. In support of these beliefs, it is focused on providing its
customers value by delivering on three key enablement points:
The software used to run the business in select
asset-intensive, product-centric industries, namely ERP, EAM and FSM
Enabling technology that helps its customers
keep pace with our rapidly changing world
Data needed to drive effective decision-making
And at the same time, IFS sees itself as one of those
challengers. It’s not the biggest enterprise solution provider, but still it
strives to disrupt, rather than be disrupted. In reaching for this objective,
it has sharpened its focus on five industries, with three solution categories.
With functionality that is broad, deep and industry-specific, it also continues
to take advantage of new and enabling technologies. It chooses to embed these
technologies rather than use them to milk the cash cow of their installed base.
Whether you are a challenger in one of IFS’ chosen
industries, or whether you aspire to be, you might want to take a closer look
at IFS.
Acumatica Summit 2020 will be at the Cosmopolitan in
Las Vegas, NV January 27 – 28, 2020. Those who are proud to be called “techies”
can come a day early for a Hackathon, and any and all can stay longer to attend
two more days of training. As an
industry analyst I have attended more conferences than I can count. Many are
over-hyped and just plain boring. But I have to admit, this is one I actually
look forward to each year. Here’s why.
Timing
First of all, the timing is right. Most of these events are
held in the spring or fall, which means I am (usually) on the road eight or
nine out of nine or ten weeks at a time, sometimes attending one or two events
a week – once in a while hitting three in a single week. No wonder most just
tend to blur together. And it’s not just me. Attendees are juggling their kids’
school and sports activities, and maybe even school vacations. But by the end
of January, I will have mostly been off the circuit for a couple of months. For
other attendees… while nobody is taking a long winter nap, schedules aren’t quite
so packed. And if you live up north, like I do, you might just be ready to go someplace
warm for a few days.
And… there’s no football to watch that weekend. The AFC and NFC
Championships will have played out and two lucky teams and their fans will be
preparing for the Super Bowl the following weekend.
Access to Acumatica Top Brass
For a company that sells exclusively through partners, the top-level
executives at Acumatica are amazingly accessible. That includes CEO Jon
Roskill, Founder and CTO Mike Chtchelkonogov (Mike C for short), and Chief
Product Officer Ali Jani. It is not uncommon for Mike C and Ali to visit
customers and they love to engage directly with users. They are very
approachable at the Summit.
Network with an Engaged Community
The Acumatica community is very engaged. That not only
includes the Acumatica staff and its partners, but the end users as well. So,
if you are looking to network, discuss ideas, offer constructive criticism or
praise, the Summit is the place to do it. There’s nothing like the kind of
personal interaction you get from meeting others with common interests and most
attendees are more than happy to share their experience.
Product Tips and News
Of course, if you just want to keep to yourself and attend
sessions, the Summit is a great place to learn more about the current product, the
latest innovation and plans for the future. Plus, you can get tips on
implementation and getting the most out of yours.
Cool Keynotes
In addition to hearing the latest from Acumatica execs, Acumatica
always has a very interesting guest speaker. Not the fluffy kind of celebrities
that pretend they know a lot about running a business, (most should stick to
show business) but presenters with some substance. This year you’ll hear Robert
Ballard, renowned ocean explorer, scientist, and discoverer of the Titanic.
Sessions for Everyone
All sorts of different people attend the Summit. There are
sessions for all attendees, including some that are geared towards
specific editions (manufacturing, construction, field service, eCommerce…). But
there are also sessions for the developers in the crowd, including Acumatica
xRP Framework Fundamentals and Web Services (and more). And there are sessions
dedicated to partners on topics ranging from pricing to sales strategies,
to best practices for co-selling with ISVs.
I’m Usually on a Panel
Typically, I am on a panel with other Industry Analysts
talking about trends in ERP. Sometimes we’re joined by customers. While I won’t
pretend this is the best reason for you to attend, I promise to make it
entertaining!
And so…
These are the reasons I am looking forward to Acumatica
Summit 2020. And if you are an Acumatica customer, or thinking about becoming
one, or if you are an Acumatica partner, you just might want to attend as well.
I’ll see you there!
Sage Intacct has been on
this journey towards an Intelligent General Ledger (GL) for several years. The
company’s goal has been to relieve
finance leaders of the burden of routine accounting tasks, while also bringing
them visibility to data, along with the necessary tools to provide actionable
insights that will lead to growth and profits. Many finance leaders today are
spending 80% of their time on accounting, leaving only 20% available to think
and act on a more strategic level. An “Intelligent GL” is really all about
flipping that ratio. Of course, no piece of software can magically turn a bean
counter into a strategist. But it can help you build trust in your data and
decisions, and provide you the time and the tools you need to dig deeper,
analyze, predict and prescribe a course of action.
And therefore, although an
Intelligent GL is a lofty goal, the real value will come from diffusing this
intelligence beyond the GL, beyond finance, leveraging it across all aspects of
the enterprise. But then, isn’t that what strategic thinking (and doing) is all
about? While Sage Intacct doesn’t profess (or pretend) to provide an end-to-end
solution, a strong, “best of breed” financial management solution can indeed
serve as a solid foundation on which to build a strategy that leads to
profitable growth.
Click
here for a closer look at Sage Intacct’s path to providing an Intelligent
GL and what it can mean to your business.
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