Today, it is becoming a major competitive advantage for businesses to manage their resources more effectively and efficiently.
So, Is Enterprise Resource Planning implementation is a digital transformation?
A:
Yes, it is.
Enterprise Resource Planning versus digital transformation
We have a lot of discussions about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) versus digitalization. In fact, I’ve been thinking about this debate for the last year or so and here’s why I‘ve started to think about it more. I think there’re two different approaches to digitalization that need to be addressed.
The first is enterprise resource planning, which is about the management of data through the use of software and databases. This includes things like accounting, payroll, inventory, billing, sales, and financial management. The second is digitalization, which involves the use and development of tools for managing all forms of information and activities related to organizations. The two approaches are very different. Enterprise Resource planning attempts to manage a business’ operations through the development of data management applications and the use thereof. Digitalization is about creating tools that allow companies to manage information without the need for an application.
So, it’s important to know that there is a significant difference between “digital transition” and “Digital Transformation.” The distinction is not as clear as one might perceive, particularly on a software development level.
In general, a digital transition is not a technology transformation. It is a digital (and, in many cases, more so) organizational transformation. To put this differently, a technology transition is a process or a technology that is “transforming” to a new level, while a digital or organizational transformation is a level of organization that has been changed. This distinction is important for the reason that it is often a good idea to treat digital and organizational changes as separate and distinct phases.
An example of this is that the software development process, in particular, is often considered a technology, but not an organizational or digital transformation. In order to be successful, it may be necessary to consider a few additional factors in the development of the software.
For example, many software developers are focused on testing the software as it is developed. They may also consider the cost, the schedule, and the quality of the development process in order to determine whether to implement or to leave it as is. In addition, it will often be necessary for the software developer to consider the business impact of the change, and also to consider whether the change is likely to be disruptive or whether it will be incremental.
This is an important distinction to keep in mind. In some cases, it can be very helpful to consider these additional factors, especially when making decisions about the development and deployment of software. For example, it could be that the business is not going to adopt the new software, but they will adopt the old software. This may help to identify an opportunity for the business to use the new version as a backup or replacement. Or, it might be that it may not be necessary or that the new system is not designed to work with the old system.
The focus on the costs of development can be helpful, but it can also be counterproductive. When a business is facing a new technology or a new business environment, it should try to adopt as many parts of the system as possible, regardless of cost. If the business does not adopt those parts of a system, they can still be used, but will be less efficient and more costly.
It is also important to consider other factors that will affect the business in the future. These include the introduction of new technology, changes to the business model, and new competitors. These factors can all be addressed by considering what is needed to adapt to these changes and by taking into account the business’ goals in the process.
So, it goes without saying that all of these factors should be considered when making a decision about the software that will be used.
Another important distinction is that in many of the cases where the business will face a digital change, it also is important that the technology is changing in a way that allows it to be adopted without significant disruption to the current business. For this reason, it often is best to consider digital transformation as a software-specific transition, rather than an organizational transformation as such.
A further important distinction, which is not often considered, is that digital transformation is often used to refer to the creation of an innovative organizational structure or of business models, while digital transformation can also refer to change in business processes.
Organizational transformation is used to describe the change of business processes, not the change in the organization itself.
Here are the many ways in which digital, organizational, and digital transformation are used interchangeably and differentiated:
• Digital transformation describes the change from an existing “old system” (in this case, the old business) to a “new system“ (in other words, a new organization and/or new business).
• Organizational transformation describes a change from “traditional” business processes to “innovative” or “unconventional” processes. This means that the organization has changed, but the processes that are used to govern the processes have not changed.
• The term digital transformation describes change in an organization for the purpose of creating a new system and/ or business model.
These terms are used throughout this document in a loose sense, that is, they may be used to mean different things, and different aspects of the same thing.
To be clear, I am not trying to define digital transformation, but rather to use this term to describe a digital organizational change. I am also not saying that digital, or digital and/organizational, changes are synonymous. Instead, I use the terms to describe two different types of changes: digital and digital and to describe different aspects or aspects of this change.
Further, I do not use the term digital to refer only to a change in technology, or in the type of technology that will take place. In many cases it will refer to a digital process that will occur instead of a technology change, such as the use of a new application programming interface (API) or the addition of a database in a new database.
However, there are other cases where digital transformation refers to both technology and a change to an organization. In these cases, the technology changes but the organization does not.
Let me illustrate with a couple of examples. One is the use that some businesses make of their existing systems and processes, such that they are no longer tied to a set of specific processes. For instance, a company might use a different set of processes to run its business, but still have some common business processes that it uses across its business.
When the company makes this type of change, the company can be said to be transforming from an old system to a newer one.
On the other hand, another type of digital transformation includes the use, for example, of a particular business model or architecture, rather that the use a new set of software or a different type of software altogether.
There are many examples of this type in the world today, but I will focus on two just for the sake of clarity.
One is the IBM Watson “Cloud” platform for business. This is a cloud-based software platform that can be used on the IBM Cloud’ for business, which runs on IBM’ s private and public clouds.
At the heart of this platform is business analytics and business process modeling software called Watson, which enables business users to build and run business analytics, business process models, and business rules.
IBM built a cloud platform for Watson called Watson Cloud Analytics, which allows the company to deploy Watson software on IBM Cloud. It can also access IBM Cloud using virtual machines, which can be created by a third party.
Through this cloud platform, IBM is creating a software platform for enterprises to use to build new applications, such a cloud service.
I am not an expert on IBM products, but there are many organizations that use IBM products on their own private clouds, which are not part of IBM”s cloud service, and to which the IBM cloud service has no access.
While the Watson platform is a good example of the use and deployment that can occur on the “other side of the fence” of a digital, digital and, organizational transformation, the IBM platform does not represent a ‘digital transformation.’
The IBM platform is not intended to represent a business transformation. Instead it is an innovation in business analytics that, in a sense, is a business model change. It does not allow for the use or deployment of new business processes or models.
Thus, the use IBM Watson’ cloud platform on IBM cloud is not equivalent to the use the IBM software on the company’ private cloud. IBM Cloud is a different platform than the IBM private cloud, and it is not the same as the IBM service. However, I believe that it represents a digital and a digital- and organizational-transformation.
Next, I will show how organizations can use both types of digital and organizational transformations.
Some types of organizational transformation are more likely to occur in organizations than others. In general, organizations will more likely experience a digital transformational change than a digital reorganizational change. For organizations to experience either an organizational change or a digital re-organizational change, they are likely to need to adapt, and this can require a lot of adaptation.
As an example, let’ say that an organization is about to implement a new process that is not an enterprise resource planning (ERP) process, such the creation and implementation of a document management system. If this is done through an ERP process, it requires the adoption of a legacy system that can no longer be used in an effective manner. If it is done by implementing a document system, there is probably not much change in processes other than the adoption and use of the new document system. However this change is not digital because many of these processes are still used on a legacy ERP system. The adoption of the document system could be, for instance, the adoption or use of document management software, document classification software, and so on.
If this process is implemented through a digital workflow, it represents an organizational digital transformation because it requires a change, at least for the implementation phase, from an enterprise software environment to software that is better suited to the new process. This change may be the application of new software or new processes. The need for a new data infrastructure may also be required to support this change in data modeling and data management.