The global pandemic has accelerated shifts in the manufacturing industry as never before. As companies look to the future, it’s become necessary to develop creative solutions and leverage innovative new technologies to fund organizational transformation.

On September 23rd, Rimini Street gathered IT and ERP licensing leaders in the manufacturing space to participate in and speak at Manufacturing in 2022: Building Business Resiliency and Funding Innovation. The conversation centered around ways to reduce manufacturing ERP support spend so that organizations can shift budget to funding digital technologies and initiatives that will drive growth and propel them into the future.

Check out four key takeaways below:

1. Moving to the cloud is a massive undertaking

Bas Ursem of Kraton Corporation equated current ERM systems to cruise ships and cautioned against thinking moving to the cloud is a quick process. “A big cruise ship is really nice, you can do everything on that ship, just don't ask it to move quickly because that's not going to work.”

During Kraton’s journey to the cloud, Bas noted a move away from the ‘cruise ship’ model to a more decentralized structure where certain business processes are handled in different, better optimized systems creating a composite of platforms and tools.

2. Focus on bang for your buck when it comes to budgetary priorities

“There's more focus on security, [and] there is a recognition that we do need to invest in security.” noted Soundharya Nagasubramanian of Hillrom.

By reevaluating her organization’s annual operating budget, she was able to ensure that capital projects are getting funded, but not at the expense of other operational priorities such as security spend.

3. There’s a new kind of industry disruption

Nitin Sethi of Visteon Corporation spoke about framing protecting budget and decreasing costs as an industry disruption. In his view, it’s important to have an overall structure in place which focuses on “keeping the lights on” but also “another part of the organization that continues to challenge the current ecosystem.”

By seeking out cost saving opportunities and operational efficiencies, budget can be reallocated toward innovation and future-facing capital projects.

4. The current IT skills shortage is having an impact across industries

As companies move their workloads to cloud, many have encountered challenges as they seek to fill new roles with qualified employees. “This is becoming an ongoing issue out there in terms of getting the right quality of resource,” noted Nitin Sethi.

Bas Ursem spoke about balancing retaining employees with outsourcing other operations. “Let's let go of some of these system-related skills,” he suggested, while mentioning retraining employees with vast knowledge of business processes could be a key strategy as companies look to the future.

Interested in hearing more? Check out the full panel discussion and more topic-based video clips from the event by filling out the form at the top of this page.