Happenings in the Arena !!!

By S.Suren

In this posts I thought I'll mention some of the important events that have taken places during the last couple of months in the ERP Arena !!

The Satyam Saga

Satyam, one of India's largest IT Companies providing outsourcing services for more than 500 customers, had a tough time during the last few months, mainly due to the mismanagement of funds and hence the bogus values shown on their financial statements. The issue came to light when the CEO of the company tried to influence the company to purchase his son's contruction company and thereby fill in the fictious assets reported in the financial statements with real ones. All this led to the CEO being imprisoned and new a board of directors being appointed by the indian government to look into the operations of the company, more like a bail out but with personnels involved.

From an ERP Industry's point of view, Satyam is supposed to be the 2nd largest firm providing services for SAP, with involvement with most of SAP's most profitable and in demand industry solutions. It was also reported, that SAP could perhaps take over Satyam, since this would be the best time given its weak stocks and also considering Satyam's importance to SAP. I shall keep this blog updated with whatever ensues on this.

HCL gets AXON

After all the prolonged negatiations that took place between HCL and AXON, a London court had finally given the go ahead for HCL to acquire AXON. The acquisition was valued at GBP 441.1 million (468.3 million Euro), making it the largest acquisition in tech space by any Indian company. Infosys too was interested in acquiring AXON but HCL overbid them. This acquisition makes HCL one of the largest SAP Implementation companies in the world.

Alloy Out

Its finally been revealed on what SAP and IBM were working on with their new project. Alloy, is the name given to the jointly developed product by SAP and IBM, which combines IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP Business Suite. With the large market share that both these companies have in their respective areas, this product could very well be marketed very aggressively. As of now, its been reported that both these companies will sell this product.

SAP General Update

SAP, now has 25 Industry Solutions and have over 76000 customers (including the customers after the BO buy),and now SAP operates in over 120 countries and is listed on the NYSE and the Frankfurt stock exchange.

Hope you found this post informative. Have a nice day !!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Seeing through the Crystal Ball !!

By .S.Suren

There has been enough debate and discussion on many blogs on how the downturn is likely to affect the ERP Industry and so on. However what can we expect in this industry once the global economy begins to look up again, everything needs to change sometime and so will this.

It was a given that there are certain industry solution of leading ERPs that will continue to be in high demand for the next few years at least, however that was before the global turmoil that caused the recession of the century, so now where do these industry solutions stand. As the “Only thing that is certain in this world is change itself” – as Mgt Guru Tom Peters says, we can expect that these industry would pick up again for the lost time, however there will be many changes that will be forced upon these industry when it comes out of its bad patch, and ERP Vendors should by then have realized the best way to cope with this change in terms of, the implementation methodology of projects after this period of lullness, ERP Selection patterns of potential customers, etc. Trying to follow the same approach of an ERP Implementation would not be bringing in any change, it’s probably too early for anyone to forecast what this change should be, but by keeping options open you could just be a step above the rest.

By now you are probably wondering what these industries we are talking about could be? Let me give you a heads up. Related industries to areas such as Transportation, Energy, Consumer Durables and Banking and Financial Services are likely to be those that will be the main hunting grounds for IT Service Providers.

It is important that with all that is happening around the ERP Industry, we shouldn’t get carried away and lose track of optimizing software architecture and service methods such as SOA and SaaS. Since these would definitely form the platform on which future solutions will be designed on.

Given all of the above, some of the other important areas that need to addressed when the economy picks up again would be such things as middle ware and tools deployable within the industry concentration, support for openness and standards with integrated systems, industry applications strategy would be very vital and last but not the least the mid market strategy, on how best to approach this segment, it’s not necessarily going to be the big firms that are going to be looking for new system but rather the middle market ones, that was how the trend was before the global economic meltdown and that’s how it will be again on the other side as well.

Hope you found this post informative and interesting. I shall update more on this topic and focus on how individual consultants new to the ERP Consulting field should prepare themselves for the time to come.

Have a nice day!!

Any suggestions, comments and questions can be sent to ssurenlk@msn.com.

Getting ready for an Enterprise Resource Planning System?

By S.Suren

This is my second posts on this subject. My first post on this subject highlighted some important dos and don’ts when going for an ERP System; in this posts I will be highlighting a few more. Most of what I write on this blog comes from my ERP Implementation experiences with many different companies, if you have anything to add, do contribute.

Think beyond the limits -

Being a Financial Consultant, generally when I come across requirement gatherings, the clients often discuss about generating Financial Statements and the various inputs that need to go into it, but any system can generate financial statements. I would feel more time should be spent on analyzing cost specific activities in the last years, check out their trends and devise measures to reduce those, look for reports to highlight profitability based on product, customers, sales persons etc. Check out these trends and compare with competitors figures (guesstimates) and thereby assist with decision making at the higher management level. You may want to use financial ratios to measure your company’s performance against your competitors.

Identify your business life blood and those that are not –

It is a common practice by the business team to bring in all the processes in the business when preparing the RFP. In this process what generally happens is there is a lot of discussion within the business team and brain storming would be done on as many of the processes possible. However in this stage there is tendency for the business team to concentrate in their core area and discuss about specific issues that does not have a direct impact on the overall business process. However as with ERPs, all modules are integrated and the best results are achieved only when the integration is smooth. Therefore, it is very important to keep in mind the entire business process and the critical issues that need to be eliminated, when preparing an RFP.

Integration is Important -

Integration is key and it very important that you always consider the integration facilities your ERP is to have with the other systems operating in your business, this could help in you have a tight control of various process that span across different systems. Its best to link all functions internally and linking to customers, suppliers, and other business partners externally can dramatically reduce lead times and waste throughout the supply chain.

You can streamline operations and gain a competitive edge by integrating supply chain, customer relationship management and human resource management applications. When evaluating ERP systems, always check to see how seamlessly they integrate with other system as I mentioned earlier. Remember tight integration will save you time, enhance better controls, promote greater efficiencies, and add value to your business.

More to follow soon; hope you found this post informative and interesting. Feel free to contact me on ssurenlk@msn.com.

Have a nice day!!

AXON takes central stage !!

By S.Suren,

AXON, a London headquartered SAP Consulting company is being sought after by 2 large Indian IT Firms as a possible take over candidate. HCL and Infosys are the 2 companies biding for AXON, and it has been suggested that this take-over could very well build up into a bidding war. As of the now the initial bid proposed by Infosys is for 600 pence p.s saw a counter offer from HCL for 650 pence p.s. Together with these 2 large firms, it estimated that other European and Japanese firms are also having second thoughts of getting into the bidding game, no details have been exposed as yet.

In one my previous article I had mentioned how the subcontinent was being termed the big boy's backyard and how major ERP Vendors experiencing the talent crunch at present is looking to this region to satisfy their needs. Of whats happening right now with the take-over bid and the increasing amount of SAP Partner companies emerging in the subcontinent it very well goes on to prove that this could be the hot bed for other ERP Companies to follow suit very soon.

I hope you found this post informative and interesting. I shall update more on the whats happening on the above as and when things materialise.

Have a nice day !!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Seeing through the cracks in the Wall !!

By S.Suren

I thought I’ll post this article to keep you aware on whats happening with the global economy. Generally, though we are mostly preoccupied with whats happening in the ERP Arena, it’s also important that we know whats going on around us, since something of this nature could definitely have an impact into many other supporting industries.

The global economy has been experiencing a recession throughout 2008; right from the beginning we have seen major companies feel the pinch. In the last 6 months itself we have seen 3 of the top investment companies in the world disappearing. In March, Bear Sterns’s collapse shocked the markets, and now with what happened on “Bloody Sunday” – September 15th, we see that ML is being bought over by Bank of America for $50 B, Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy after 158 years of operations and AIG’s making preparation for its announcement after it experienced a 61% fall in shares, it sure does signal that the coming signs don’t look too good.

Generally there has been a notion that companies tend to implement new systems when there is a slowdown, if this is indeed the case, it probably because they have can spend more time and prepare themselves better during this lull period. Perhaps this does hold true, given the fact that some ERP Vendors are experiencing higher demand and increasing pay rates for their consultants, and this in turn is leading to better oppurtunities throughout the industry. All this will definitely get more interesting as time goes by, and perhaps this recession could be just short lived, however it’s believed that the last time something like this happened, the expert investor suggested that it was just a temporary phase, and they were wrong.

It’s important that we as ERP Consultant keep a close eye on these events since it could very well have an impact on everything we do as well, I shall keep posting more as and when things materialize.

Read more about the Economic Crisis on “Economic crisis of 2008”.

Hope you found this post informative and interesting.

All the very best…!!!

Reverse Engineering Consulting

By S.Suren:

The term reverse engineering is normally something you would come across in the mechanical or industrial engineering field, where object are dismantled into pieces and then put together again in a manner that increases their operational efficiently etc. Well when it comes to consulting, we as consultant’s first need to understand the customers end requirements, emphasizing on the word “end”.

It’s normally the case that over anxiety and enthusiasm leads to the consultant jumping into conclusions and proposing solutions even before the exact end requirements of the clients have been identified. Its not actually the consultants fault, it’s just that he/she wants to make an impression and give the best to the clients, that they are looking to make things happen before actually identifying the base of the client’s needs.

This reminds of the hysterical email with the different sequence of pictures showing that the customer’s requirement was for a simple tire swing hanging from a tree, when the consultant proposed a solution that was a half constructed roller coaster.

Anyway coming back to reverse engineering consulting, it’s the method in which as a consultant you would look at the final outcome the client needs and then begin to work backwards to define and design the necessary processes and practices to be set up and practiced in the business operations.

Looking at it from an ERP Consultants point of view, I would first recommend that you collect the final reports that would be generated from a particular process and then begin working backwards using this report as a base in identifying all the processes throughout the operations involved. This method works very well with MIS reports set as the base. Also remember not to get carried away in designing processes and methods which would again be generating the exact same report information, but try to give them something new, make the leading processes more efficient, take into account exemptions to the process followed etc.

Generally the thinking is that being an ERP Consultant, it’s assumed that what we can deliver rests in what the system has to provide, but if you have the domain experience feel free to express your thoughts on possible best practices to the irreplaceable manual activities that are performed around a system, after all no system is good enough to completely automate all operations of a business, though some managers expect them to, if this were the case, there wouldn’t be those innovative companies that have changed the way we do things. Most importantly remember no system can ever replace the desire and potential of an enthusiastic person.

There are more areas in the consulting field where we could practice this technique of reverse engineering style consulting, which of course is easier said than done, but it’s up to you!! I shall post more of these in the future.

Hope you found this article informative and interesting. Feel free to send in your comments and suggestions to ssurenlk@msn.com.

Have a nice day!!!

SAP’s Business Intelligence solution offerings:

By S.Suren

In my previous article I had mentioned the takeover syndrome that was present in the ERP Arena, and how some companies poached up some other relative mature companies providing Business Intelligence Solutions. Read "The Take-Over Syndrome".

In this article I thought I’ll details out how SAP’s Business Intelligence Solutions offering have changed after the takeover of Business Objects this year January for $6.8 B. It a known fact that prior to the takeover of BO by SAP, BO had itself taken over one of the most commonly used report designing tool, known as Crystal Report. Now with Crystal Report in SAP’s arsenal, it was announced that this is going to be SAP’s main enterprise-grade reporting tool.

On its BI Platform, SAP has revealed that Business Objects XI is going to be SAP’s main BI Platform. One of the main reason for doing this is, BO’s XI being able to access non-sap data sources unlike SAP Net weaver BI.

SAP is also diving deep into Predictive Analysis with Business Objects. Business Objects™ Predictive Workbench is the new tool offering data mining and predictive analytics integrated with Business Objects XI 3.0, the industry’s first unified business intelligence (BI) platform. Given the current economic climate experienced in the world market this solution is going to be up there for the grabs.

Another product that is expected in 2009 is a solution combining the functionalities of the BEx Analyzer and Business Objects Voyager.

Some of the products and solution offerings that SAP is likely to phase out during the coming years are, SEM-BCS, BEx Report Designer, BEx Web Analyzer and BEx Excel Analyzer. These offering will be replaced by one or more of the above mentioned products and solutions.

With close to $7 B going into the acquisition of Business Objects and the large amounts of R&D already spent on SAP’s BIW solutions, it is only likely that the new products and solution offerings are going to come attached with a fancy price tag, only time will tell, and when it does I shall keep this site updated with the details.

Hope you found this article informative. Your suggestions and feedbacks are welcome on ssurenlk@msn.com.

Have a nice day!!

Curtains comedown on TommorowNow !!

By S.Suren

Its finally happened, the much anticipated outcome of the acquisition of TomorrowNow by SAP is finally here. SAP has opted to close down their much troubled subsidiary TomorrowNow, this would come as a major suprise, as this was bound to happen, given ORACLEs continuous lawsuits and the higher management of TomorrowNow moving out one after another.

Its estimated that the 225 customers of TomorrowNow will now be asked to move back to ORACLE for support and future needs. How smooth this transition is going to be, is to be seen.
However, with regard to the lawsuit files by ORACLE, the final hearing is still pending and expected during the mid of next year. I shall keep you updated on the latest on that, with the expected settlement at a $1B, it going to be hard to miss.

With the global recession having its say on Fortune 500 companies too, its understandable that supporting industry are feeling the pinch too and IT is most often considered a supporting industry.

Hope you found this post informative.

Have a nice day !!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Challenges in the Apparel Industry and SAP’s Solutions for them – Article 3:

By S.Suren

Continuing from my previous posts, I shall in this article give you more insight into the challenges faced by companies in the Apparel & Footwear Industry and how SAP AFS Industry Solution caters to them.

• Poor on time delivery


This is a common problem in the AFS Manufacturing Environment, especially for those companies that have overseas operations and have a lengthy supply chain. Delivery dates of the final product is a crucial deadline given the ever so quickly changing fashion trends, and not to the mention the cost of alternative means of transport selected at the last minute to stick to delivering the product on time.

Given this condition SAP AFS has some useful functionality that caters to these needs:

Allocation Run – also known famously as ARUN, this allocation procedure helps determines the best usage of the existing stocks to meet the requirements of those sales orders that would deliver the best return in terms of customer satisfaction. This function is quite unique to the AFS Environment, as it provides many different built in rules and definable rules that are very much in line with the process built in and around the Sales & Distribution functions of the AFS Industry.

Order scheduling Strategy is an additional process in AFS SD processing that helps to optimize the delivery dates for each item. You can define rules to take account of special customer requests or general business requirements. This process also serves in allocating inventory to key customers in liaison with the Allocation Run procedure described above.


For more information visit: LINK


I shall keep posting more on this area in the future. Hope you found this post informative.

ssurenlk@msn.com

Have a nice day!!
 

Been busy with the LAW !!!

By S.Suren

Well the recent weeks has been quite busy for the 2 top ERP Giants, when it comes to attending court sessions, meeting with lawyers and appointments with investment analysts.

SAP has been in the spotlight with the suit filed against it by i2. Its stated that SAP could end up paying $83.3 M to settle the i2 patent suit. i2 filed suit against SAP, claiming infringement of a number of its software patents related to supply chain optimization and modeling software techniques. However the good news here for investors in both companies is that, this suit is unlikely to have any significant impact on the market values of both companies.

It is also estimated that SAP could pay close to $1 Billion to settle the suit filed by Oracle. This has been a long standing law suit between the company and some expect that this case could drag on up to the mid of 2009 before a judgment can be made. Will keep you all updated when it does happen !!

SAP on the other hand has also been busy with expanding their portfolio, with the acquisition of Visiprise, a privately held provider of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to discrete manufacturing. This acquisition is a strategic step for SAP, in moving forward in achieving its vision of the "Perfect Plant", which I had posted an article on, in the past. With SAP concentrating on small business more now and their investments in delivering products for this markets estimated to be close to $520 M, it is only likely that there are many more acquisition to expect in the future.

Oracle has been busy with acquisitions too, this shouldn't come as a surprise since we all know that Oracle find it very hard to resist take-over calls. Oracle, have supposedly recently agreed to acquire insurance policy software supplier AdminServer Inc and as well as Skywire Software's application software business.

I am still sticking to the prediction that this year is the year of the ERPs and we could very well have a clear cut leader in this industry and a new business process platform (perhaps initiated by SOA) at the end of this year. I shall keep you all posted on the latest developments.

Hope you found this post informative.

Have a nice day!!!

Feel free to send me your comments and queries to ssurenlk@msn.com.