Anise Madh is GM of Global Infor Practice at Wipro, a global leader in e-commerce and mobile solutions for Infor CloudSuite ERP M3 and LN.
The modern business landscape demands agility and cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems promise just that. The shift to cloud ERP, especially multitenant models, offers IT leaders the alluring prospect of having the latest software that’s continuously updated with cutting-edge capabilities. However, this evergreen approach makes managing continuous innovation a must.
Unlike traditional on-premise systems that require carefully orchestrated yet infrequent updates from software vendors, cloud ERPs require a proactive strategy to harness opportunities and mitigate potential disruptions. Further, for businesses to grow and keep up with changes, they must tweak their processes and test out new ideas. This continuous evolution presents challenges and opportunities alike.
For chief information officers, IT leaders and other business executives, here’s how to successfully leverage AI to navigate this dynamic environment:
The Dual Risks And Rewards Of Continuous Updates
Constant updates are a double-edged sword. While they provide access to the latest security patches, software improvements and innovative functionalities, they can also introduce potential risks that must be carefully managed. Leveraging AI can help mitigate the risks associated with some of the most common occurrences, such as:
Configuration Chaos
Large ERP solutions boast many configuration options that can be intrinsically difficult to manage. However, vendors can’t guarantee thorough testing of every configuration, especially with customer-specific data. This creates the risk that updates may not function as expected in a unique environment.
Testing Overload
The sheer frequency of updates in a cloud environment makes manually testing every process impractical. Traditional testing methods simply can’t keep pace. At the same time, testing and user training should be foundational to ERP rollouts and system changes. Conventional methods of producing and updating user training material when systems change can not only be resource-intensive but also prone to mistakes.
Business Blackouts
Inadequate testing can cause system shutdowns and production disruptions, which can result in significant financial and operational repercussions.
Too Much Information
The staggering amount of available documentation in complex ERPs can easily overwhelm users.
To address these challenges, AI-powered test automation can include intelligent test scripting that automatically generates scripts as teams execute business processes, thereby helping to ensure comprehensive test coverage. It can also include automated regression testing that leverages the organization’s data in a test environment before deploying updates to the production tenant. This validates whether the system works with configurations, data and integrations.
How To Use AI To Maximize Opportunity
Beyond risk mitigation, continuous updates provide an opportunity to unlock business transformation opportunities. Since cloud ERPs constantly evolve, they offer new features, functionalities and process improvements. These can drive efficiency, user satisfaction and overall quality. Effectively leveraging these new capabilities can help IT leaders gain a competitive advantage by optimizing processes, enhancing decision making and swiftly responding to market dynamics.
Two specific opportunities include personalized training and AI-based capability evaluation. For instance, AI can generate training videos tailored to specific processes, helping to ensure users understand how to leverage new features effectively. This includes creating a video training library that automatically updates with any process changes to make employee onboarding easier and more cost-effective. Additionally, AI’s voice-to-text capabilities can enable businesses to transcribe and translate videos to whichever language the company needs. It can even match new capabilities to existing processes, providing the continuous improvement team with insights on which enhancements to explore and disregard.
With all this in mind, CIOs, IT teams and business leaders can strategically incorporate AI into their ERP implementation projects by:
Championing Communication And Change Management
Communicate why software update testing is so important and highlight the benefits most relevant to employees’ roles. Senior leaders must grasp the potential cost savings and efficiency gains, while associates need to understand the individual advantages. Encourage employees to embrace change and view process improvements as professional development opportunities.
Embracing AI-Powered Testing And Training Automation
By automatically generating and running testing and training scripts, AI helps reduce the risks that come with continuous updates—ensuring critical business processes stay intact. This not only lowers the cost of testing and training but can also streamline the ERP implementation cycle. Generating real-time documentation corresponding to system upgrades revolutionizes the process while producing up-to-date living documents.
Establishing A Continuous Improvement Team
As the software provider delivers a tsunami of new capabilities, you’ll need to establish a defined routine for evaluating these capabilities. Equip continuous improvement teams with AI-based tools to streamline the evaluation process and accomplish smooth, resource-efficient upgrades without operational disruptions.
By embracing AI, IT leaders and their businesses can be well-positioned to innovate, mitigate the risks associated with change and unlock opportunities for new growth.
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