Enterprise Resource Planning - I.T.'s gift to Business!

Mood: MIS

Domain: Information Technology

These days, I have this new obsession of sipping Green tea, after a friend pursuing medicals told me it's benefits! Though, not much of a Coffee-tea guy, Green tea has impressed. So, I started my usual healthy experiments with it. In kitchen, squeezing few drops of lemon and ginger into the Green-tea pot, I wondered, if I had all these together, because you may some day have ginger, sum day lemon, or some day not both around you in the kitchen. But, then when I found the Tetley tea bags with all these three at a convenience store & was glad! But, this is not where the story ends, this is where it actually starts.  I understood the need of a Enterprise solution that IT offers.

Change is inevitable, and so is I.T. It's everywhere around us, and is making our lives better and easy. We can do all blah blah blahs.  I believe that the importance of I.T. is actually a result of small challenges that we humans cannot actually solve. Like being at your friend's place when it's his Birthday. There were days when we forgot their Birthdays, but now we have so many ways to remember them. I can't buy a NY Times daily in India everyday, but now I can read them. I mean, we all know how I.T. is working for us. 

The importance of Information Technology in organization is thus also very crucial and this situation is rising with the competitions and business climate that keeps changing rapidly.

Whosoever is reading this already knows that an organization is a hierarchy structure of small entities, that is the specific departments, where each and every department is mutually dependent on each other. These all departments actually combine to make a work-flow for an organization.

So, there obviously is a need to have a single base-point where all these entities can meet and operated and monitored from. 

It can be just explained with the help of our human body. We have a central godfather for all the nervous system and that is our Brain. Here, all the nerves  of departments of our body, that have their own different functionality meets. Hands, Ears, Legs blah!

Now, just imagine if our body didn't have had this common ground called Brain.  How will our body actually work, with no organ actually knowing what the other departments are doing.  They would also not be connected and work mutually. How would we look? 

That's as similar to any business organization that works. A small organization can however, claim that they have an easy communication channel between various of it's departments. But what if you have to grow? What if you have to have branch offices apart from where you actually started? Who doesn't wants to grow, and develop, whether small or big or mid! This is where my green tea bag story comes live again. 

Isn't it good to have all the ginger, lemon green-tea in one small capsule bag? 

 In huge multi-stationed, sometimes multi-lingual industries, this demand, for a single platform for monitoring different branches and departments is high.

This is how I.T , gave birth to the idea of ERP, or the Enterprise Resource Planning. It explains the need of ERP, which is as important for an organization as it is for you or me to have extra nutrients and stuffs to keep yourself fit and going.  ERP is a gift from the ever-happening I.T. world to any business organization from any field. This gift from I.T. is even more precious than it's gift to you and your relations and social circles, where you can actually see, compliment, smile share pains, with you friends living far away from where you're. 

ERP gives organizations much flexibility and scalability. 

I shortly worked as a Product Analyst for an e-Discovery tool making U.S. software firm, where processing data for their clients from the litigation world was a very essential feature. I could notice almost everyday that the increasing market dynamics and high competitiveness presses you to demand faster result, more precise reactions leading to a higher demand of both quality and quantity.

We had legal cases running on our software, where reviewers and lawyers would review loads of data, may be millions and billions for a single case, to fight a legal battle. 

These data would be anything from a simple email to large PDF documents, or even an audio file, and we all know how a single piece of paper or data can be so very essential to turn a case in your favor. Now, a single particular document fail to show up to the reviewer as this obviously there would be millions and billions of documents in for a single case, and how in such a large chunk of data, one cannot rule out a single piece going wild.

A reviewer would obviously not love to see that particular file making him hang for long. So, the process of escalating the issue always had to be very fast and precise for us. 

It was just a small example, but these such very examples exists on large in every organization in any domain or field. So, there obviously needs to be something in the organization system that may possibly recognize, report and correct(if possible).  

Another reason which makes these ERPs more important for organizations is the number of takeovers and economic mergers that has been on a rise since the mid-1990s era, from when the local economies in different part of the earth started going global. (Thanks to the I.T. world again! )

This has led to the constant changes in the corporate structures. Well, we are still in the midst of many acquisition & merger news in India and globe, for example, there was a time few years back when Anil Agrawal led Vedanta group was looking ahead to acquire Cairns India, which may have made Anil Agrawal the Richest Indian entrepreneur, beating Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group. 

This tells us how the global economic arena is shrinking so rapidly. Honestly, I didn't ever know or could realize while crossing the HZL plant while going to the Udaipur airport, that this Vedanta Group may suddenly pop-out and make news. I probably didn't know Agrawal's first name then, or de-facto, a large number of Indian youths still don't know who he is in India

The global economic changes are rapid and are shrinking faster. One organization sitting in India may suddenly grasp a Japanese client, or a Brazilian one.  But then, it is obviously not possible for any organization to hire professionals knowing their job along with Japanese language or Tokyo's economy well. It's impractical.

 So, many many organizations. now need a system which is multi-lingual and which understands multi-currency capabilities.

And, last important factor that makes these ERPS a boon and an essential to boost their  growth and throttle success story is knowing the organization work-flow well. 

Understanding an organization from outside or over viewing it's complete work-flow is always better than seeing it as being a part from within.  That makes us understands the organization's smoothness of work-flow. 

Obviously, I or You cannot really learn or describe and feel how the Earth rotates when I'm myself a very very small part of it from within. Do you realize you and your physical body is actually rotating from the time you where born? Or which side you rotating? East to west or west to east? Do you? It's every single second happening to you. 

But, however, you and me can actually see how the planet rotates when we see it from outside. Then is when I and you can clearly define the Earth's rotation!

(Ahh!! imaginations sometimes help me so much to understand these complex business structures, Isn't it? :)) 

So, having a system where you can see the complete work-flow and functions of an organization. This will naturally help in assisting in building strategies to win this mad mad market race, which is getting big day by day. 

I received a message recently from a close friend on my cell phone where reminded me of Abraham Lincoln( a former US President and a well known personality) stating once ' Work SMART, not hard'. 

Obviously, Now, many won't really be comfortable when I put this along while defining organization, because they all are known to make you work hard out of your skin, but I better put it this way when it comes to the corporate organizations:

 'Work hard, BUT smart , such that Every BIT of your hard work is noticed and doesn't goes wasted,' because you obviously have put in your efforts and no one would love to see his/her energy flooding out to waste.

If we can think that for us individuals, just imagine how important it becomes for organizations as the competition is always there and they don't wanna waste a single work they did!

This time for Africa!!

My brain-waves taking me to jot down anothe write-up so soon.. I didnt expect it..But. its for a cause..

FIFA 2010 World Cup, one of the most celebrated global event has finally kicked off in the colorful South Africa! Its the first time its played in the African Continent, also known as the Dark Continent. Needless to say, Its a reason for every African to celebrate. Africans have always been known for smiling, midst any problem or trouble! They smile it all out with the punch of music and dance! This colourfull continent has so much to given to the globe.

FIFA, the world is watching Africa  which is considered to be the origin of human life. Africa, must be celebrating, and many natiions rejoicing and having a reson to smile. It is the second largest continent with the second largest population on earth. But when this continent seems so united. When we talk about Asia, not one country comes in picture... divided everywhere. Example lets take Asia, it sdidvided geographically with names. Like,  South-East asia, Central Asia, Gulf. Same with the American Continent, North America, Central America, Latin America. But, when it comes to Africa, everything seems threded under one roof, one name Africa. Obviously, this global sporting event is going to be a celebration world over, as it is in Africa this time.  Sports unite the world, Sorts unite and remove boundaries, we all know it, and have seen it in the past. It brings out the best of human emtions, far above races, countries, languauges.

And, the Africans, always dancing to the music, singing.. enjoying. I came close to Africa, when my father shifted there few years back to work in a global firm. I came close to the people. I came close to this fantastic continent with colorful people.

Although it has abundant natural resources, Africa remains the world's poorest and most underdeveloped diseases and viruses (notably HIV and malaria), corrupt governments that have often committed serious human rights violations, failed central planning, high levels of illiteracy, lack of access to foreign capital, and frequent tribal and military conflict (ranging from guerrilla warfare to genocide).

Notably, the major problem, Corruption, which leads to the exploitation of there own people. Africa is full of resources globe is counting on, but still the natives are suffering from poverty. Why?? The countries are allowing themselves to be exploited for money. They know, they're, but they do little, because the invaders are giving them money. Invaders? Did the writer here say Invaders? Yes! I said it! And you get it right, the commercial invaders, who are invading their wealthy resources and paying them too less for that. The local Govts. can do too less for that and why? Because, Whatever, they are paid in return, may be too less, but sufficient for them.

I was few months back watching, "Don't Tell My Mother", a travel show on National Geographic, where Diego Buñuel, the host travelled to few troubled nations. He was in an Africa nation, where he he could see he Chinese fishing away all the natural resource away from that country, and the locals working there in bad conditions as just mere labourers. One of my Morrocan frind told me the same happening by Chinese in Morrocco.  Thats really pathetic. Its the time the Africans must look at what they have, and what they getting. They in my views shouldn't be looking at small profits, instead of looking at long term profit, they must have for those resousrces, and for that , they need a uncorrupt Govt. 

Africa from over centuries, has given this world music, culture, dance, nature, and what not! And what the world has given them, is it justified? Lets forget what hapend in the past, the colonisation and all the world all over went through. Many countries have excelled out of it now. But, after growing up from all that, even Today, are we still giving this lovely continent what it desrves?

Africa, right now , surely will be in a modd to rejoice, and amidst the likes of super strong soccer teams, like Argentina, Brazil, France, Spain, I would want the cup to remain in this continent. They need sumthing to rejoice afterall.

Let's not forget, and always be up-armed to give the respeEct back to the lovely continent, full of lovely people. Even if we don;t Africa will smile anyways, it's always in them to smile, but we should give them what they desrve solely!

Early Case Assesment- Can be India's first baby-step towards e-Discovery!

Best thing to kill time is, when you not sleepy, flush all your thoughts out on anything that is presently on your mind or nerves, and I'm doing just that.,

Early Case Assessment- Wikipedia describes it better- It explains that Oftentimes an organization feels a need to settle a legal case, for whatever reason, only to find they wish they did before they spent so much time and money on the case. Legal Cases are many times bound to happen to any organization and the costs of running a case are usually the most burdensome financially to both sides fighting on an issue. Often, and during legal cases, an opposing party will strategize on how to make it as difficult as possible for you to comply with the discovery process, including time and cost to respond to discovery requests. Because of this, organizations have a continued need to conduct early case assessment to determine their risks of taking a case to trial without painful settlement discussions.

Early Case Assessment or ECA in short, is something you and I do before a big huge event. We analyse, we bring all the points under one roof and make a blue-print out of it.

For example, the Captain cool of Indian Cricket team would do a Pre-match survey before a big game, and accordingly make strategies to combat opposition.  Analysis of anything before is important That's what Early Case is all about, It refers to estimating risk(cost of time and money) to prosecute or defend a case. 

I have already discussed e-Discovery in details in one of my previous blogs. (http://shashiblogs.blogspot.com/2010/05/e-discovery-in-india-call-of-hour.html) and (http://shashiblogs.blogspot.com/2010/02/eureka-discovery-e-discovery.html). e-Discovery in India would require a sea-change in the present legal system India has. India, a house to the second largest population in the world and the fast-emerging global power-house obviously needs to the e-Discovery rains to soothe the Legal system we presently have.  Buy, its a known fact to, that with millions and millions of cases fought in the geographically large India, will need time to accept e-discovery. It cannot be a rocket-Science implementation. 


It will need something to trigger the birth of e-Discovery in India, and if going by what I believe( Remember, I'm a beginner, a learner to e-D world..Hah!!!)..so going by what I think, Early Case Assesment(or ECA) can be the baby-step to India's welcome step to e-D. 


Now, Ambanis have recently settled, what if they had a ECA system, to settle them out? India is home to many multi-nationals, and as stated already, a legal case fishes out loads of wealth and time. 


The companies can have a ECA to review cases before they fight it out and this will also be responsible for trashing out unnecessary documents that they may have stored for years or more. 
As described on the internet, The early case assessment lifecycle will typically include all of the following:
1. Perform a risk benefit analysis.
2. Place and manage a legal holdon potentially responsive documents (paper and ESI) in appropriate countries.
3.Preserve information abroad.
4. Gather relevant information for attorney and expert document review.
5. Process potentially relevant information for purposes of filtering.
6. Produce documents to parties in the case.

7. Reuse information in future cases.

I have my one senior here with whom I was discussing this topic and looking at his experience and far-sightedness in the development of many projects in the organization, I asked him the same. Kirit came out with a reply telling me that the companies can, but the system isn't yet there in place. A shorter version of ECAs can though come up for them. In this small chat with Kirit, I couldn't actually fetch a lot out, ( Little expirence you see :(... Hah!!

But if what he says is to be believed to, I atleast could fetch that he too did agree somewhere between the midst, ECA can surely be India's first step to the astonishing world of e-Discovery. And, the reason why I keep pressing on e-Discovery in India, I don't have to explain people what I'm upto and keep getting great opportunities to rule!! Ha!