From networking to the business management of digitalisation

The ERP sys­tem sup­ports the busi­ness man­age­ment of the dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion and ensures that the company’s reor­gan­i­sa­tion pays off finan­cial­ly. The ERP sys­tem aligns all process­es with the company’s eco­nom­ic goals. It links the flow of goods and the flow of val­ues, cal­cu­lates orders and assess­es their prof­itabil­i­ty, and plans pro­duc­tion, dis­tri­b­u­tion and sales. From mas­ter data to prod­ucts and ser­vices, this sys­tem cre­ates an inter­face to cus­tomers and their orders.

On the dig­i­tal plat­forms, an ERP sys­tem acts as a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the com­pa­ny, pro­vides its func­tions as a ser­vice and inte­grates ser­vices from the dig­i­tal plat­forms. In the sup­ply chain, it con­trols all process­es across com­pa­ny boundaries.

When it comes to new busi­ness mod­els, the ERP sys­tem con­trols and inte­grates the process­es. It cre­ates the basis for per­son­al­is­ing prod­ucts and ser­vices. In the ser­vice sec­tor, Smart Ser­vices opti­mise the sched­ul­ing of impor­tant tasks. Oth­er ser­vices include for­ward-look­ing work and the con­trol of impor­tant process­es. This is just as true in the ser­vice sec­tor as it is in production.

Over­all, ERP sys­tems will remain a cen­tral com­po­nent of the IT land­scape. For­ward-look­ing ERP providers have already start­ed to adapt their sys­tems to the require­ments of the dig­i­tal work­ing world. This process is like­ly to con­tin­ue rapid­ly in the com­ing years. An inten­sive, con­tin­u­ous dia­logue between ERP providers, users and mar­ket play­ers is impor­tant here. Thanks to the glob­al net­work­ing of sys­tems and process­es, dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion opens up unprece­dent­ed free­dom for every­one involved. A provider that does not know the exact require­ments of its cus­tomers, tar­get indus­tries and part­ners is unlike­ly to have much chance of hold­ing its own in this mar­ket in the long term.