Something to Consider September 2018 – The Role of ERP in Digital Transformation

What is the Role of ERP in Digital Transformation?

MIT researchers Thomas Davenport and George Westerman wrote a fascinating article on digital transformation and concluded:

“Digital is not just a thing that you can buy and plug into the organization…It is multi-faceted and diffuse, and doesn’t just involve technology. Digital transformation is an ongoing process of changing the way you do business. It requires foundational investments in skills, projects, infrastructure…it requires mixing people, machines, and business processes, with all of the messiness that entails.”

Forrester found that 56% of companies have official digital transformation projects underway. They also found that “many don’t realize that transformation will be a permanent state of being” and that 21% of businesses think they are “finished” with digital transformation.

Business Transformation, “Digital” or otherwise, is about markets, business models, customers, products, service delivery and, of course, enabling technology (including ERP). Companies have spent a lot of time and money getting their ERP systems to work, so are reluctant to change. But changing it is crucial if a business is serious about adopting digital technologies to advance and not be held back by legacy systems. The ERP remains the brains of the business. But it needs intelligence for a new age.

Our article this week delves into some key issues around ensuring your ERP doesn’t stall progress that companies are making in other areas. You can read it here​​​

Our ‘Something To Consider’ snippets are framed as small, digestible, ‘dashes of insight’ around the pillars of what we define as “World Class Finance” – Process Optimization, Financial Control and Compliance, and Risk Assurance, all underpinned by technology enablement and integration.