A real-world case study on modernising a business with the help of cloud ERP was provided by Matthew Grey, managing director of OSL Cutting Technologies, during his keynote at The Manufacturer Leaders Conference this morning.
When it comes to cloud technology – or indeed any adoption of digital technology, there is a tendency to overcomplicate things.
Recognising that approach, Matthew Grey and his team decided to break their strategy down in to its simplest basic parts – i.e. what is that the business currently does? What is that the business wishes it could do? What are the implications of any changes that the business makes?
According to Grey, there were six things OSL Cutting Technologies wanted to achieve:
- The ability to pick up a business and drop it into our system without a huge amount of processing required.
- Build simple reporting to drive strategic and operational decisions
- Automate its processes to improve lead-times and reduce costs
- Get closer to customers via an online platform
- Easily evolve its business model as market conditions shift or strategic direction changes
- Tailor its system to suit its needs
Martin Grey was speaking at The Manufacturer Leaders Conference which is co-located with Smart Factory Expo and is taking place this week at Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
Oracle|Netsuite is exhibiting at Smart Factory Expo – you can find them at Stand (S)08
You can follow all of the action through the hashtag #UKmfgWeek on Twitter.
Integrating cloud technology, however, were likely to result in a number of implications for the business, particularly regarding the cultural shift required. Additionally, the core competencies required, the capital investment and scalability needed, new processes implemented, new governance embedded and handling the data involved.
The cloud technology solution OSL Technologies opted for was supplied by Oracle|Netsuite, who were chosen for a number of different reasons, as Grey went on to explain.
“The solution needed to support each of our core competencies which drive competitive advantage: purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, reporting and acquisition. Obviously, it also needed to be cloud-based and scalable, alongside offering easy upload functionality, flexible software, a fully integrated solution and strong project management methodology.
“In addition, we wanted strong reporting and dashboard capabilities, and an open multi-platform with plug-in modules. The Oracle|Netsuite solution ticked all of those boxes,” Grey added.