EdTittel Oracle Special Edition

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 Cloud ERP

Oracle Special Edition

by Ed Tittel

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use is strictly prohibited.
 Cloud ERP For Dummies®, Oracle Special Edition
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 Table of Contents
Introduction................................... 1
About This Book..................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions...........................................................2
Icons Used in This Book......................................................3
Beyond the Book................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: Defining ERP for Your Business.........................5
Every ERP Solution Is Unique.......................................6
Flexibility Is Key to Usable ERP....................................8
How to Meet Your ERP Needs..................................11
Adapting ERP to Accommodate Change...................12
CHAPTER 2: Mapping Your ERP Journey...............................15
The Legacy of ERP’s Origins........................................16
Moving into Modern ERP...........................................17
Steps for Your Cloud Journey.....................................20
Ready for Compelling Events......................................24
CHAPTER 3: Toward a Simpler, More Modern ERP.............27
Consolidating Multiple Systems..............................28
Consolidation offers benefits..............................28
How consolidation works....................................30
Getting to globalization..........................................30
About those benefits...............................................31
Bringing Finance and HR Together............................32
Connecting Your Supply Chain to Finance
and Ops.......................................................................35

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 CHAPTER 4: Leveraging Next-Gen Technologies.................39
Automating Tasks and Processes..............................41
Using Analytics and Personalized Data...................44
Using Mobile Tools for a Mobile Workforce........45
Driving Insight and Innovation with Artificial
Intelligence................................................................46
Working with Chatbots and More..............................48
CHAPTER 5: Forever Modern...................................................49
Focusing on Continuous Improvement
and Innovation.........................................................50
Keeping Up with Change.............................................52
Making Processes Modern..........................................53
Delivering New Features and Technology...............54
CHAPTER 6: Ten Solid ERP Benefits......................................57
From Fragmentation to Single Source.....................57
Other Benefits of Modern ERP................................58

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 Introduction

E
RP is an acronym for enterprise resource planning
(but it’s never sounded out, to avoid imitating rude
noises). More important, ERP describes a kind of
software that organizations use to enable and support a
company’s business strategy. These include such func-
tions as accounting, project management, procurement,
risk management and compliance, and supply-chain
operations. In addition, a complete ERP software suite
includes enterprise performance management software
to help organizations plan, budget, predict, and report on
financial results.

About This Book

ERP systems are generally designed around a single,
comprehensive, well-defined set of data structures
within a common database. This approach ensures that
all data used across an enterprise is consistent,
validated, and based on common definitions and
shared user experiences.

Essentially, ERP defines a set of constructs for business

information so that business workflows work properly
and predictably across business departments.
Primarily, ERP serves to enable, simplify, and
standardize business processes. This explains how
finance, human resources,

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 engineering, IT, marketing, and operations can
exchange valid, compliant data, and how people and
systems in those departments can work together well.
Simply put, ERP helps people collaborate and ties
business processes and technologies together across
their organization.

One vital principle that informs ERP is central

collection of data for broad access and use. Instead of
relying on multiple databases and an outsize collection
of discon- nected spreadsheets, ERP systems bring
order out of chaos. With ERP at their beck and call, all
employees — from the CEO to accounts payable staff —
can create, store, and use data through a set of common
processes, tools, and controls. Backed by a secure
centralized data store, all users can be sure that data is
accurate, current, and complete. Data integrity
automatically applies to every ERP task, from quarterly
financial statements or filings to ad-hoc outstanding
receivables reports. No need for disconnected, insecure,
unprotected, and error- prone spreadsheets either!

Foolish Assumptions
I made some basic assumptions about you, gentle reader,
in writing this book:

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 » I assume you know a fair amount about ERP systems and
software, especially how it provides
useful information to users and organizations.

» I assume you also know something about how ERP

systems are defined, set up, and managed.

» I assume you have a basic understanding of how ERP

software works and what kinds of problems
and issues your existing ERP software presents to your
organization.

Icons Used in This Book

Occasionally, special icons appear in the left margin.
They call attention to important or noteworthy terms
and topics in the text. Here’s what you’ll find:

The Remember icon points out information

worth recalling.

The Tip icon flags something useful or

helpful by way of suggestion, advice, or
observation.

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 Beyond the Book
This book helps you discover more about choosing, work-
ing with, and using ERP software — especially modern,
integrated end-to-end systems and platforms. For more
material, try these resources:

» www.oracle.com/erp

» www.oracle.com/applications

» www.oracle.com/what-is-erp

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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Capturing what’s unique for
each organization
» Understanding why flexibility is
key to ERP success
» Making sure your ERP needs
are met, today and tomorrow

Chapter
1Defining ERP for
Your Business

E
very business or organization is different. That
means that, although the kinds of data and business
processes that enterprise resource planning (ERP)
must handle are somewhat alike, no two operations will
ever be identical.

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 Every ERP Solution Is Unique
The basic characteristics that define modern ERP
change only slowly. But the way that ERP systems get
implemented — and especially the data that any ERP
system stores and uses, along with controls that govern
how that data is used, entered, validated, and so on —
changes from implementation to implementation.

ERP is the system, or collection of systems, that a busi-

ness uses to manage its financials and other core
business activities. Depending on how a business
defines ERP for itself, this may involve one system;
multiple integrated systems; multiple, disjointed, and
disconnected systems; or even spreadsheets.
Organizations use ERP to collect, store, manage, report,
and interpret data from their vari- ous business
activities. Historically, ERP ran as on-site software.
Today, ERP is increasingly cloud-based.

The best ERP systems offer a comprehensive, continu-

ously updated view of core business processes using
common databases. Thus, ERP systems track resources
necessary to conduct business — including cash, raw
materials, and production capacity — along with the
state of business commitments such as orders, purchase
orders, invoices, payroll, and so forth.

Many ERP systems share data across departments —

including manufacturing, purchasing, sales,
accounting, and more, along with corresponding checks
and controls — to provide information and guidance on
how

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 6

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 to conduct business. In fact, ERP acts as a conduit for
business information between and among organizational
units. Then, too, ERP provides an important source for
information to outsiders (partners, public and private
investors, venture capitalists, stockholders, and more)
in feeding data into public, pro-forma reports and
analyses and their private counterparts.

TRACING ERP’S
TECHNOLOGY ROOTS
ERP traces its roots back to mainframe comput- ing and
inventory control packages in the 1960s. In the 1970s,
wholesale adoption of DBMS tools and technologies
facilitated a move to materials requirements planning
(MRP) systems. By the late 1980s, MRP morphed into
ERP through on- premises systems that enabled
customization for specific business processes.

In the 2000s, adoption of software as a service (SaaS)–

oriented architectures saw ERP extended to supply
chains, expense management, and HR and compliance
functions. In the 2010s, cloud computing functions
ushered in a new ERP era. New digital technologies
changed how users interacted with applications,
including ERP.

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 For each organization, ERP must reflect specific work-
flows to make sure business processes work. Items and
activities tracked in a retail company differ from those
for a heavy equipment manufacturer. ERP gains impact
and value from its ability to handle the right mix of
busi- ness capabilities that match the data and
workflows in your organization.

Flexibility Is Key to
Usable ERP
Today, many companies run their businesses on a
patch- work of finance and operations systems commonly
called ERP that prevents them from adequately keeping
up with constantly changing market environments. This
situa- tion creates data silos, along with disconnected
processes and user experiences that make it difficult to
react to market shifts quickly. They might also
compromise data security. Indeed, flexibility is a key
ingredient in ensur- ing that ERP provides the kind of
accurate and timely information that businesses need.

ERP doesn’t have to be a high-maintenance patchwork

resulting from years of customization and mergers and
acquisitions (M&A). It doesn’t have to slow down the
business. New technologies such as machine learning
and intelligent automation, as well as immersive user

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 experiences, make it more valuable and transformative
for companies to run their businesses on a new genera-
tion of ERP.

Today’s technology-driven ERP enables businesses to

become more agile and nimble and to keep pace with
change, stay ahead of problems, and take advantage of
trends and emerging opportunities. In fact, modern ERP
fits very well into a philosophy of constant improvement
and continuous innovation.

The absolute requirement for modern ERP is timely data

that takes a unified view of the entire business. It lets
business leaders act on real-time insights to make effec-
tive and impactful decisions. The ability to act on insights
through support for highly automated and seamless pro-
cesses means that a business can execute faster and
spend more time growing and developing new
opportunities.

Here’s a list of signs that it’s time for modern,

next-gen ERP:

» You’re stuck on an old version because upgrading heavily

customized setups is costly and disruptive.

» Usability dissatisfaction is mounting, while

reporting remains difficult and incomplete.

» Aging and maintenance-heavy customizations don’t sync with

business processes.

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 » Maintenance costs for hardware and software keep increasing.

» Disparate, disjointed systems provide incoherent

or conflicting views of status and situation.

» Current business process may not be supported. Departments may

rely on spreadsheets to track
and manage their work.

» Major business events — M&A, initial public

offerings, headquarters relocation, shared
service initiatives, business model shifts, and new
management — all demand ERP changes.

» Organizations can’t keep up with changing risks, security

threats, and regulatory mandates.

» Rapid, global company growth is hampered by the existing ERP

system.

» The entire hiring cycle impacts organizations, especially where

ERP is concerned. The existing ERP
guard is retiring, but retaining employees is hard with
aging systems. Recruiting new talent using last-century
business systems is harder still.

» You need to invest in new hardware.

» You need to accommodate changes to your business model,

shared service initiatives, or new
management.

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 How to Meet Your ERP Needs
By examining drivers for ERP modernization you can
evaluate your organization’s upgrade needs. These
require analysis of ongoing technology and generational
changes in the business and how current capabilities may
hold things back. Three key inflection points guide this
analysis:

» Operational efficiency: Does the current ERP

system support operational goals? You may need
to incorporate another ERP system after an acquisition,
your own legacy system may need upgrading, a new
subsidiary may be starting up, a new product or business
model may be coming online, or you may be moving to a
shared services model. For any or all of these,
operational effi- ciency is a must. That puts ERP
modernization on the table.

» Digital transformation: These days, users demand

collaboration and ease of use not typical
in on-premises ERP. User expectations for ERP
with smartphone-like experiences reflect
everyday digital life. Users need a single source of truth
for all operational functions, real-time analytics with role-
based dashboards, mobile access, and social collaboration
tools. ERP must also be easy to update often. Projects
can’t take years to finish.

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 » Growth and compliance: Growth often means
global expansion, increased financial complexity,
and regionalized accounting, reporting, and compliance
needs. Then, too, growth means an increase in data, with
all the issues involved in securing, managing, analyzing, and
using that data. Modeling opportunities and their impacts
(includ- ing M&A, new markets, customer
growth, and more) require the right systems with
processes in place to support regulatory scrutiny.

A modernization strategy must take these inflection

points into account and fit your organization’s culture,
budget, needs, and timeline. Recognizing where your
current system fails to support business objectives is the
first step toward ERP modernization.

Adapting ERP to
Accommodate Change
To begin with, organizations can use modern ERP to
make more and better use of what’s already available to
them — the data and business processes they already
use to handle everyday business functions. Given the
flexibil- ity, adaptability, and user-friendly nature of a
modern ERP environment, a good initial way to foment
change in an organization is to do more of the same —
except to perform better and faster.

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 Next, organizations can look to enhanced access and
capabilities that modern ERP systems bring to the table.
For example, they can leverage user- and mobile device–
friendly applications. Why not let a smartphone photo of
an invoice or receipt act as input to a payment system or a
reimbursement request, for example? Mod- ern ERP
systems make this kind of thing simple and
straightforward.

Organizations can build on their employees’ current

skills and knowledge to extend their capabilities and
pro- vide faster, better service. If tech support or
frontline workers can easily forward requests for
changes in the look, feel, and functions of common
everyday applica- tions, change can help boost
productivity and improve user experiences at the same
time. Developers and man- agers know that those
requests that keep popping up are probably worth
investigating, if not implementing, in the interest of
getting things done quickly, easily, and with less
friction.

In addition, a modern ERP system should enable and

accommodate business changes easily and quickly. A new
pricing or discount strategy can’t affect the bottom line
until it plays into the next transaction that occurs. Mod-
ern ERP lets businesses translate new strategies and
approaches into actionable capabilities, so that they can
pivot on a dime, and then pocket that same dime to
boost their profitability. Lots of minor improvements
add up, as does the ability to encourage and welcome
change in a timely fashion.

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 In general, planning for change also helps make room
for innovation. By soliciting input and suggestions from
frontline workers and customers, organizations show
themselves willing to listen and learn from those with
real-world, everyday experience. By implementing
changes based on such input, organizations make sys-
tems faster, easier to use, and more productive.

Eventually, the benefits of flexibility and a change-

tolerant, supportive environment will set people’s crea-
tive juices flowing. Salespeople will naturally propose
more and better ways to sell things, while support staff
will do likewise for taking care of service after the sale.
This phenomenon will pervade your whole
organization as people see what modern ERP can
already do and start to understand that it can do
interesting and valuable things for them, too. Modern,
capable data controls also help organizations identify
risks at their point of origin and empower users to
make better decisions.

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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Surveying the ERP legacy
landscape
» Moving up to modern ERP
» Choosing the right
modernization
path
» Dealing with compelling events
that may crop up

Chapter
2Mapping Your ERP
Journey

I
f your organization needs to modernize its enterprise
resource planning (ERP) environment, you need to
understand the elements involved in transitioning
from the status quo to a new, modern approach. To get
underway, take a look at a typical legacy landscape
from which most organizations will depart, before
pondering what’s involved in moving forward into
modernized ERP.

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 The Legacy of ERP’s Origins
Introduced in the 1980s, the original ERP
implementation — ERP 1.0 — involved on-premises ERP
deployment using extensive customization for business
processes. The world is both more complex and more
competitive than when ERP first appeared on in-house
mainframes. Today more than ever, finance and
technol- ogy are interlinked, with growing volumes of
data driving critical business decisions, as well as
operations, report- ing, and compliance.

That said, the current ERP landscape is often a hodge-

podge of discrete and disparate systems — many acquired
along with mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and never
integrated or aligned with other on-premises platforms
and solutions. In addition, a surprising number of com-
panies still rely on spreadsheets or manual analysis to
analyze and plan purchasing, handle project manage-
ment, and drive key financial and compliance reports.
These may not even be tied to ERP systems or other
databases.

Organizations are often constrained by monolithic, non-

conforming ERP systems. Recent business conditions
only magnify the drawbacks of running on a patchwork
of such ERP systems, along with various software as a
service (SaaS) point solutions, spreadsheets, and other
homegrown tools and reporting.

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 Fragmented environments are subject to vexing limitations.
For one thing they often create data silos that keep related
business processes separate and disjointed. Sometimes,
manual reconciliation is the only way to create global
views of data and status. This can lead to variable and
unhappy experiences as users seek to overcome such
limitations through sheer dint of effort and expose
them- selves to potential errors and fraud. On-premises
solu- tions may be limited in the data they
accommodate and in the access they provide to users.
And finally, legacy systems are often difficult (or
impossible) to automate, which keeps the burden of
obtaining and managing data and reports on users and
administrators.

The real problem is that legacy systems are both complex

and fragile. They can’t accommodate changing business
conditions easily or readily, and they neither scale well to
handle growth nor adapt well to support innovation and
new capabilities.

Moving into Modern ERP

The impetus to make such a move comes along with the
desire to improve operational efficiency, accomplish dig-
ital transformation, accommodate growth and innova-
tion, and support a 21st-century mindset around
education, experiences, and expectations. What then,
does modern ERP bring to its adopters to justify
making such a move?

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 Key aspects of modern ERP systems address the
leading concerns that organizations face when
considering a move into the cloud. These seven aspects
belong to two categories: modern platform parameters
and modern business application design. Taken as a
whole, they define standards for a modern ERP system
and create a foundation for agility and growth.

Here are the three modern platform components:

» Security: A “defense in depth” approach to securing

data at every layer of the stack is needed
to deliver maximum data protection. By using secure data
isolation in the cloud stack, organiza- tions reduce risk and
enable faster data access and processing.

» Integration: ERP solutions must connect business, people, and

processes. They must also connect
easily to other systems, whether those systems are on-
premises or in the cloud. The best approach to ensure
compatibility and scalability is to choose a flexible
solution that uses a common framework to integrate
easily with other systems.

» Configuration (as opposed to customization):

Legacy ERP often incorporated nonstandard or
specific business practices as customizations. Over
time, these increase maintenance and upgrade costs and
challenges. Cloud-based solutions built

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 around standards-based platforms support
personalization and configuration within the ERP
application itself. This makes enhancements “upgrade-
safe.”

If your on-premises ERP customizations

relate to workflows, integrations, and report-
ing, cloud-based ERP solutions will likely
meet your requirements, simplify future
maintenance, and reduce total cost of own-
ership (TCO).

Modern cloud applications can scale as your business

grows. They also support new digital technologies to
handle your organization’s ERP needs. To that end,
cloud-based ERP solutions should include these
modern business application design components:

» Completeness: Best practices get built in to support

standardization and provide controls that reflect the
business strategy. This lowers costs, increases produc- tivity, and
empowers users. Even for incremental, piecemeal cloud
transitions, access to a complete collection of best-practice
business processes ensures standardization across the enterprise. It’s
important to evaluate whether a cloud ERP vendor supports a full
application suite or whether integration with other cloud solutions
are called for. It’s important to make sure integration between on-
premises and cloud-based applications is feasible, workable, and
sustainable.

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 » Globalization: A customer (located anywhere) may have
global needs. Does the ERP vendor support
and facilitate these needs? Local data centers may be
required to comply with data sovereignty and regulatory
mandates. A complete cloud ERP system shares enterprise
data across operations, business units, and HQ.

» Insight-driven analysis: Cloud ERP solutions must

provide secure, real-time data access for financials,
cost analyses, profitability, cash flow, and more.
This establishes a single source of truth across roles,
reports, and analyses. It’s what makes timely delivery of
key performance indicators (KPIs) to frontline managers
possible. It also vastly simplifies processes usually
dependent on end-of-cycle close operations or separate data
warehouse extracts.

Steps for Your Cloud Journey

Planning a modern ERP strategy starts with a deploy-
ment team. It should bring implementation partners
and cloud provider staff together with internal
business, IT, finance, and other experts. Include the
following ele- ments in any modernization strategy,
regardless of mar- ket size and technology choices:

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 » Clearly defined project goals. Choose KPIs to
measure business benefits (productivity, financial
close rate, and infrastructure costs). Measurements help create
consensus and approval, align strategies, and define
outcomes.

» Document processes and inventory systems.

Create a complete map of your IT infrastructure. It
should include in-house and third-party solutions, all
integration points, and redundant systems.
Thus, it documents how the business really works, where
processes go beyond what’s represented in existing
systems. You can document organization structure to
match roles to data ownership, management, and use. This
includes documenting risk, audit, compliance, and business
continuity information. Customers should also take the
opportunity to design business processes the way they want
them to work. They shouldn’t simply replicate existing
processes; they should identify where processes are
lacking and decide on a remedy. The critical ingredient: a
single source of truth for data before the ERP project gets
going.

» Make sure you have strong executive backing.

For all organizations, executive sponsorship is key,
with ongoing high-level support throughout the project life
cycle. Together with ongoing employee updates, executive
commitment to ERP moderniza- tion helps ensure project
success.

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 » Employ built-in, standard best practices.
Modern best practices are key built-ins for cloud
applications. This makes it safe and easy to replace legacy
software and its outdated approaches and processes. Modern
ERP includes more than
80 percent of common business processes through built-in
standardization; use them in any modern- ization project.

» Put reporting and analytics to immediate use.

Cloud ERP gives users real-time access to business
insight and understanding. If you define reporting and
analytics early on, you can generate useful and informative
reports as soon as things go live. In addition, organizations
will make change manage- ment part of their plan and
overall approach so that they can keep track of what’s new
and different and prepare for inevitable and upcoming
future change.

Moving your organization onto a cloud ERP platform,

even by small degrees, will change the way your people
work and consume data. As you plan your own
migration, consider these lessons learned from Las
Vegas–based Caesars Entertainment:

» Don’t underestimate the data conversion

process. With numerous sites involved, validating
conversions took time but was easy to accomplish.

22

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 » Give testing your complete attention.
Application testing works best if everyone is in the
same room.

» Involve partners and suppliers in testing.

Caesars coordinated with partners, including
banks. Data files must be in the right format, and
testing efforts require planning and coordination.

» Test application extremes. Because peak demand

happens, Caesars tested for latency issues
under heavy transaction loads, while also running reports.

» Secure top management backing. The Caesars

cloud team met biweekly with executive staff (CFO,
CIO, and others), with business partner Grant
Thornton, and with Oracle senior development staff.

» Tackle change management directly. The cloud

team, led by a Grant Thornton consultant and
Caesars business transformation team, identified
change risks and barriers from the get-go. The team
produced webinars, held online meetings, and called end
users to make sure users were ready for a live system.

» Dedicate full-time staff to project roles. Caesars

brought in staffers from business partners and
accounting, reporting, and IT groups as their modules
were implemented. Dedicated testing resources made
sure project deadlines could be

23

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 met. Ditto for a person devoted to ensuring that ERP
reports met business needs and produced valid data and
insights.

» Document everything for best outcomes. Be

sure you can formally document all system testing
and checks. Use checklists and document all
sign-offs.

» Add cloud partner and vendor staff to the

implementation team. Caesars included Oracle
staff in design and problem-solving sessions and in
status and executive meetings. Deep involvement helps
resolve testing issues and keeps all parties informed.

» Engage your network team. Internet and infrastructure

teams need to be kept aware of
activities and testing, especially to avoid conflict
with other initiatives and projects. Pay special attention to
big data conversions or other activities that may affect
systems or uploads during cloud migration.

Ready for Compelling Events

Business changes are sure to come along while cloud ERP
migrations are underway. Be sure to keep team members,
users, and stakeholders informed when and as special

24

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 situations arise. This may mean planning to accommo-
date new business offerings or services as high-priority
items. Or it may mean incorporating new data sources,
reports, and processes.

Those planning for M&As can get ahead of the curve by

adopting a platform designed to accommodate and
handle growth and change. When business changes,
plans — and ongoing deployments — must follow along.
Keep the information flowing, and all should be well.

In a cloud-based ERP environment, organizations can

use preconfigured industry templates for quick deploy-
ment at scale with three-nines uptime and vendor- or
partner-provided systems and support.

Moving to cloud-based ERP may be an even better solu-

tion than expected for companies in need of rapid changes
or additions.

25
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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Consolidating multiple ERP
systems
» Unifying finance and HR
» Connecting finance, operations,
and supply chain

Chapter
Toward a Simpler,
3
More Modern ERP

T
he challenges inherent in modernizing ERP lead
inevitably to centralization and simplification.
Why? Because organizations want to get past over-
spending just to maintain systems. They also want to
speed the processes involved in information retrieval and
analysis, change direction more quickly, cope with
M&A activity more effectively, and launch into new
territories and business models with dispatch.

27
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 Consolidating
Multiple Systems
Many organizations start from a fragmented patchwork
of ERP systems and related add-ons that can vary across
departments, divisions, and countries. Thus, a key initial
effort in modernization often involves consolidation of
multiple ERP systems, with the incorporation of multiple
different applications and data sources under a single,
unified framework that includes a single chart of accounts
and a common data schema.

The impetus toward IT systems consolidation,

including ERP solutions, increases when businesses
focus on growth and expansion. This is nearly
inevitable as com- panies seek to leverage the benefits
of automation and free up time for their IT staff to
experiment and innovate. IT system consolidations
usually involve replacing on- premises systems with
cloud-based alternatives. Best practices in making this
happen are well understood, easy to plan, deploy, and
implement.

Consolidation offers benefits

When an organization reviews its technology
infrastruc- ture with an eye to consolidation, it must
focus on the benefits of modernization. For ERP, the
departments (and their stakeholders) who stand to
make substantial gains include finance, accounting,
purchasing, HR,

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 logistics, IT security, developers, risk management
(audit, risk and compliance), and other departments.
All these groups depend on ERP to help them manage
and improve their capabilities and outputs.
Consolidation confers benefits of a different kind and
scale that come at a faster pace.

When an organization pursues technology

consolidation, it can expect benefits to occur on three
separate levels, each with its own proponents and
champions:

» Operational: Benefits are tangible — and

always substantial — at an operational level. Thus,
functional and department heads (finance, HR,
accounting, and so forth) typically take the role
of internal champion for related consolidation
efforts. Operational benefits are highest when
they include a common, shared data model,
robust reporting, on-demand analytics, and real-
time insights that are valuable to all players
involved.

» Tactical: Increased visibility into business

functions and costs promotes faster and more
focused
business operations, with increased abilities to
improve on existing opportunities and
introduce new ones. Because CxO executives
(usually those in technical roles as CIO, CTO,
CFO, CSO, and others) are generally starved
for actionable,

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 real-time insight, they find modernized ERP a
key tool in mapping out near-term future plans
and

29

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 projections. This makes them natural allies for ERP
modernization efforts and occasional champions.

» Strategic: Modernization of ERP excels at aligning

information systems tools and platforms with
long-term business goals. This necessarily
extends over a longer time horizon but appeals
to CEOs, CFOs, business owners, and board
members, all of whom have concerns about
formulating and achieving long-term strategic
goals.

How consolidation works

Finding and enlisting the right internal champions is
key to achieving the most success with ERP
consolidation. Because consolidation benefits cover
multiple functions, regions, and business cycles, buy-in
at the strategic level is essential.

Consolidation of legacy ERP systems into a single cloud

ERP solution typically leads to cost savings. CTOs and
CIOs often find that the reduced overhead and elimina-
tion of upgrade expenses lead to significant cost savings
when compared to the previous upkeep of multiple older
systems.

Getting to globalization
For global organizations, it’s critical to have one global
ERP system. Thus, signing on to a unified IT platform

30
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 that eliminates geographic redundancy through central-
ization can lead to substantial savings. This is an effort
that the head of IT operations, working with the CFO’s
office, can drive. Expect to realize knock-on savings in
other operations areas, too, such as real estate and
facili- ties costs.

About those benefits . . .

Tactical benefits also play an important role because
large-scale investments in IT consolidation must deliver
more than daily operations savings. Organizations make
best use of consolidation if they introduce a single under-
lying ERP data instance.

This makes business operations more visible and trans-

parent to middle and senior managers responsible for
planning at tactical and strategic levels. Improved visi-
bility and decision-making improve the sales pipeline,
future product development efforts, financials, capacity
planning for support (in call centers and the field), and
inventory and production management systems. It also
strengthens controls and compliance. In short, most
business functions have a lot to gain from a well-
implemented ERP consolidation.

Strategic benefits, seen through key performance

indica- tors (KPIs) related to time to close the books,
improved sales days outstanding, and revenue per
salesperson, come from aligning IT and information
system strategy, with ERP at its core, and long-term
strategic vision. CFOs

31
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 get the biggest boosts from improving long-term IT
costs at user and transaction levels, optimizing costs to
inte- grate acquired entities, and prepping IT systems
and platforms for planned initiatives. This supports
sustain- able competitive advantage that CFOs will
appreciate, and seek to exploit.

For more info, check out https://blogs.

oracle.com/profit/the-benefits-of-an-
it-systems-consolidation-v2.

Bringing Finance and

HR Together
With data driving business, labor costs can be tracked
and managed with increased precision and control. This
sometimes leads to an overemphasis on managing human
resources as “just another expense.” Benefits of bringing
HR and finance together are substantial and meaningful,
including the following:

» Faster onboarding of new hires, including

controls to ensure security and acceptable use
training, to
make them immediately productive

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 » Better workforce planning, identifying where
workforce gaps exist when considering new
business models

» Understanding gaps and preparing for costs

related to expanding into new territories or
business niches

» The importance of retaining talent to reduce

costs of turnover and training up new
employees

One answer to these issues, and a way to make better

overall use of human capital in businesses everywhere,
is to bring finance and HR closer together and foster
more and better collaboration. Since the turn of the
century, in fact, more organizations recognize that a
high-performing HR function is essential to corporate
success. Thus, the CHRO is often at the strategy table
with other C-level execs, and gets the same level of
authority and respect.

According to an Aberdeen study (www.oracle.com/a/

ocom/docs/unifying-finance-and-hr-cfo-argyle-
report.pdf), best-in-class companies are 2.3 times more
likely (32 percent versus 15 percent) to integrate HR cost
planning with ERP budgeting tools. The study found that
creating “a single financial management dashboard that
can be overseen by HR, the COO, and the CFO” helps
make better use of human capital. Among other things,
this permits organizations to incorporate their workers

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 33

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 into analyses of operational performance to assess their
financial impact.

When HR and finance have fast, reliable access to the

same data, they can create an effective working
relation- ship with appropriate controls and access. This
provides insights well beyond what mix of permanent
and con- tract labor makes sense. It can also help
organizations ask — and answer — important
questions like these:

» Are sales down because price points are off or

because key sales positions are unfilled?

» Do businesses that operate with lean staffing

outperform those with more staff?

» What is the relative performance impact of

adding or removing a staff member within a
specific
department?

With access to a unified ERP system that serves both

finance and HR, these questions (and others like them)
can be answered. Without such access, those answers
are hard to get.

There are other payoffs beyond increased collaboration

and improved understanding of employee contributions.
Real insights into revenues and costs lead to better hir-
ing, promotion, and transfer decisions. The CHRO can
make sure that hiring decisions at the highest levels track

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 strategy plans and objectives, too. Also, new systems
make things easier for end users, even those lacking
for- mal training in data or analytics. Self-service
dashboards and simple query tools help HR and
finance workers ask better questions and get more
accurate answers.

Connecting Your Supply

Chain to Finance and Ops
With the right tools, agility, and technology partner,
organizations can do more than remain resilient in
times of uncertainty. They can increase operational
efficiency and unlock new possibilities for stronger
business. Using a flexible, intelligent solution that
enables finance and operations to work together using
the latest technology, an enterprise can respond to
situations with agility. They can even pursue new
opportunities to make the business stronger and more
competitive.

For operations, research from the Enterprise Strategy

Group finds that incorporating Internet of Things (IoT)
data into supply-chain systems and workflows reduces
average product order fulfillment times (www.oracle.
com/a/ocom/docs/dc/esg-research- oracle-
emergingtech-0220.pdf). Taking advantage of IoT data,
delivery times dropped by an average of 6.1 business days
in a manufacturing scenario.

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 With finance and operations working together well, the
two groups don’t just accommodate change and thrive in
uncertain times. They can also unlock new business
opportunities.

Finance, operations, and supply chain intersect in an

integrated business planning process. They connect
top- down planning with bottom-up execution. As
supply- chain disruptions accelerate, companies keep
looking for ways to minimize impacts on costs and
service. Truly agile companies can successfully connect
financial, sales, and operational planning; supply-chain
planning; and operational execution. This enables
operations staff to bring the right decision criteria to
executives at the right time. The net result: quicker
decisions, and enhanced global visibility.

Step 1 is to analyze and understand how changing envi-

ronments will impact the business. Modern ERP uses
the latest technologies to provide real-time, actionable
information. Staffers can make best use of analysis and
insight tailored to the organization’s goals, needs, and
circumstances.

Step 2 is to act on responses that ensure the

organization remains as resilient and productive as
possible. A flexible ERP solution lets finance and
operations mesh effectively so that the organization can
plan and pivot with agility to respond to any situation
in real time.

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 When resilience is established and assured, the organiza-
tion can move to Step 3. That’s when input from all
stakeholders and users helps to identify and pursue new
opportunities. This input will do more than simply per-
mit the organization to carry on; it can make the organi-
zation stronger, more competitive, and more profitable.

37
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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Automating tasks and
process completions to
reduce errors
» Using data for analytics and
personalization
» Mobilizing employees on any
device
» Using AI to gain insights and
spur innovation
» Using cutting-edge tools to
increase employee productivity

Chapter
4
Leveraging Next-
Gen Technologies

N
ext-generation technologies such as artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and
bots are delivering measurable payoffs for those
organizations that put them to work. A 2020 Enterprise
Strategy Group study surveyed 700 finance and

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 operations managers who regularly use enterprise
resource planning (ERP). They say payoffs come in many
ways, including the following:

» Fifty-eight percent faster revenue growth:

Organizations using the most emerging
technologies — including AI, ML, data analytics,
Internet of Things (IoT), and so forth — grew annual
revenues 58 percent faster than those not
invested in such technologies.

» Eighty percent faster net income growth:

Organizations using the most emerging technolo-
gies grew annual net income 80 percent faster
the those not invested.

» Eighty-four percent using one or more

emerging technologies: Of organizations
surveyed, 84 percent use at least one emerging
technology in production right now.

Business uses for emerging technologies in finance and

operations are appearing and maturing rapidly. Busi-
nesses that embrace one or more emerging technologies
find that they offer powerful enhancements to their sys-
tems and capabilities. Key emerging technologies include
automation, analytics and personalized data, mobile
tools to access ERP, and AI and ML used to drive
insight and innovation. In fact, organizations use
emerging technologies for mission-critical tasks, not as
add-ons or afterthoughts.

40
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 Automating Tasks and
Processes
Automation is a key enabler of modern business pro-
cesses. It turns sequences of actions and inputs into
repeatable, reusable instructions to perform specific
tasks or to manage workflows and processes without
requiring human intervention or action. Automation
confers key benefits that explain its widespread and
enthusiastic use, namely:

» Speed: Automation runs at computing speeds

(microseconds to milliseconds). Humans are lucky
to execute a handful of commands in a minute.

» Accuracy: Automation never makes a mistake,

uses improper syntax, or hits a wrong key.
Humans
do these things, and more.

» Time saved: Automation runs at computing

speeds, hundreds to thousands of times faster
than humans can go. The more often an auto-
mated task gets run, the more time it frees up for
humans to do creative productive work.

» Repeatability: Automation runs whenever it’s

needed, as many times as needed. It never gets
tired, needs a vacation, or gets bored when doing
the same thing repeatedly.

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 41

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 Automation records all the information it needs to per-
form tasks or execute workflows and processes. When
invoked, automation plays everything back, precisely and
quickly, to get things done. So, automation works well
to handle tactical, day-in/day-out tasks that range from
collecting data, to running reports, to performing analy-
ses, to setting up and running batch jobs, to handling
administrative tasks, and a great deal more.

Automation is at the heart of modern

IT. Behind the scenes, automation can set
up applications, run virtual machines (or
entire virtual infrastructures), and then tear
them down when they’re no longer needed.
Auto- mation works at unimaginable scale
to sup- port global cloud providers and the
customers who use their compute, storage,
and net- working capabilities in enormous
volumes.

Here are five key areas to automate for best advantage

and leverage when modernizing to cloud-based ERP:

» Dynamic, flexible financials: Accounting

software and ERP have radically changed how
organizations
make budgets, track income and expenses, and
reconcile accounts. Today, organizations increas-
ingly turn to automation to obtain better, more
timely insight into financial performance.
Automation helps companies generate and
manage narrative reporting (such as Securities
and

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 Exchange Commission [SEC] filings) and gain
insight into sustainability and quality of finan-
cial results.

» Customer engagement in real time: Automation

can recommend products or services, offer
updates or alerts, and provide a single,
coherent view of customer transactions to
streamline customer service and deliver
positive, consistent customer experiences. This
brings higher conver- sion rates, more repeat
purchases, improved customer satisfaction,
and more.

» Contracts, procurement, and logistics:

Automated workflows and business processes in
an ERP system profoundly impact supply-chain
management, procurement decisions, and
negotiating terms with suppliers. In fact, companies
can use automation and machine learning to
optimize freight, payment terms, capital, and more.

» Employee benefits, retention, and recruitment:

When automation handles repetitive tasks,
recurring transactions, and routine benefits
administration, finance professionals have more
time to improve profits, find new markets, and
seek out new partnerships. Automation also
helps finance teams improve all stages of the
sales cycle, from acquiring customers, to
procurement and manufacturing, to product
sales and promotions.

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 43

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 » Compliance and risk management: Automation
changes how organizations manage risk. It can
analyze reams of data and spot potential
problems as they happen.

Automation also helps organizations adapt to changing

rules and regulations and to localize rules by
geography. Ultimately, automation saves time and
money and gath- ers data to deliver a competitive
advantage when trained via machine learning on
changing rules and regulations.

Using Analytics and

Personalized Data
Using the rights tools and technologies, everything we
see, do, hear, and experience can be captured as data
and converted into digital intelligence. This includes all
kinds of data — structured data, unstructured data,
data at motion and at rest, and data from sensors,
websites, and connected devices. All this adds up to an
astounding opportunity to be put to productive use.
Given the right ERP tools, data can be visualized,
analyzed, and person- alized for customers and
employees, to transform busi- ness processes and
deliver real-time insights that inform good decision-
making.

The challenge is to remake outdated reporting systems

and disconnected silos that create organizational chaos.
Employees want to gain value from their data and use

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 self-service analytics to drive independent discovery and
intelligent collaboration. Organizations must learn how
to extract business value from data and get it to the
front lines. This means moving analytics out of the back
office and into workers’ hands. Data must be
contextualized for the applications, activities, and
devices that people use daily. Then it can provide
timely insight to inform busi- ness decisions, automate
workflows and business pro- cesses, and recommend
proper and productive actions.

Modern, powerful analytics empower workers to ask any

question of any data in any environment on any device.
Such tools help uncover underlying drivers for profitabil-
ity and optimize working capital. Users can gain
actiona- ble insights with ready-to-use, personalized
key performance indicators (KPIs). Better yet, users can
unify their analyses across applications and extend their
find- ings with additional data sources using a single,
cross- functional, and extensible data model.

Using Mobile Tools for a

Mobile Workforce
A modernized ERP environment provides a cloud plat-
form that employees can use from anywhere on their
mobile devices. With today’s workforce using phones,
tablets, and laptops to do their jobs, such access is
expected and valuable. The ability to conduct work
any- where, any time, on any device is now a basic
expectation.

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 If employees can’t do that, their productivity is compro-
mised. Worse yet, such employees are unlikely to stick
around to fill their roles and get work done if they can’t be
completely mobile.

To build on their capabilities, enterprises can follow an

“extend and secure” strategy to define new services for
mobile consumption. They can securely manage ERP data
even from mobile platforms. They can also deny or allow
access through global user management policies that
apply for any devices a user may choose (desktop, tablet,
smartphone, and so on).

Driving Insight and

Innovation with Artificial
Intelligence
AI and ML both have extensive abilities to absorb and
digest huge volumes of data, to find patterns and rela-
tionships that humans may not otherwise see. Cloud-
based ERP puts AI and ML to work in all kinds of
interesting and useful ways.

It offers a variety of — forgive the term — “smart”

assis- tants to help users with expense reporting (for
example, optical scan and intake of receipts, and
recognition and absorption of its contents), project
management tools for development and analytics tasks,
advanced financial con- trols to identify fraud and error,
and even project-driven

46
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 supply-chain management. Likewise, such assistants can
provide 24x7 security and audit monitoring as well.

Modern ERP routinely includes supplier categorization.

This provides a consolidated view of supplier information
to support dynamic discounting strategies, and delivers
smart recommendations based on supplier and spend
data. Overall, modern ERP AI tools help organizations
automate smarter by improving core processes and
guid- ing user actions. They also help organizations
operate smarter by delivering insights. Humans can act
on those insights to make their organizations more agile.
They can also use those insights to optimize business
processes across procurement, payables and
receivables, and sup- plier and treasury management.

Modern ERP solutions also adopt a pervasive AI

strategy through continuous product updates. Plans that
incorpo- rate data science can help finance
organizations improve the accuracy of their forecasts,
and support better decision-making. Also, AI and ML
decrease the time it takes to make forecasts. Users only
need to add human context to the seeded predictions
and adjust them based on their own knowledge and
experience.

On another front, AI and ML help organizations

maintain high levels of flexibility, adaptation, and
security. This encourages rapid adoption, because
immediate and timely business results keep finance and
operations teams ahead of the technology curve. This
lets organizations maintain and extend their
competitive advantage as much as possible.
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 Working with Chatbots
and More
At its best, modern ERP works the way people work to
make their efforts more intuitive and productive. Tech-
nology is available for people to use ERP the way they use
other technologies — by speaking to it, texting with it,
taking pictures, and more. The goal is to make working
with the platform obvious and to provide an engaging
and immersive user experience.

So, for example, finance team members should simply

be able to say, “Show me open purchase orders” and get
a list they can inspect and dive into. Traveling employ-
ees should be able to snap a photo of a receipt while
dining. The ERP system should be able to take it from
there and generate an expense report (or report item)
automatically.

As new and better ways to work with technology emerge,

the best ERP solutions will adapt to take advantage of
them. This takes the burden of low-level details from
developers, and gives them swift, straightforward access
to new functionality. With new technologies that incor-
porate continuous innovation, companies can track the
latest technology and use it to stay ahead of the competi-
tion. It’s a competitive advantage to always apply AI and
ML in new areas, to use digital assistants and voice tech-
nology to get information faster, and to let technology
pick up as much of the work as possible.

48

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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Improving and innovating
at every opportunity
» Managing change across many
fronts
» Realigning business processes
to keep current
» Accommodating next-gen
technologies

Chapter
Forever Modern
5
W
hen it comes to business modernization, rest-
ing on one’s laurels — or anything else for
that matter — isn’t really an option. There’s
always another new technology emerging, and often
what it brings to your organization will be too good to
pass up. That speaks to staying modern by incorporating
and accommodating new technologies as they come
along.

But there’s more to extending or enhancing what

your collection of enterprise resource planning (ERP)

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 capabilities can do than simply incorporating
irresistible new high-tech tidbits. Staying modern with
cloud-based applications changes the dynamics on
traditional views of the software development life cycle.
That new dynamic means embracing the new, as part of
a continuous improvement philosophy. This chapter
explains what properly drives the impetus not just to
achieve modern- ization, but to stay modern from now
on.

Focusing on Continuous
Improvement and Innovation
Staying modern is really all about continuous improve-
ment, so systems never go stale or get past their expira-
tion dates. From the user’s perspective, such systems
keep changing and evolving to get better faster, do more,
and become more efficient.

Consider the situation in a business that’s still running a

legacy ERP system on-premises. That system likely uses
old technology and probably hasn’t been upgraded in
years. It’s mostly out of sync with current business pro-
cesses. Nor does this old system easily share data well
with other systems. Using its data to extract insights can
be vexing. In short, this old system is a drag to use and
operate and a drag on the bottom line. A modern, cloud-
based ERP can address all those issues, and then some.

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 Seen from a business user’s perspective, the system is
updated on a regular basis, so it benefits from new fea-
tures and improved security on an ongoing basis. Users
can focus on doing their jobs and be happy to take advan-
tage of new features and functions and top-notch
security.

Applications are kept in a constant state of

improvement across all releases. This includes ample
opportunities to implement user requests for changes
and enhance- ments, and to accommodate new
capabilities, tools and technologies.

On the cloud-based ERP front, the best modern ERP

plat- forms practice frequent updates that incorporate
security and quality fixes, as well as gradual rollouts of
new fea- tures and functions (internal test, beta test,
general users). The idea is to make sure that
applications work as well as possible, remain secure,
and keep getting better over time. That’s what lets
organizations bet their futures on what ERP can do for
them today, knowing that it will do more and better for
them tomorrow.

In addition, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine

learning (ML) also promote ongoing improvements and
enhancements. AI can see patterns in usage, perfor-
mance, interactions, queries, reports, and other aspects
of system behavior that can benefit from optimization
or re-engineering. This kind of input also drives the
update cycle, sometimes in interesting and unexpected
ways.

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 Keeping Up with Change
The best modern cloud ERP releases follow a quarterly
update cadence. This helps the back office keep up with
technology change and ensures data and applications
stay safe and secure. Users will want to push these out as
soon as their internal testing and validation regimens
allow.

The cloud has proven particularly effective as a delivery

mechanism for accommodating new and next-gen tech-
nologies. Because customers interact with cloud plat-
forms through their applications and services, the cloud
constantly integrates and exposes new content and capa-
bilities. Thus, users can take advantage of such capabili-
ties on their own development and release cadences.
Modern cloud-based ERP follows a cloud-now perspec-
tive instead of a cloud-first one.

User input and analytics insight from ongoing operation

of the modern cloud-based ERP environment across all
users, thoroughly anonymized, helps lead the way to the
best possible change/enhancement experience. This kind
of agile, rapid response makes change something to
anticipate rather than to dread.

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 Making Processes Modern
With a modern cloud-based ERP solution on tap, organi-
zations can also continue to improve their financial pro-
cesses. This means that, finally, they can get past
common stumbling blocks, including the following:

» Error-prone manual processes: Such activities

often revolve around spreadsheets and complex
patchworks of other software — let’s call it
“Frankenware” — and slow down financial
systems. They also require frequent rejiggering
to keep them working.

» Overly complex ERP systems: Combining

multiple ERP systems and components can easily
cause
confusion, lead to siloed processes and operations, and
cause collaboration issues working across teams
and operating units.

» Insufficient bandwidth for strategic projects:

CFOs spend too much time tracking down financial
data across complex ERP environments (almost one day
in five, according to a 2020 Forrester Survey
[www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/accounting-
audit/news/21155744/90-of-responding-
organizations-experience-challenges-with-
financial-close-process]) to keep up with
strategic initiatives (only 12 percent of their time,
or just over half-a-day a week, according to the
same source).

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 53

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 How do they get past these hurdles? For one thing, rapid
and reliable automation replaces slow, error-prone man-
ual processes when modern cloud-based ERP is available.
For another, consolidating multiple, disparate ERP sys-
tems into a single, globally accessible cloud-based ERP
makes it easier to build apps based on a single source of
truth for financial data and analyses. Overall, this
approach frees up incredibly valuable time so that CFOs
and finance team members can concentrate on business
strategy rather than tactical tasks and basic accounting
issues. A single, global cloud-based ERP environment
provides a complete solution for all data handling needs.
Intelligent automation relieves the tedium and does away
with staff involvement in routine tactical tasks. Finally, a
flexible, easily updated environment provides a platform
that can readily accommodate change (and even, next-
generation technologies) to help the organization main-
tain its competitive advantage.

Delivering New Features

and Technology
Planning for change and growth prepares ERP for con-
tinuous improvements and enhancements. Modern
ERP environments are designed with change and
growth in mind, making it easier to continuously
deploy improve- ments and enhancements.

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 Inside the organization, new features need
executive and stakeholder buy-in. The same
kinds of planning, education, and by-
the-numbers involvement from such people
applies as much to ongoing improvements as
it does to initial investment, launch, and
wholesale adoption. New features and func-
tions may need review from stakeholders to
make sure they use their capabilities to best
advantage. Work with your champions to
provide payback and return on investment
(ROI) information.

The cloud provides continuous and ongoing access to

improvements and enhancements in the underlying
modern cloud-based ERP platform. But until your IT staff
makes such things available in applications and
services for your users, there’s not much to see or
appreciate. This works best if you have dedicated
resources tasked with keeping up with such changes
and additions, and com- municating about them with
interested parties. Regular meetings to learn about and
evaluate “what’s new” can help organizations pick and
choose new features they’d like to deploy themselves.

Thus, an important question to answer in your organi-

zation becomes “Who drives ERP when it comes to
introducing, managing, and making changes and

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 enhancements work?” Experience teaches that CxO
champions will be interested when changes have strate-
gic implications. Primarily, however, changes will be of
greatest interest to department or function champions
whose productivity and innovation opportunities may
benefit.

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 IN THIS CHAPTER
» Benefitting from a single
source of truth
» Making the most of cloud-based
ERP

Chapter
6
Ten Solid
ERP
Benefits
E very For Dummies book ends with a Part of Tens
chapter. It covers the key messages from this book
and delivers important takeaways to its readers.
Here it comes!

From Patchwork
to Single Source
Business modernization delivers tremendous benefits to
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 organizations. It demands deep involvement from IT,

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 development, operations, and business/departmental lead-
ers and stakeholders. Things go best with enthusiastic
buy- in from executive staff — from CxO offices all the
way to the very top of the organization — along with
support from business owners, stakeholders, and other
key players.

There is a substantial pot of gold at the end of this rain-

bow when your organization tackles business modern-
ization. The most profound, important, and meaningful
benefit of the switchover to cloud ERP is a single, indis-
putable, carefully curated and maintained source of
truth about the organization’s data, assets, activities,
costs, productivity, and more.

No patchwork of loosely connected or unconnected

ERP systems fragmented by uncontrolled spreadsheets,
baling wire and chewing gum. The data that finance
uses to rec- oncile accounts is the same data
procurement uses to make orders; and HR uses to
calculate salaries, benefits, and bonuses; and IT uses to
obtain and install equipment, software, and service
contracts. Everything fits together — and makes sense —
because all data is in agreement and comes from a
single, trustworthy source. Bliss!

Other Benefits
of Modern ERP
Beyond the confidence and trust that a single source of
truth enables, modern cloud-based ERP offers a legion
of other benefits. These include at least the following:
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 » Modern ERP includes a set of core constructs for business
information so that business processes
work properly and predictably across and between business
departments.

» Built using a secure, centralized, common data structure, users can

rely on data to be correct,
current, and complete, with data integrity and
compliance controls in effect.

» Modern ERP helps improve operational efficiency,

accomplish digital transformation, and accommo-
date growth and innovation.

» Modern ERP delivers built-in platform components to

organizations that support the key characteris-
tics of security, integration, and personalization.

» Today’s ERP delivers modern design elements to

support powerful capabilities — namely, complete-
ness and standardization, globalization, insight- driven
analysis, and full digitalization — for an intuitive
and immersive user experience.

» Modern ERP lets organizations consolidate

fragmented systems and related add-ons to
simplify operations and reduce IT costs.

» The best available ERP offers an organization’s

functional departments — especially finance, HR,
logistics, and more — significant opportunities to
improve capabilities, outputs, and innovation.
Automation frees professionals from repetitive,

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 tactical tasks so that they concentrate on innova- tion and
improvement.

» Today’s modern ERP offers organizations an

opportunity to engage with and take advantage of
emerging technologies to establish further competitive
advantage. From automation, to artificial intelligence,
to analytics and personalized data, to mobile access
and intuitive system interactions, it lets workers get things
done easily and intuitively.

» Through deliberate attention to constant improve- ment and

innovation, modern ERP delivers
ever-increasing capability and value to organiza- tions that put
it to work. This lets organizations make best use of
technology and keep getting better.

Modern ERP is to legacy ERP as a smartphone is to a

rotary phone: Both make calls, but the smartphone does
much, much more. Modern ERP makes business pro-
cesses work faster, better, and easier, and it leaves the
door open to future improvements and enhancements.

For more information about truly modern

cloud-based ERP, read about Oracle’s Fusion
Cloud ERP at www.oracle.com/erp.

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