Archive

Business Process Improvement

The Benefits of Business Process Framing

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Example of a Process Framing Poster

In selecting and implementing a new enterprise system, business leaders have learned the importance of evaluating business processes. However, they often think that this means they should begin with detailed process mapping of their existing processes. We propose a better way: Begin with an exercise we call business process framing. In this post we provide a definition of process framing, explain the differences between process framing and process mapping, and outline the benefits of beginning with process framing before moving on, selectively, to process mapping.

What Is Digital Transformation, and How Do We Get There?

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What is Digital Transformation?

In enterprise technology, digital transformation is a hot topic. But what does it really mean? This post provides a simple definition of digital transformation, breaks down the main types of digital transformation, and recommends an approach for developing a digital transformation strategy.

AI Coming Soon to a Business System Near You

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Artificial Intelligence

Just as social networking and smartphones took hold first in the consumer world and then moved into business, we can also expect artificial intelligence to begin to move into business applications in a natural way. Nearly every large, and many of the smaller, business software providers are moving in this direction. This post provides three examples of enterprise software providers embedding artificial intelligence in their products, giving organizations a way to benefit without having to invest large sums to develop their own AI systems

HCM Fertile Ground for Data Science

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Human Capital Management (HCM) is turning out to be fertile ground for providers to develop use cases for data science. The recent HR Technology conference provided an excellent opportunity for us to learn about the offerings of six HCM providers that are embedding data science in their products and services. We conclude with ideas for future use cases that go beyond managing employee attrition and other early applications.

Which Comes First, New Business Processes or New Systems?

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When implementing new enterprise systems, business process improvement should be done in parallel. Doing all of one before the other—whether process improvement first, or system implementation first—will result in failure. This post explains why.

With Manufacturing ERP, the Best UI is No UI

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With all the talk about smart devices as a new trend, there is one industry where smart devices are very old news: manufacturing. Production machinery has been computerized, not for months, not for years, but for decades. Yet, for the most part, today’s ERP systems do not leverage those smart devices on the factory floor. This post traces the history of connected factory machinery and how they offer a solution to untimely and incorrect transaction data entry in manufacturing systems.

HR Technology Overshooting HR Capabilities

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Human capital management (HCM) is a hot area for new technology, at least based on the number of new vendor offerings. Why then has there not been greater adoption of the technology by HR practitioners? This post outlines three reasons why interest is high but adoption slow, and discusses what business leaders should do about it.

Business Leaders Should Take an Expansive View of Innovation

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When thinking about innovation, business leaders often set the bar too high for themselves.
What executives need is a more expansive view of innovation and think beyond technology to business process and business model innovation. In this post, we provide a framework for thinking about innovation in the context of a specific business and industry.

How to Optimize Your ERP System

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Most business leaders realize that it is critical to select the right system and implement it successfully. Likewise, when it comes to advice about ERP, most analysts and consultants focus their attention on best practices for ERP vendor selection and implementation. But very few analysts pay attention to what happens after the implementation.