Digitization is not the same as Digital Transformation which is another mouthful of a phrase that might mean something in Elbonian!
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Look at these initiatives separately. Do not club it all under ‘Digital Transformation’. Big Consulting firms get away with it by packing everything together. Because they are Gods. They cannot be questioned. They have massive campuses and erudite employees.
Do one thing at a time. With a business case.
Document the problem first.
-Digitization – (A nice to have but NOT must have. e.g. Integrating a sensor with MES system in your factory)
-Business Process Automation (compare purchase order, goods receipt, and invoice manually. That way you know you have a real job)
-Self-Service Apps (e.g. viewing your pay slips, placing an order online)
-Business Process Modeling (Write detailed enough blueprints. Get the scenarios right the first time)
-Master Data Governance (Get your act together and have a discipline in place. No AI / ML tool can make up for your laziness. Leaving material and vendor masters incomplete)
-Analytical Intelligence (nice to have if you really want external information to trigger something in ERP)
-Empirical Intelligence (E.g. line item proposals based on what customer ordered in the past and why not now..)
-Statistical Intelligence (useful dissection to keep at the back of your mind. You need to spend 10 years in business to know what it means and what you need to change)
-Supply Chain Collaboration (internet is a good platform. 100 ways of doing it)
-Cloud Migration (do not cite me. check the value first – what are you effectively paying? and getting in return)
You haven’t lost anything, if you haven’t done any of the above. If your ERP is working for you and you are selling with expected profitability, you are doing good.
If you must embark on any of the above initiatives, prioritize what brings quick business value. Insist on speaking to fifty something year old consultants (ok make it 48 so that I can qualify too). Not the ones who only ‘do AI/ML’ post a Bachelor’s degree in something.
Whatever said I must admit NO ONE can match SAP ERP / S/4HANA in next 10000 years. It is irritating for first time users but the level of thought that went into it is simply unmatchable. I continue to marvel at their error messages. 20 years later. Someone thought through so many possibilities in a damn ‘simple’ business transaction. It takes an equally sharp mind to know why they did so.
