Let’s Integrate this, that & that too....!!

By S.Suren

Well everyone have been talking about the term “Globalization” and how everyone and everything in this world is beginning to make sense of the benefits that arise out of integration of global networks. This is a good thing, because people and systems are accepting the ideas and learning to sync in with this and not be left behind in the growth potential it has to offer.

Given that, it’s no big surprise that over a period of time, these systems become just too big and complicated, are implemented across various geographical location linked via other systems, be it banking interfaces, EDIs, B2B, B2Eco, cloud networking systems etc,...... and after a point of time, no one has any clue as to what’s worth integrating with this system and whats actually bringing in some kind of value addition to the business’s strategic goal, though the truth is everyone would like to think they know the exact business drivers that require this change and the exact ROI the integration is going to bring, but they wouldn’t have thought of a measurement by which to gauge how effective the integration has actually been.

In my opinion, I would state that the best way to gauge the value addition of the integrated system is to simply identify those areas of the system that have a direct interaction point to the customers / clients. It is true there are many back office operations that need to be in place in order to cater to the requirement of those working on the frontend but remember the key element is that the front end operation is only as efficient as the back end operations.

In a previous article I had mentioned that based on research it was identified that an ERP system tends to give back true definable ROI only after 18 Months (this is after taking into consideration user acceptance, systems functional ability, learning curves etc), if this is true then as new systems are being integrated and the system developed further it means it’s just going to prolong the ROI time frame, however there is always a very visible benefit from the 1 month onwards, that cannot be denied.

Integration brings along its business benefits for sure, but unless you have a clear measurement laid down to gauge the effectiveness of the integration and a scope of work set as a base for the basic initial integration points, it’s going to be a long and winding path ahead before you reach your destination.

These are just my opinion, I am sure everyone out there have their own which I’ll love to hear. Your suggestions, feedback and comments are all welcomed at ssurenlk@msn.com.

Staying on your toes !!

By Suren

Sometime back I had posted an article “The Business Model that worked“, in which I explained how SAP’s business model reaches out to clients far and wide from their backyard Germany.
With the increase in SAP Consulting partners and the lucrative market for senior level SAP Consultants, everyone wants a piece of the pie and hence SAP Vendors kept popping up all over the place.

I am sure SAP has a tough screening process where vendors need to submit a business plan before they are accredited as a SAP Channel Partner, however with the latest developments you just begin to think maybe SAP needs to keep a close eye on the resources deployed on large projects of their SAP Channel Partners.

Only recently Deloitte was being sued by the California's Marin County with a $30M lawsuit over an ERP project with them, which they state was substantially worse than legacy system it was meant to replace and accuses Deloitte of misrepresenting its skills and capabilities when originally pitching for the project in 2004.

Not so long ago we saw one of the largest ERP lawsuits which was for $61M. This was in December, when an Alabama jury awarded pet food manufacturer Sunshine Mills $61 million in connection with a suit it had filed against ERP vendor Ross Systems, a subsidiary of CDC Software.

On another note, if you have been following my article updates, very recently SAP itself was successfully sued by ORACLE over the TomorrowNow saga. The final verdict was that SAP was ordered to pay 1.3 billion dollars in damages in a record-setting copyright infringement award, and now ORACLE wants SAP to pay a further $211M for interest. Oh Larry!!

However it’s important we don’t get carried away by these, since given the number of ERP projects out there, there is always a chance that some could topple over also keep in mind that there are over 1000’s of successful ERP projects rolling out every month.

All this makes you wonder, is it the channel partners or is it the business model, since there are ERP Companies out there who setup their own local offices in every region and market that they enter. This way the top tier management of the actual ERP Company have a direct influence over the large projects, well we can’t expect these from all ERPs since some of them are just too big to maintain control at a project level.

Being aware of these developments in the industry helps you stay on your toes in whatever you do !!

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Have a nice day!!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Thank you readers for your support during 2010.
Wish you a fabulous New Year ahead !!

Emerging Technologies !!!

By Suren

With so many new technologies popping up within the already complicated business technology landscape, it is easy to miss out on the new developments emerging in our industry that have an implication on how we do things.

I’ve listed down some good reads about the latest technology to hit the business landscape in consideration to ERP systems:

• SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance (HANA) - SAP HANA promises near real-time analysis of dynamic data within SAP applications as well as external systems to deliver time-sensitive insight
• Adaptation of Cloud Computing & virtualization (as always) by ERPs
• Consumerization of IT (Link to my previous article)
• Parallel Computing
• B2? – This is something I’ve coined up; I’ll be putting out an article on this soon. It’s just my way of communicating that no longer would businesses always depend on B2B or B2C solutions; instead the new trend is to identify what serves them best in terms of cost and efficiency. So then what is it going to be, B2?? Read about how B2B and B2C work and how they could be aligned together.

Would recommend that you take some time to read about the above, since after all, knowing what is out there is always a good thing.

Have a nice day!!

You comments, suggestions and feedback are welcomed at ssurenlk@msn.com

Modifiying the Drill Down Reports !!

By Suren

This post is to simply list down some basic steps on how to modify the drill down reports that are built in SAP to reflect the Vendor and Customer balances. The report shows balances in a vertical format, but most often the clients want them in a horizontal format with the balances shown separately under each day range.

For this you simply need to do the following, however I would recommend that you first do this in a sandbox client and then try this in the production client, remember however that once the form is changed, all users would see the new horizontal form.

- Go to FKI2 if you want to change the report parameters. This is how the form would initially look like:

- Go to FKI5 to change the form. These changes can be done in the path in SPRO, under Info System under the AP/AR main node.

- Go to the “Define Form” and choose to “Change. If the client don’t want to see the Not Due and Total OI column in every time intervals then select the “Not Due” column and the “Total OI” column and go to extras “Drill down Display -> Undo Selection”. Then delete these columns from the form.

- After this just rename the date ranges to calculate the balance different for the day ranges that the clients wants to see. Finally the form would look like this:

And voila the report when generated would look like this :

That's about it. Just a few simple steps to change the form in SAP to a more readable format, and in case you want to bring back the old report format then you can overwrite this report by selecting the Environment -> Import Report, option in FKI5.

All the best !!

Oracle and SAP – Show me the MONEY!!

By Suren

Well if you've been a regular reader of this site, you would know that Oracle and SAP have been going at each other now for close to 2 years, with their law suit on the TomorrowNow scandal.

This is where; Oracle said a SAP subsidiary, TomorrowNow, created bogus accounts to get access to walled-off Oracle websites. Once inside, Oracle said, TomorrowNow deployed computer programs that powered through page after page of support documents, "scraping" and saving the contents of those pages as they went (excerpts from ZDNET).

Oracle claims that this corporate espionage has led to ORACLE losing out close to $4 billion in lost sales and support agreement. Well that’s what Larry Ellison claims anyway; however SAP suggests that this would probably just run into a few 100 millions.

This case has been going on for so long now, however the recent developments suggests that a settlement could happen quite soon. Just a few days back the court cut $500M off Oracle's potential damages, so now the figure as per ORACLE would stand at $3.5 billion.

Well, given the recent developments, executives & lawyers suggests that this could end before the end of this year, which means...someone’s going to pay (most probably SAP) and someone’s going to gain whatever the amount (ORACLE and the lawyers on both sides offcourse, who can forget them).

Given all this, the share prices have been reflecting the court drama just a little up to now, however as we get closer to the final decision, it’s likely to fluctuate.

Anyway as far as SAP Consultants are concerned, just continue to code ABAP and configure using SPRO, cause its very unlikely that this could have a major catastrophic effect on the companies already running SAP or the ones who are to implement it, SAP has spun its web too big now, that certain consulting companies themselves can support SAP in the future, maybe they might even come together to form an alliance....you never know!!

I’m open for comments & insights on ssurenlk@msn.com.

Have a nice day!!

The ERP Arena Update:

By Suren:

So what been happening in the ERP Arena over the past 2 weeks, well there is quite a lot of interesting events that have unfolded and are still unfolding as you read this article.

SAP and ORACLE are at it again.

We all know that the TomorrowNow saga wasn’t over by a long way. It was just ruled out for sometime but now the court hearing is getting close and many analysts believe this could be the final hearing. If Oracle does succeed in its damage claim of $1B then, SAP’s operating cash flow is going to take a hit; the figure seems to be approx 20%, not to mention the sunk cost of legal administration fees and punitive damages already incurred.

SAP’s & Capgemini Cloud services

SAP has certified Capgemini U.S LLC as their first vendor for their capabilities to deliver and manage SAP® applications via Capgemini’s cloud delivery platform. This could be interesting since other giants like IBM; Accenture will be after SAP for this certification very soon. Once they go for this, then they’ll be all out beginning to convince clients worldwide about the benefits of Cloud computing, give them best rates for this service and move the whole ERP Industry towards cloud computing around the next 10 years itself.

So if you are a consultant I would recommend that you up skill yourself with cloud computing technologies such as hosted solutions SAP has to offer like BusinessByDesign, NetSuite Cloud software, Streamwork etc.

Sybase & SAP

If you have been a regular reader of my site you know that SAP took over Sybase sometime back for circa $5.8bn (£3.63bn),but then the questions was what was SAP’s product strategic for it.

Well just as expected it has come to light that SAP were looking to enter the game of Mobile Apps platform that will be closely integrated with their back-end business solutions. Sybase announced a new version of its mobile application development platform that is tightly integrated with SAP’s back-end business data.

Sybase’s Unwired Platform version 1.5.2 has a SAP connectivity plug-in which allows developers to directly access SAP data sources and develop mobile applications for SAP and other business applications which perhaps are also tightly integrated with SAP. SAP and Sybase were always developer partners for their integrated solutions so; it was just a matter of time for something of this sort to happen.

Hope you found this informative, will keep you posted on new happenings as they unfold. For comments mail me at ssurenlk@msn.com

GREEN ERP !!

By Suren

Many of you have probably heard the term "Be Green". First Green Planet, Green Energy, then came Green House Manufacturing and now, Green ERP??!! The first question in everyone’s mind would be how can we expect an ERP System to be green and in turn contribute to our planet’s green environment?

Well, I did some reading on this and this is what I have come to unearth (green talk). I am sure you have all at some point of time seen those IBM Ads that talk about how a green system could help the environment; well this was my starting point.

Though people term it as Green ERP what it really means is how the ERP provides different industry specific solution that provides the information necessary for the management to help with their strategic green initiatives. Some of the best industry solutions that the ERP Vendors would need to look at to be able to term their ERP as Greener than others, would be industries associated with transportation and manufacturing.

Simply put, the better functionalities available in the system to be able to track and monitor the logistical operation with a financial view point, will help identify those processes that are not value adding and at the same time have a high consumption of non-renewable resources, and by identifying and eliminating these will help towards the achievement of being a more green company.

Some examples (without going into too many details):

1. Take for instance a manufacturing company that often only ships goods, however if their production takes more time than anticipated, they would have to airfreight them adding to more fuel consumption per unit of the good transported as opposed to sea freight, so there you go with an ERP they could plan better and meet their deadlines and in turn contribute to the environment, evidence of Green ERP!!

2. By using an ERP systems functionality to select the best routes possible for a transportation company, will help reduce their fuel consumption, this was actually practiced by a well known company that helped it reduce their fuel bills by upto 30% and thereby contribute to their global green strategy.

3. In the service sector perhaps by identifying the resource requirements of personals involved will help to better plan their time, so if its identified that the service personal has no need to travel anywhere for a particular day, maybe the management could ask him to work from home, this would save on his/her travelling time and thereby help reduce whatever little fuel he/she might use in getting to work. After all, the energy saved at work by that person working from home is also likely to contribute to a green initiative, and did you know, studies show that employees working from home put it more productive hours than they would at office.

4. With the new software solution model architectures such as “SaaS”, means that hosted solution by the ERP Vendor will help the client’s costs in terms of energy and related costs associated with having to maintain their own server rooms, infrastructure etc. When looking at these implications at a larger scale it does seem to point out that there is a green impact that software model architectures like these have.

5. Not to forget the paperless office that an ERP System can bring to an organization. Less paper means more trees saved which in turn helps in lowering temperatures, filtering dust, and absorbing ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, and by of course releasing oxygen, and there we go a direct connection on how an ERP can be Green!!

The above list is not exhaustive; there are many more examples that can be given, but for now this is it, perhaps in the future I shall posts more!!

Have a nice day!!

Your comments, suggestions and questions are welcomed at: ssurenlk@msn.com

"The World of Consulting"

By Suren

Having been in the ERP Consulting field ever since I finished high school, and having worked with 3 different ERP Solutions, handling clients from all levels of a business and consulting in 6+ countries, I believe I can confidently say that "The world of consulting doesn’t seem to disappoint in throwing up new challenges just when you thought you’ve seen 'em all", but come on, that’s what makes this job what it is, challenging, exciting and a lot of fun.

Every time you come across a tough client or a requirement and you have taken on that challenge and come out triumph, around the corner there is another one waiting, this is what makes no 2 days the same in a consultant's life.

To get through these challenges, it is very important for a consultant to have a cool head and strong personal skills, because at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you are a wiz in what you do technically, but if you cannot put forward your case to have it done then there is absolutely no point. I strongly believe it’s the mix and match of technical (knowledge area speciality) and personal skills that makes a consultant tick.

Having the right mix of personal and technical skills will surely make you a better consultant, so all the best and keep yourself prepared for the right opportunity when it comes knocking. With the outlook for economies worldwide to rebound still looking good, it just about time for the opportunities to come your way. I for one don’t believe in luck, the definition of luck is “preparation meeting opportunity”, so be prepared and go for it.

Dr.Alan Weiss made a very wise statement that “Consultants are not another pair of hands. They are a new brain.” and I can’t agree more!!

Have a nice day!!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Consumerization in IT, taking over !!

By Suren

The term “Consumerization” has been used in many IT Seminars and conference throughout the last 10 years, but its prominence is increasing more than ever during the last couple of years and is likely to increase even more so in the future.

Gartner has been predicting that Consumerization is going to be the way forward, all software companies need to begin to understand this concept and build their product to satisfy this neologism.

To put it into simple words, Consumerization of IT is where new technologies are being introduced into consumer markets prior to entry into the industrial market. This is the trend that is taking over and businesses are beginning to understand that as well, for instance software’s like Google desktop, skype, and maybe even twitter for journalist to send out regular updates to the news room.

There are more enterprises now focusing on software’s for consumers as a starting point and then moving onto the industry market. The companies that focus on this would be the ones to thrive and at the end the ones to benefit would be the consumers obviously and the businesses that cater to this growing trend.

So keep yourself updated on these terms since these could come up very handy. After all, all business users also want ERPs that are as simple to use as possible but at the same time satisfying some of the most complex requirements, simple yet powerful and yeah I know that’s a “cliché”!!

Have a nice day!!

Your suggestions, feedbacks and comments are welcome at ssurenlk@msn.com